With the end of its yearly Beta period just moments ago, Activision and Xbox are perhaps a bit panicking because their golden goose is dying. Unfortunately, I don’t think there are chances of reviving this time.
Because even without playing the full game, I know this year’s edition will suck. Perhaps even more terrible than the last time they rushed a Black Ops title into the market, or even that time they tried to market a Dog as a companion.
Why Does It Play Like This?
As the sole person on this site who has played the series continuously for almost the past decade or so, we tend to know how the game will go, from the moment you fire A weapon. From World War 2 relics like the Kar-98, having different properties from COD WW2 to Vanguard despite being the same gun from that era, to the M16, somehow retaining all of its charm as it switches from Space Game (Infinity Warfare) to Boots on The Ground, Hoorah mode (Black Ops Cold War), all within the same decade. You tend to learn these quirks quite well.
So, consider my shock when these guns that you have in the SEVENTH iteration of this series just blows. The weapons themselves look bland and uninspiring, like its not the first time we have seen these guns since technically this is the sequel to its 2012 game, but it basically a sort of feel like not really an iteration of that game’s arsenal but just a quick touch-up and we’re off. But even worst is how it feels.
The Assault Rifles have a slow reaction time after shooting from the hip and switching to a sight. The SMG is overly fast and has the accuracy of its bigger compatriots, where it shouldn’t be, and the Snipers… they have massacred my boy essentially. Like, I feel the mobile counterparts that are made by TiMi Studios feel more powerful and accurate than these peashooters.
And while the stuff you read on Umatter says that “now that Treyarch has toned down the Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM), it’s more enjoyable.” I’ll counter that point by saying these were the most brain-dead matches I’ve played in years. Everyone is clip-farming and slide-jumping all over the place, playing like they had their 4th drink of Monster Energy with how fast they play and gunning me down. 
Within my several hours into the game, I mostly won matches because these folks also don’t realize it’s Hardpoint or that new CTF mode that I just forgot the name because I couldn’t be bothered to learn, both of which are objective-based modes, so just do them and you win. It’s the most jarring experience of a beta I’ve had. It’s awful to play and I don’t believe this is sustainable/or fun to play after the first month, if I’m honest.
Because if it’s Deathmatch or Kill Confirmed, then you’re going to have a bad time, and then the Objective-based ones are far too easy because the players there don’t realise that you have to take point until it’s too late. It’s definitely not fun when both sides of the coin are this awful.
Restrictive Zombing
So, for the folks reading this and not knowing the lore of Call of Duty zombies, which I don’t blame you since it has been in the ringer as well, this will be the first time we get to place as two sets of Survivors that are from the original lineup (from 2009, would ya know) and the modern era survivors that we play in last year’s mode. But none of that matters in this beta, as the mode we have in the beta is just a Round-based snippet that you can play as the multiplayer characters (something that has occurred since CW), and it’s fine? 
There are no objective or easter eggs to hunt for, and it’s just good old Zombies that loop around until you have had enough of it and leave, or die because you got overwhelmed.
And after years of doing the objective-based modes, coming back to how it plays originally feels boring, I’m sorry to say. Like you can tell when the bullet-sponge enemies will come as you go higher than Level 20, and the Farm map that they included feels too restrictive when compared to last year’s variations. And that worries me because their “biggest map ever in Zombies” feels like Activision overselling it, and we already had maps that needed vehicles to traverse with before.
Who’s to say the restrictive nature of this one we played here also carried over to the main map, because it sure looks like it to me. And those issues about guns before? Yup, still apparent even in Zombies as well. Yipee…
Now what?
With the happenstance going on at their parent company making unremarkable decisions, and the timing of creating the first direct sequel in Call Of Duty history, while also skipping over their usual three studio rotation, it seems like this is going to be the most divisive installment in their long franchise in the long-run. And perhaps, it is becoming our equivalent of the Fast And Furious for the video game market.
It won’t be a sleeper hit, I can assure you that, but man, this is going to be messy when it launches.
Call of Duty Black Ops 7 will launch on PlayStation, Xbox and PC on November 14.