The full global reveal ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 7is drawing closer and closer, with the upcoming title being under a lot of pressure due to its status as the second consecutiveBlack Opsrelease for the franchise. Akin to what was seen in recent back-to-back games likeModern Warfare 2andModern Warfare 3, there is a worry that the core identity and overall experience ofBlack Ops 7might be too similar to its predecessor.
Despite this, the semi-futuristic setting ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 7has been known for some time now. This should provide a lot of gameplay opportunities that seem completely distinct from the 1990s setting ofBlack Ops 6, though this is not the only way that the upcoming project is aiming to differentiate itself. Interestingly, it is confirmed thatBlack Ops 7will feature full co-operative support for its campaign. With it recently being revealed thatBlack Ops 7will feature mind-bending hallucination sequences, there will be some great opportunities to make the absolute most of co-operative gameplay.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Has a Chance to Make Co-Operative Campaign Experiences Really Stand Out
It was rumored and largely assumed thatBlack Ops 7was a direct narrative sequel to 2012’sBlack Ops 2long before the upcoming game was officially announced. With the game being confirmed to take place around a decade afterBlack Ops 2’s story, a lot of the game mechanics and featured characters of the game seemed quite obvious to some fans. Of course, there is always a thirst for finer details and official confirmations, withBlack Ops 7’s recent ESRB rating coming with a description of the game that is filled with narrative details.
TheESRB rating forBlack Ops 7detailed the game’s story premise as a fight against a tech giant that is aiming to take control of the world, while also detailing that enemies will come in the form of hostile soldiers, robots, and monsters. Players will be able to take on these threats alone or with a friend viaBO7’s co-operative campaign mode, with the ESRB description also talking about psychologically-charged hallucination sequences for the game.
Of course, mind-bending psychological themes have always been at the heart of theBlack Opssub-franchise, with the recentBlack Ops 6producing its own memorable hallucination-based mission.InBlack Ops 6’s Emergence mission, players navigate a complex filled with hallucinatory zombies and monster mini-bosses, providing one of the most memorable and uniqueCoDcampaign missions that fans have seen for some time. The potential of how a mission like this could be altered from a co-operative perspective is absolutely immense.
Black Ops 7’s Co-Op Campaign Could Take an Emergence-Like Mission to the Next Level
Judging from thefirst trailer forBlack Ops 7, psychological and hallucinatory sequences are likely to play quite a consistent role within the game’s story.Call of Duty’s previous experiences with co-op campaigns have been quite forgettable, yetBlack Ops 7’s outlandish sequences could have unique mechanics directly tied to co-op. Hallucinatory missions could see players briefly disappear from each other’s games during intense moments, or even appear as enemies to create friendly fire chaos.
WithBlack Ops 7’s campaign potentially featuring monsters, non-host players could even briefly take control of enemy combatants to attack their friends in gameplay akin toBlack Ops 2Zombies' Turned game mode. It is clear thatBlack Ops 7needs to stand out from the crowd as much as possible amid the criticisms ofCoDrelying on similar annual experiences, and its co-op capabilities could be its best bet at achieving this. Unique sequences that fully lean into the confusion and unease ofBlack Ops’mind-bending storylines would be an excellent way to capitalize on this, withBO7’s hallucination sequences being perfect for chaotic co-operative experiences.
Black Ops 2’s Grief moderecently returned to the franchise withBO6, andBO7’s co-op campaign hallucinations could be a great way to test the waters of introducing more unique PvP experiences like Turned.
