Ahead of Black Ops 7‘s November 14 release date and the early access beta running from October 2 to 5, Call of Duty Next showed off some live footage from the latest entry in the long-running of the military shooter series. The game looks like a solid, speedy, competitive shooter that’s utilizing its futuristic setting for some war-themed sci-fi fantasy. So let’s jump into what stood out during CODNext.
Black Ops 7 multiplayer looks tactile and fast
I don’t blame those who think all of these games look the same, but if you like a fast shooter with some interesting opportunities for gravity-defying tactics, you might want to check out footage from today’s event–especially if you’re a fan of Black Ops 2, to which 7 is intended as a spiritual successor.
Set in the near future, Black Ops 7 has some fancy tech that builds off the advanced movement techniques in Black Ops 6. Wall-jumping, sliding, tactical stance, it all combines very seamlessly in both the scripted sizzle reels and the actual gameplay shown off today.
The wall-bouncing, which looks like it’ll owe Titanfall a royalty check, is particularly exciting as various streamers showed off how these techniques can be used for some vertically lethal plays and opportunities to get new, unexpected sight lines.
Black Ops 7 will ship with 18 maps, mostly focusing on 6v6
In what’s shaping up to be a healthy roster of maps, BLOPS7 will feature 16 6v6 maps, with 13 of those being brand new designs joined by three remakes of BLOPS6 maps. The remaining two maps are for 20v20 battles.
During the beta, folks can jam on six of these maps, all of which are of the smaller, 6v6 variety. Map design in BLOPS7 is particularly focused on standard, three-lane construction. That tried-and-true design, however, might be just what allows the game’s advanced movement techniques to really let players mix things up.
Overclocking equipment
BLOPS7 will contain many of the usual loadout options we’ve long come to expect from CoD, but you’ll be able to further customize your class by “overclocking” lethal, tactical, field upgrades, and score streaks. Once unlocked, these let you equip two modifications in addition to the ordinary functions of the equipment. One such example shown off today was the Stim Shot, which lets you either cancel out enemy-induced debuffs or gain a speed boost when using it.
Weapon build sharing
In what stood out to me as one of the coolest features in BLOPS7, folks will be able to quickly share weapon builds with each other by way of a simple code the game generates when you finish a specific setup. This should make it pretty easy to just grab an effective meta build and jump into a match.
Season one aims to be the ‘biggest’ in BLOPS history
Though BLOPS7 has a pretty sizeable stock of maps to choose from at launch, Treyarch announced today that seven additional multiplayer maps will join the game over the course of its first season, with six of them for the 6v6 mode. Ranked play will arrive in season two.
Nuketown returns
Looking like it came straight out of Bethesda’s Fallout games, the end of the multiplayer reveal showed off a couple of shots of fan-favorite CoD map Nuketown. Check it out:
© Screenshot: Activision / Kotaku
Nuketown is expected to arrive “soon” after BLOPS7‘s launch.
All in all, the big takeaway from CODNext is that if fast-paced, competitive shooters are your thing, BLOPS7 is looking pretty solid.
