Somewhere around my tenth hour with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, I stopped playing like a normal human and started moving like a caffeinated raccoon darting across a freeway. That’s usually the moment, historically, when a new CoD sinks its claws deep enough into my skull to convince me that, yes, grinding out camo skins is a noble, spiritual pursuit. Black Ops 7 didn’t even wait that long. By the second hour, when I found myself sprinting toward a wall and instinctively trying to jump sideways off it like some B-tier cyberpunk superhero, I knew Treyarch had done something dangerous to my dopamine receptors.

The short version:
Black Ops 7’s multiplayer is equal parts exhilarating and exasperating — a hot plate of tactical brilliance served with a side of “why did everyone suddenly become better than me?” But despite some very real annoyances (and trust me, I’ll get there), this is the most fun I’ve had in CoD in several years.

And yes, the new wall-run + wall-jump mechanic makes me feel like Titanfall walked into the room wearing sunglasses and said, “Hey kid, need a hand?”

We’re going to talk about that.

We’re going to talk about a lot.

But first — matchmaking, because that’s where the civil wars start.

The Great Matchmaking Schism of 2025 (Or, How I Became a Human Sacrifice)

Ever since Activision decided that matchmaking needed to feel more like a carefully curated dinner party than a bloodsport, skill-based matchmaking has been the rage-inducing elephant in the lobby. Black Ops 7 tries to solve the problem by offering two modes: SBMM and “skill is vaguely an idea we heard about once.”

I respect the ambition, but this change hit me like a Call of Duty midlife crisis. Jumping into the default non-SBMM lobbies was like walking into a gym and accidentally joining a powerlifting competition. One game, I’d be unstoppable — the Chuck Norris of virtual combat — and the next, I’d be the underpaid mall cop facing a team of cyborg assassins who seem to play exclusively using retinal tracking technology harvested from alien spacecraft.

It’s chaos. Sometimes it’s the fun kind. Sometimes it’s the “oh wow, I actually need to practice” kind.

The option to flip between SBMM and not-SBMM is fantastic, and honestly, it’s kind of a miracle Treyarch didn’t just pick one philosophy and die on that hill. But I can’t shake the feeling that most of the casual player base doesn’t even realize this menu option is buried in there like a secret character unlock in a GameCube-era action RPG. I keep imagining millions of innocent players logging in, getting absolutely obliterated, and wondering if they suddenly lost 30 years of reflexes overnight.

Spoiler: you didn’t. You’re just in the wrong reality bubble.

SBMM is still the training wheels I go back to when I need to remember what it feels like to win — or at least survive long enough to reload.

Guns, Glorious Guns: No Soulmates This Time, But Plenty of Flings

Usually, every Call of Duty has that one gun. The one you bond with. The one you whisper to at 3 a.m. after grinding attachments until your entire social life dissolves. Last year, it was the XM4. Before that, a revolving door of SMGs and marksman rifles.

Black Ops 7 breaks the streak.

Not because the weapons are bad — actually, the opposite. They’re consistently solid, like Treyarch said, “Fine, you can have balance. We’re tired.” The problem, ironically, is that almost everything feels good enough that nothing feels uniquely special.

Except the MK.78 LMG. That thing is a menace. I don’t know who at Treyarch thought it was okay to give me the power of the sun in LMG form, but this weapon is so stupidly effective at range that I had to double-check I wasn’t accidentally cheating. On Retrieval, I landed an absurdly long kill that made me lean back in my chair like I’d just witnessed a small miracle. It’s the kind of gun that should legally come with a “nerf me please” note taped to the stock.

Then there’s the M8A1 marksman rifle — a burst-fire dream machine that deletes enemies in three whispers of violence — and the Shadow SK sniper, which made me hate myself a little. I don’t like sniping. I resent snipers. But suddenly I’m good at it? That’s not a gift, that’s a moral crisis.

SMGs, though … yeah, we need to talk. They’re having a rough year. They handle like someone at the studio thought “close-range” meant “must be directly hugging the enemy to be effective.” I kept trying each one, waiting for something to click. Nothing did. I’m hoping future patches make them less like foam dart guns.

Still, the overall gunplay is classic Call of Duty: satisfying, punchy, snappy, and occasionally rage-inducing — which is exactly why we all come back.

Omnimovement 2.0: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Wall

Black Ops 7 takes last year’s omnimovement system — which already felt like Treyarch secretly wanted to turn Call of Duty into a John Wick simulator — and adds wall running and wall jumping.

This changes the flow of multiplayer in a way I didn’t realize I desperately needed.

Suddenly the entire game has a vertical personality. Corners become launchpads. Hallways become parkour challenges. Ledges become invitations to embarrass someone on their killcam.

The first time I rounded a corner and got blasted by someone descending from a triple wall-bounce sequence like they were auditioning for a Cirque du Soleil production themed around future warfare, I didn’t even get mad. I just stared. In awe. And confusion. And maybe a hint of admiration for the sheer acrobatics of my own demise.

Maps like Blackheart and Imprint lean into this hard. They’re practically playgrounds for the new mechanics, and somehow — miracle of miracles — the system barely glitches. No weird geometry. No accidental moon launches. No clipping through walls like I’m the ghost of a player who died mid-match and refuses to move on.

If Treyarch ever decides to fully commit and turn Call of Duty into a movement tech showcase, I’m in.

Modes, Mayhem, and My Growing Distrust of 20v20

Skirmish, the new 20v20 mode, feels like someone shoved Warzone and classic multiplayer into a blender and forgot to put the lid on. It’s chaotic, sure — but not the good kind. Not the “I’m having fun losing my sanity with my friends at 2 a.m.” kind. More like the “I died three times before my shoes touched the ground” kind.

Then there’s Gunfight, the forever “I appreciate your existence, but I don’t want to play you” mode. If you love tiny 2v2 showdowns with random weapons, this is your jam. For me, it’s like eating kale: I acknowledge its value, but I’m not consuming it unless forced.

Overload, though — now we’re talking. This capture-the-flag-style mode hits the sweet spot between chaos and strategy. Grabbing the EMP and diving into the enemy zone feels like the kind of heroic moment the dramatic part of my brain pretends deserves orchestral music.

The classics — Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Domination, Control — are still as dependable as ever. But when I want to zen out and let muscle memory take the wheel, I go straight to Team Deathmatch or Free-for-All. Nothing to think about. Nothing to coordinate. Just pure, uncut Call of Duty.

Mapping the Madness: The Real MVP of Black Ops

This year’s map lineup is shockingly consistent. Like, “did they steal the team that designed the best Modern Warfare maps?” consistent.

Retrieval, with its melting glacier and frosty tunnels, might be the prettiest map CoD has had in years. And Hijacked — yes, the yacht is back — is as gloriously chaotic as ever. Every map feels like it was designed by someone who actually plays Call of Duty, which sounds obvious, but history suggests otherwise.

No infuriating camp spots. No overpowered sniper lanes. No tiny bunkers of doom where someone can squat for twenty minutes like a gremlin hoarding KD ratio.

They’re fast, fluid, fair — and they make the wall-run feature feel native, not gimmicky.

Final Verdict: A Beautiful, Chaotic, Thrilling Mess I Can’t Stop Playing

Black Ops 7 multiplayer isn’t perfect. The matchmaking experiment is unpredictable at best and punishing at worst. SMGs need a serious therapy session. Skirmish is the digital equivalent of stepping on Legos.

But when Black Ops 7 hits — and it hits often — it delivers some of the most exciting, fluid, kinetic multiplayer CoD has had in years. The wall-running alone breathes new life into a franchise that often struggles to reinvent itself without breaking something important.

I’m having a blast. I’m yelling at my TV. I’m swearing vengeance on strangers I’ll never see again. Everything is exactly as it should be.