DaRmaZat Dropping into the battlefield of yet another Call of Duty feels both familiar and freshly reloaded with Black Ops 7. Running ahead of the full November release, the closed beta — available from October 2 to 5 — opened its doors to multiplayer and the ever-iconic Zombies mode, with the open beta following from October 5 to 8. And yes, gladly — between all that crouching and proning for accuracy, switching between hip fire and aiming down sights, or pulling off a quick melee finisher, the fundamentals still feel comfortable.
A System That Refuses To Sit Still
The biggest overhaul in Black Ops 7 comes from the updated Omnimovement system, now pushed beyond last year’s boundaries. Where Black Ops 6 introduced the mechanic that let you slide, dive, and roll like a superhero, Black Ops 7 turns that foundation into a full-blown parkour ballet. Once again, wall running and wall jumping return—yes, think Black Ops 3 or Infinite Warfare—now woven directly into the core moveset, allowing seamless transitions between sprinting, bouncing, and gunfire without ever needing to holster your weapon. It changes the rhythm of firefights entirely: every map corner can double as an escape route or an ambush point, depending on how deftly you chain those jumps together.
The result is a kind of controlled chaos—more agile than Black Ops 6, yet grounded enough not to feel like pure science fiction. You can vault into a fight, cling to the geometry, and land shooting, all within a single fluid gesture. It’s deeply satisfying when it leads to a successful escape or kill, though it’s worth noting that the mechanic isn’t new—and remains a divisive one, given how many longtime fans have voiced their wish to see it gone from the franchise.
Maps and Modes That Turn Combat into Motion, Open Moshpit as a Compromise
Three arenas define this beta phase: Cortex, Exposure, and The Forge. Each emphasizes the new movement in its own way. Cortex captures everything that defines the classic Black Ops layout—tight hallways bleeding into vertical sightlines, outer lanes where a single misstep means a fatal fall, and interiors that pressure close-quarter reflexes. Exposure spreads out wider, offering dangling containers and layered rooftops that beg for experimentation with the wall jump system.
But The Forge stands out—not for scale, but for its unpredictability. At its core spins a four-piece circular wall that constantly shifts position. Trying to hold the Hardpoint objective there becomes a spectacle of timing and instinct: the walls move, cover changes, and you must adapt mid-fight. It’s the kind of mechanical toybox—small enough to feel intimate, but dynamic enough to turn every match into a highlight reel.
And for those who’ve long dreaded the weight of Call of Duty’s skill-based matchmaking, Treyarch quietly tossed in a reprieve. The new Open Moshpit playlist drastically loosens matchmaking filters, letting anyone drop into mixed-skill lobbies. It’s a small but welcome change—especially for high-level players who’ve spent years trapped in sweaty mirror matches.
Training the Weapons, Withstanding the Zombies
Before all that mayhem, the game insists on sending you through its Training Course, a compact gauntlet that forces you to relearn Call of Duty’s muscle memory, master crouch-to-prone transitions, and make use of the new—somehow debatable—pinpoint grenades. Funnily enough, the mode still loads ‘while searching for other players’, a small reminder that everything in this beta lives on shared servers.
Beyond the level cap, sixteen weapons are unlocked during this closed phase, and early balance feels experimental. SMGs handle a bit underpowered for now, missing that signature snap from last year, while the M10 Breacher shotgun borders on absurd, capable of dropping opponents from ranges that mock physics. Snipers, on the other hand, finally strike a balance—demanding finesse, not luck. Assault rifles remain the franchise’s backbone, with the M15 MOD 0 feeling particularly crisp and steady. The beta hints at systems coming in the full release, such as weapon sharing—allowing you to copy the loadout of whoever defeated you—and experience points that carry across all modes, rewarding consistent play rather than just grind.
Of course, Zombies mode makes its return as well, ready for action in the beta whether you’re going solo or running with a three-player squad, bracing against waves that test not only reflexes but also awareness of the aforementioned new traversal systems. The iconic undead loop has been refined, now set against larger maps and new perk types waiting for the full release.
Preliminary Thoughts
Looking beyond the beta, everything here points toward a broader ambition. The full release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will also bring a co-op campaign, set in 2035, bridging near-future tech with grounded espionage. Movement, story, and systems all feel cut from the same design cloth—a confident blend of nostalgia and propulsion. However, some old frustrations carry over: the game frequently relaunches itself while preloading shaders or when selecting a specific content scope. My locally installed Corsair iCUE software for the AIO cooler and keyboard couldn’t handle it and frequently stopped doing their thing because of this. Besides that, the return of wall jumping won’t be welcomed by everyone, and yes, you still get kicked very quickly if you remain idle even for a short while in this game.
Admittedly, this closed beta is far from perfect. Getting kicked from a simple single-player training course, which could even run offline, dealing with its massive download size, the frequent restarts and shader preloads, minor bugs, and the occasional unexplainable packet loss until you disable those false positives—these are all already familiar pains. But underneath it all, a clear identity is beginning to reform. Black Ops 7 doesn’t just continue Call of Duty’s annual ritual; it’s starting to reclaim a sense of personality that, for me, has been absent from the series for years. Let’s just hope this hunch turns out to be right.
Additional Information
Release Date: Nov 14, 2025
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Website: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Relevant links: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 on Steam
