With Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 finally released on consoles and PC, I was eager to hop online into the multiplayer matchmaking. It's the part of the game that's going to be the most active on launch, while also being the most chaotic. As someone who was excited about getting into skirmishes with others after my experience with the beta, I was looking forward to seeing what was different in the full release of Black Ops 7 multiplayer. For everyone who spent a lot of time with the online multiplayer beta, there isn't much that is different from before, outside the modes that weren't available in that beta.

But that doesn't take away a lot of the fun. Multiplayer games can get pretty crazy in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The amount of tools that players have to get around and fight with are abundant, with new movement options from the previous game being expanded upon in good ways. I would sometimes call the game's balance into question, but somehow, Black Ops 7 still manages to have an element of fun that keeps everyone coming back for more. In my time with Black Ops 7 online so far, I can definitely see myself spending many more hours going through what new wrinkles the game brings to the franchise, even though the core of the experience is still fundamentally familiar.

Getting into the fights

A few new tools, with the same chaos

If you're just looking for more of the fast-paced action and craziness that comes with Call of Duty multiplayer, then Black Ops 7 stays on par with the rest of the series. Matches are still filled with over-the-top moments in Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, and Kill Confirmed when you hop online. The variety that comes with the additional multiplayer game types makes things feel fresh and interesting, especially when going into the Core Moshpit playlist, which mixes things up pretty well for every match.

Unfortunately, around the launch window, there are only so many playlists to explore, and the maps that continue to pop up are mostly the same rotation. This might change later on as more updates are released, with newer playlists getting added to the menu that may switch up what maps and modes are available for them.

With a new movement option like wall jumping, getting around a map is easier and often faster. Most of the time, I found myself looking to jump off walls and platforms to go through windows in higher areas just to pursue enemy players. It's something that I assume many people are going to end up using a lot, much in the same way the omnidirectional movement and aiming from Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 allowed players to become more loose with how they sprint and aimed weapons while prone. In firefights, however, wall jumping around targets is not always a good idea.

You can still fire weapons while wall jumping, but the split seconds needed to execute it could be the difference between getting a few more shots off or getting hit by your target. When I was looking to wall jump over an area, I was almost always trying to stay silent and move around without getting into a shootout, which often led to taking down enemies that I flanked. In the future, we might see more players wall jumping at foes in creative ways as the maps in the game are explored more.

The majority of matches I played were stable, with few issues with connections to other players. Like most other Call of Duty games online, there are always those one or two matches that can have hiccups with the connection and mess up your game, but the majority of the ones I played with Black Ops 7 were solid. The most fun I had was from playing matches of Kill Confirmed, Domination, and Overload on some of the newer maps that weren't in the beta.

Two maps, Raid and Den, take players to old-fashioned Japanese buildings with a variety of structures to traverse, and many rooms to hide in. Although these maps were mostly small to medium-sized, they still had everyone encountering each other at a pretty fast rate. The rest of the maps from the beta, like Cortex and The Forge, that were picked in the rotation were still fun to get into, especially with game types like Overload and Domination.

Skirmish Mode is a unique blend

Taking stuff from Warzone into multiplayer

The newest mode for multiplayer in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is Skirmish. This is a 20 vs 20 player mode that drops everyone onto maps, similar to what you see in Call of Duty: Warzone. There are two maps, Tide and Edge, that are filled with multiple buildings to enter, as well as vehicles to find and control. Games are won by completing objectives that randomly appear on the map, which score points for your team and see random care packages dropped onto the map, which can range from UAVs to full-blown airstrikes and more.

Playing matches of Skirmish felt like experiencing a bite-sized version of Warzone. Being able to jump into vehicles at the start with my teammates was very different from how things usually go with Call of Duty multiplayer matches, and felt like something similar to inspired by Battlefield 6 in some ways. Interestingly enough, there's a range of vehicle types to pilot, including helicopters and Hummers with turrets.

Seeing an overview of the map as I dropped into it with a glider was pretty neat and made it easier to get around each time I was killed and needed to reach a new objective. As interesting as Skirmish is for Black Ops 7, the mode has its problems with balancing. With 40 players being pushed into an area, it can feel like pure chaos in some moments. I was always struggling to get a stable footing when dropping onto the map and trying to capture objectives, only to be stopped dead in my tracks by enemies I just couldn't see.

At the same time, as more care packages were claimed while the match went on, killstreaks would add more fuel to the fire. Often, I would see the HARP called by someone, revealing the entire team's position, and watch as everyone converged into a few spots. Mixing all of this with everyone's custom loadouts and how ridiculous the balancing of weapons could be was a recipe for pure chaos.

Customization is solid in Black Ops 7

Even if its options take some time to open up

Like in the beta for the game, the customization options for Black Ops 7 are pretty good. There are multiple guns of each type to use and customize with attachments and weapon skins. While there were plenty of assault rifles and SMGs for me to explore, there were only a few LMGs and sniper rifles to pick from, which may change over time. For the most part, it's essentially the same as what was possible in Black Ops 6, but with different kinds of weapons.

The most interesting addition to this, however, is the Overclock system. This applies to tactical equipment, lethal equipment, field upgrades, and killstreaks. It opens up the effectiveness of every option, allowing players to change the properties of their favorite loadout options, while also adding variety to what is seen in multiplayer matches. It's a good addition to the game that encourages everyone to try out new options for their custom loadouts, and their effectiveness can be felt while in the middle of a firefight.

There's only one major downside to the Overclock system that I found while exploring it for my loadouts. It can take a long time to open up the additional options for most of the equipment and higher-level killstreaks. Each option gains experience when you use it effectively, such as getting kills or assisting teammates through their use. None of it is impacted by player level. Unfortunately, some of the killstreaks and equipment that you have won't always be used frequently in a match, and sometimes not at all.

This severely slows down one's ability to get any of the Overclock modifiers to add on, with some of them possibly never opening up. As much as I want to add an Overclock ability to something like the Napam Strike, I'm not always going to be able to call it in, let alone get enough kills to open up the extra options. Some of the required counts to get these might not be much, but that won't matter if I can't even use them during a match.

The selection of operators to pick from is big enough to offer a lot of variety to the faces you encounter online. I like the diversity of characters that are available from the start, but more options for them open up as you finish other modes, like the main campaign and Endgame mode. Some of them are also obtained by leveling your rank in multiplayer, which isn't a huge task to complete if you're already planning on hitting a prestige level at some point.

While it's not a roster of characters that is as goofy as what Black Ops 6 had to offer with its connection to Call of Duty: Warzone, the operators still look pretty good. The game feels more grounded in what it establishes with its own story and modes when it comes to playable characters, rather than opening up the floodgates to what multiplayer has become for the franchise.

The fight goes on in Black Ops 7

Multiplayer in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 isn't bad at all, even though there are some aspects to it that I would like to see tweaked over time. I found the combat to still be as furious and hectic as any fan of the series would like to see, with a few extra options to open up what I can do during gameplay. The new Skirmish mode is an interesting blend for what has been a success for the Call of Duty series in recent years, which can continue to evolve further.

Like any other online game, its success is going to be determined by its longevity and response from players that go online. The servers are going to be bustling with players who pick up the game around launch, and I cannot wait to dive into the chaos with them. Still, I'm going to want to see how things turn out in the coming months before making definitive conclusions about what Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 ultimately delivers to players.