Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 review: superb multiplayer meets a sloppy campaign

Playing the co-op campaign of first-person shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 feels like diving into season 13, episode 21 of a low-budget network TV show with no prior context.

Set ten years after the events of 2012’s Black Ops 2, it opens with returning hero David Mason heading to the coastal city-state of Avalon with his squad to track down the source of a sinister broadcast purportedly from deceased terrorist Raul Menendez.

Your first mission involves infiltrating the high-tech headquarters of The Guild, a futuristic tech company that’s the apparent source of the video, and right from the get-go, it’s obvious that corners have been cut.

Cutscenes seem a little cheaper than usual, with awkward animations and juvenile, stilted dialogue that’s nowhere near the cinematic espionage excellence of last year’s Black Ops 6.

Back to the future

The pacing is ...