Black Ops 7 Review Bombed on Metacritic – Lowest User Score in Call of Duty History

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is facing heavy backlash as user reviews across major platforms paint a grim picture of the game’s reception.

BO7 Metacritic Score Plummets to 1.5 – COD’s Lowest Yet | Image: Activision

While fans had high expectations from Treyarch’s newest installment, things have taken a sharp turn just days after launch. From its campaign design to its use of AI-generated assets, Black Ops 7 has unexpectedly turned into one of the franchise’s most divisive entries.

Right now, the loudest reactions are coming from Metacritic, where Black Ops 7 is being heavily review-bombed. User reviews have only been open for a short time, yet the game has already hit a 1.6 user score, making it the lowest-rated Call of Duty on the platform. For context, last year’s entry managed a 6.2 despite receiving thousands of mixed reviews over time.

If you remember the wave of negativity surrounding 2023’s Modern Warfare 3, this year’s situation might feel like déjà vu. But surprisingly, Modern Warfare 3 still sits higher with a 2.3 score, meaning Black Ops 7 has dropped even further.

All COD games ranked by their Metacritic user scores:

• Modern Warfare - 8.5

• Call of Duty - 8.2

• Call of Duty 2 - 8.2

• World at War - 8

• Modern Warfare 2 - 7.9

• Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered - 7.6

• Modern Warfare Remastered - 7.3

• Black Ops - 7.2

• Call of Duty 3 - 6.7

• Black Ops 6 - 6.2

• Black Ops 2 - 6.1

• Advanced Warfare - 5.8

• Black Ops Cold War - 5.7

• Black Ops 3 - 5.5

• World War 2 - 5.4

• Modern Warfare 2 - 5.2

• Ghosts - 4.5

• Infinite Warfare - 4.4

• Black Ops 4 - 4.3

• Warzone - 4.2

• Modern Warfare 3 - 3.9

• Modern Warfare - 3.8

• Vanguard - 3.7

• Modern Warfare 3 - 2.3

• Black Ops 7 - 1.5

Many of these low ratings come from players upset about the campaign’s structure and storytelling choices.

When you scroll through user comments, you’ll find a flood of 0/10 and 1/10 ratings, with players calling the campaign one of the “worst in Call of Duty history.” Others have pointed out issues with multiplayer matchmaking, particularly complaints about non-SBMM playlists behaving inconsistently on launch day.

Here are some reviews worth reading:

"We have seen better games from smaller companies this year. End the yearly recycled garbage. Campaign is a mix of Destiny 2 and every black ops mission in the past, with no creative bone. Multiplayer is terrible. This game is worth 2 dollars, not 70."

"The game is a complete piece of crap. A carbon copy of the previous games. Microsoft and Activision screwed up just like they did with Xbox."

"I used to be a huge Call of Duty fan, but what they did with Black Ops 7 is unforgivable. The campaign and multiplayer are awful; this isn't Call of Duty. They should just change its name to something else."

"The campaign is absolutely terrible, multiplayer is meh. I have genuinely enjoyed the campaign aspect of the COD franchise in the past, and this is on par with Advanced Warfare (awful). No pause menu, no AI teammates, the weird as hell story, etc. Multiplayer is basically cut and paste of BO6 with the addition of wall jumping. I cannot recommend this at all, and I'll be switching back to BO6 now."

"The most boring company I've ever seen, it felt like it was created by a soulless AI. I simply fell asleep from boredom and quit the game."

"They've literally just killed CoD. Black Ops 6 wasn't perfect but it felt like COD was back again. Zombies were great, the campaign was okay and the multiplayer felt like it used to. For the first time in 10 years my believed that Call of Duty was on the right track again. That is until, they announced Black Ops 7. Every. Single. Thing. That the community has been super vocal about hating they decided to bring to Black Ops 7. Everything that we said we loved about Black Ops 6 and OG call of duty, they took away. Now all that's left is a steaming pile of dog crap wear a once great first person shooter empire lived."

"This game is trash. AI-generated junk, cant pause, boss battles? No f'n thank you. Swing and a miss Activision."

Despite that, some players have acknowledged the strengths of Black Ops 7’s multiplayer and zombies modes. But the general sentiment seems to be that the campaign weighs down the rest of the package.

And speaking of Steam, the reaction isn’t much different there. At the moment, the game holds a ‘Mixed’ rating (only 43% positive), with many users frustrated by technical issues, controversial design decisions, and the game’s focus on AI-generated art.

The timing doesn’t help either. With tough competition from Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6, along with Black Ops 7 launching directly into Game Pass (which some believe affects early sales momentum), the game appears to be struggling on multiple fronts.

Despite the community frustration, critic reviews paint a very different picture. Most major gaming publications have offered fairly positive impressions of the gameplay loop, presentation, and overall content. So we’re looking at a rare situation where critic and player sentiment are sharply divided, more than usual for a Call of Duty title.

Image: Metacritic via Gaming Amigos

With most criticism centered on the campaign, it’s hard to tell whether post-launch updates will be enough to turn the tide. We can hope for improvements, but for now, Black Ops 7 stands as the worst-reviewed Call of Duty to date, and that’s a headline nobody expected this year.