CoD: Black Ops 7's wallhack killstreak is receiving a frenzy of criticism, but isn't the point of killstreaks that they're unfair?

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The sniper rifle has a thermal scope and can shoot through cover, but you can also call in a napalm strike, so I'm not sure it's a big deal.

A clip from today's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 event has gone mildly viral, and is attracting the ire of onlookers who seem to feel that Call of Duty has, this time, gone too far with the wacky gadgets and guns.

I sort of get the indignation, because it doesn't look fun to be on the receiving end of a bullet that was fired through two layers of concrete by someone you never could've seen, but I also sort of don't get it, because aren't all Call of Duty killstreaks like that?

How is this less fair than someone calling in an attack helicopter or carpet bombing part of the map? In some of these games you can call in a tactical nuke. A nuclear bomb!

Granted, the specific post I've shared is directed at the pro scene—"GA" refers to a "gentlemen's agreement" not to use certain guns or abilities that have been deemed harmful to competitive play—and maybe this is something the pros will balk at.

To me, though, it just looks like yet another thing better players will kill me with. It appears that you get nine bullets, and so with perfect aim can score nine kills, which is a lot, but other streak rewards can do the same job. Also, Blops 7 will include the usual 'Cold-Blooded' perk so that you can hide from thermal optics.

I do agree that killstreaks and scorestreaks are annoying in general. I liked them way back in the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare because they were novel, and there were only a few of them to deal with, but these days I'd welcome streak-free playlists where I don't have to be bullied by exceptional players who spend a quarter of the match shooting me from a helicopter.

The response here is probably more about vibes than anything: A wallhack sniper rifle is yet another prompt for the Call of Duty-fatigued to declare that they're throwing in with the Battlefield crowd this year, and EA has smartly been playing up the idea that Battlefield 6 offers a more "grounded" take on modern warfare.

I don't think Battlefield has ever been something I'd call grounded, but Call of Duty got so loaded up with live service cruft and goofy-ass crossover skins that it wasn't a hard reputational battle for EA to win—it just had to not give Beavis and Butt-Head starring roles in BF6. Activision has started to change its tune on premium skins, but for the near future, I don't know that it has much hope of escaping the narrative that CoD jumped the shark.

As Morgan just pointed out, it doesn't help that Blops 7 hasn't blown us away so far. I remain a sucker for CoD's particular style of shooting, so I'll check it out, but I doubt I'll be good enough to ever earn this fancy sniper rifle. If I do, I guarantee that some kid will bound around a corner and noscope me before I even get a chance to look down that thermal sight, so you don't have to worry about OP killstreaks from me, at least.

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Tyler Wilde
Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

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