I’m bringing up the new one first since it’s just a little more interesting to me. There’s a new leak out with visuals for the remastered Hijacked and Express which were both fan favorite maps from Black Ops 7, and the community is on fire. Some are already looking forward to this while some are already bored, and honestly, both have a point. People who are newer to the franchise have a lot more reason to be hyped, and the burnt out core audience has every right to be sick of the rerun maps.
The new visuals first surfaced through images shared by Call of Duty, and the maps look appropriately updated with new visuals. They are indeed updated which gives them a new look and feel, but they are still recognizable to anyone who spent way too many hours playing those maps. One of the users, @TaNaaOfficial, commented “Nngl looks clean,” with which a lot of people agree, and another, @chaosmare888, said, “They look beautiful.” So the visuals are definitely there, no arguing that.
Then, comes the other side of the story and it is a stark contrast. In @PH1982CWS’s opinion, which many people agree with, “Just putting out the same maps again.” There are countless replies which show clear tiredness towards it and they aren’t wrong. This is the same old story with CoD. Moving on to @sizznite, which is where things get a little more intense, who said, “nobody is buying the same recycled franchise anymore since mw2019.” That’s a pretty sharp comment. But you can sense the vibe, right? It’s the feeling of being served the same meal for the tenth year in a row.
The scrutiny goes beyond old content. Some of the players are doubting if the maps, created over a decade ago, will function with the brand-new movement mechanics that CoD and Black Ops 7 is working on. As @MrMicMac11 pointed out, “these maps were never made with the new movement mechanics in mind, it honestly seems like none of the maps were.” For sure, that’s a genuine concern! Is Hijacked going to function the same with sliding or wall-running or any new thing they add? Probably not and that as well could impact that whole nostalgic mood they want to achieve.
There is the argument that this is “nostalgia bait,” a phrase that has been used multiple times. It was thrown out by @Bot21808: “The nostalgia bait is crazy.” And @TTVRondawg responded and said: “it’s just nostalgia bait; they know the community’s favourites (maps/characters/guns) so they plaster it everywhere to hide the actual inexcusable slop they produce.” The take is quite harsh but it can be understood. It feels safe. It feels like they are banking on what worked in the past instead of risking something new and exciting.
And the requests for different old maps are already rolling in. @HazardFGC asked the real question: “why do they remaster the same maps year after year.. nigga i want plaza.” For real tho, where’s Plaza? Where’s Standoff? There are so many classics to choose from and it seems like we get the same handful on rotation. @ryan8863 echoed this, saying “There are dozens of other maps they need to remaster, I am truly bored of these three maps. which sucks to say because BO2 is my favorite cod.” It’s a weird spot to be in, loving the original game but being tired of its greatest hits being the only thing on the menu.
Amidst all the complaining, there was a tiny bit of info that might change the perspective. In a reply to another user, @xavier_tru mentioned “These are the only 3 remastered maps at launch, the other 13 6v6 maps will be brand new.” Wait, hold up. If that’s true, that’s a huge detail. That means the majority of the maps will actually be new, and these remasters are just a little bonus for the old heads. That kinda makes it better? Maybe? It shifts it from being a lazy rehash to including some classics alongside a bunch of new content. But is that info even confirmed? Who knows. This is Twitter, man.
And as usual, it’s impossible to satisfy everybody. Some folks are completely over it. @plorbies is already making his exit plans: “wow cant wait to play them 3 times and uninstall”. A full on mood. @d3ucemaximus is adopting the wait and see stance for now: “yeah nah I’m good. I’ll just wait until the game goes on sale since I can’t see this one selling the way they think lol.” The skepticism is real.
But lets put some perspective here, the Call of Duty machine keeps on going for the simple reason that for every person who says they are done with the games, there is someone to take their place like @PSmoosay who says “Fuck. I didn’t wanted to but there goes my money…”. The allure of nostalgia is strong, even when we know that there is a high probability that we are being played. I believe @thebritnova gives the most reasonable take of all: “Im fine getting some guaranteed good maps.” After some of the… questionable… original maps we’ve gotten in recent CoD titles, maybe playing it safe with a few proven bangers isn’t the worst idea in the world.
So where does that leave us? Black Ops 7 is bringing back Hijacked and Express. They look good. A lot of players are tired of seeing the same maps reused. Others are happy to have some classics they know will be fun. The real test will be how they play with the new game’s mechanics and what the rest of the map pool looks like. If the bulk of the content is fresh, then a few remasters are a nice bonus. If it’s mostly old stuff, then the critics are 100% right. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out later this year.
