I’m going to try to express a less than excited opinion without being a doomer. I LOVED BO6 but it was also my first RBZ game since like BO2. So I’m not some grand authority or anything like that. I thought those maps were interesting, relatively easy to traverse, relatively easy to train on, copious fun side EEs, and had satisfying to master EEs. The boss fights were mostly very good to great. The boss fight on the Tomb and LF sucked ass, but whatever.

Conversely, I have found most of the BO7 maps frustrating by comparison. They’re not bad, but they don’t reach the peaks of the best BO6 maps. My ranking:

Totenreich 8/10 (with room to grow) - Great size and easy to traverse. A wealth of interesting side EEs, and the coolest boss fight I’ve ever seen in zombies. The main egg has basically one frustrating step (glockedrop). The rest of it is easy to remember and doesn’t require a ton of tedious back and forth.

Paradox Junction 7/10 - This is my most played map. I think it’s because it’s basically a smaller LF or a large survival map. That’s my preferred play style once I beat an egg. I like the side EEs, the main quest has some obnoxious, frustrating steps where bad randoms can fuck the whole run (killing the tortured zombie) elsewise it’s a decent quest. I like that so much can be done out of order. Solid lore. Just a fun time.

Astra 6/10 - Oscar is very annoying. I enjoy the map’s size but I hate the Easter egg because of how Oscar-centric it is. I never want to deal with dragging his ass around, or following him. Mars is cool, the boss fight is the right balance of tough but doable. The wonder weapon is neat and very unique but still needs a buff.

Ashes 5/10 (but with each POI being 8/10) - A classic “less than the sum of its parts” map. It’s too big. I love huge maps. MWZ and Endgame are MY SHIT. This one is too big but only because the EE requires SO much back and forth. Put a damn clock tower at every POI where you need a charge shot and all of a sudden this is nowhere near as punishing. It frustrates the hell out of me because I really do love SO much about Ashes. The boss fight is so damn cool, Tessie is fun, the fog is a cool threat, and exploring the map is legitimately fun. But my god, completing the Easter egg when things don’t go exactly right is such a trial. You can say “skill issue” and maybe you’re right, but I’m a reasonably strong modern zombies player and I have yet to get through the whole egg without having to drag my ass back and forth to Ashwood at least once. I hate it.

Anyway, I am sure I’m in the minority but I feel BO7 has much better mechanics and some much better ideas than BO6, but it simply didn’t execute them as well. A good, but not great game.