Over a decade in the past, Name of Obligation: Black Ops III launched a brand new multiplayer sport mode to the franchise: Safeguard. This team-based mode had gamers pushing and defending a strolling robotic from one other staff tasked with stopping it. It was excellent. However the mode’s final look in a important sport was in 2018. So I used to be over the moon to see the mode return as a part of Black Ops 7‘s second season. And while I have some issues with it, Safeguard is still a lot of fun in 2026.
Booting up Safeguard in the new season of COD: BLOPS7 was like returning to an old friend’s home after years away to hang around. One thing I’ve at all times appreciated concerning the mode was the way it gave the protection a option to combat again that wasn’t simply “Kill the other team.” You possibly can as a substitute focus your injury on the robotic, and when you do sufficient, it would cease transferring and need to reboot. This offers much less expert gamers a approach to assist with out having to seek out extremely expert COD execs every match. It additionally results in an attention-grabbing dynamic the place a defending staff can over-focus on taking out the bot and let the attackers flank them and wipe them out. However focus an excessive amount of on the attackers, and the bot will stroll its approach into the checkpoint, and also you’ll lose earlier than you notice it.
This time round, the robotic you might be defending is a four-legged Boston Dynamics-like mechanical canine. The bots had been beforehand bipedal humanoids, which was superb, however I’m much more into guarding a robo canine than a random mechanical man. Nevertheless it felt to me as if this robotic canine could be transferring sooner than the previous bots had in Safeguard. So I talked to the devs behind the mode, they usually confirmed that, no, the bot is transferring at a “pace consistent with previous” variations of Safeguard.
Nonetheless, “BO7’s tighter map layouts, updated pathing, and the new animation set can make its movement feel faster, even though the underlying speed hasn’t changed much,” mentioned a Treyarch spokesperson. Additionally they confirmed they’re taking a look at information to determine if the bot ought to transfer a bit slower.
One other situation with the present model of Safeguard in Black Ops 7 is that you may generally win, however nonetheless lose. Mainly, the sport mode is constructed round how briskly you get the bot to the checkpoint. Every staff will get a shot at pulling this off. If the primary staff does it in let’s say two minutes, then the opposite staff goes, and in the event that they get the bot there in two minutes and three seconds, they’ll lose despite the bot making it to the checkpoint. This feels unhealthy, and Treyarch tells me they’re wanting into this.
“We’re evaluating options to end the second round early in situations where the attacking team hasn’t pushed the Robot far enough in time,” Treyarch instructed Kotaku. “And we’re looking at this alongside the broader UI improvements already in progress. Our goal is to make the rules and win conditions as clear and intuitive as possible for all players.” The staff can be open to bringing again time beyond regulation, which isn’t included in Safeguard proper now.
Moreover these points, and an odd bug that allow folks knock the bot out with a fight axe that has already been patched, I’ve actually loved taking part in Safeguard once more. I feel it’s an important instance of how Name of Obligation‘s gunplay can be incredibly successful in modes that aren’t merely about killing one another.
I hope the mode sticks round previous season two and, like Kill Confirmed and different fan favorites, return in future Name of Obligation video games. You don’t even need to have a robotic for this mode to work. If the subsequent Name of Obligation isn’t set sooner or later however as a substitute WW2 or one thing, superb, use a jeep. That will nonetheless let me take pleasure in this mode with my associates, even those that aren’t nice at FPS video games.
