Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Review

Call of Duty has been on a downward trend for a few years now, at least in my eyes. The games haven’t been genuinely bad, but they’ve lacked the intangibles just a little bit. Modern Warfare II and III felt like glorified expansions rather than full-fledged new experiences. I was intrigued to get my hands on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 because it felt like a return to form for the series with a traditional Zombies mode, a full campaign, and the multiplayer we’ve all come to know and love. While the game isn’t perfect, it’s the best title Activision has released in at least the last five years.

Campaign

Story

The campaign in Black Ops 6 is a spy thriller in which you’re not always in the thick of the battle on the frontlines. It’s based more on stealth and working in the shadows than always going in hot (although you still have that option most of the time). It follows the end of the Cold War and begins at the start of the Gulf War. You primarily play as the silent protagonist, Case, who is suspended from the CIA and forced to go rogue along with Marshall and Woods. You then meet up with Russell Adler, who aids you in your mission to stop Pantheon. The story is one of conspiracy and corruption as you attempt to stop a chemical weapon controlled by Pantheon and figure out who is behind the organization.

Hub Space

The campaign has a hub where you can select missions, unlock upgrades for gear and weapons, and even uncover hidden secrets. It’s a nice break from the action of the actual missions, and I enjoyed the puzzle-solving aspects, such as turning on a boiler or uncovering a secret room by hitting the right keys on a piano after revealing the right sequence with a blacklight. The abandoned mansion is spacious, so there’s always a new corner to explore and different puzzles to figure out. You can even talk to your squadmates and gain valuable insight into the story that you’re playing through.

Open-World Level

There is one unique level where you are playing through the Iraqi desert. It functions as an open world, allowing your team to tackle whatever objectives they choose in whatever order they prefer. There is even fast travel in this level. You can tackle different things first to gain better perks in the rest of the level, such as helicopter support. It isn’t just going to point A or point B, either. There are distinct narrative choices on why you would choose to do one task over another. It’s one of the most extensive levels in Call of Duty history and was one of the most enjoyable to complete, thanks to the different approaches you could take. I also particularly enjoyed a level where you had to infiltrate a political gala to gain a retinal scan, and there were branching paths to complete it. It’s nice to break up the gunplay with these types of missions.

Omnimovement

If there is one thing that scared me about playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, it’s the introduction of Omnimovement. This system allows players to sprint, slide, and dive in any direction. I was sure this would create a lot of chaos in multiplayer games and make it a lot more annoying to play, but I can gladly say I was wrong. Black Ops 6 feels so much better to play, primarily because of this system being in place. Knee-sliding into an objective and evading bullets to take out a few enemies feels so satisfying. The aim assist isn’t as high for enemies trying to shoot you as you’re performing one of these movements, so it aids you in getting out of some sticky situations.

The knee-slide is far from the only tool at your disposal. You can also dive sideways and backward, like in an action movie. This has the added incentive of getting you behind cover quicker or vaulting you over something to shoot a few bullets toward a cowering enemy. I especially like diving backward into a corner where I can hold an objective when the enemy is barreling down on our team. It’s fun and fluid, making the game feel much more realistic and much less clunky. More movement options are never a bad thing, and I prefer this method over a jetpack or wall-running.

Multiplayer

Maps

The multiplayer maps have been pretty good this year. Some of my favorites are Babylon and Rewind. Babylon has fast and frantic action, similar to that of Shipment. I also liked the video store setting of Rewind because I’m nostalgic for it. There are some maps I’m not too fond of, like Scud and Derelict, because they’re so open, and you can quickly be flanked on all sides if you’re not careful. I didn’t hate any of the maps, though. I felt like they all had distinct personalities, and it was nice to rotate through any of them, including the many close-quarters face-off maps that are great for running shotguns.

Modes

A mode that grew on me as I played the multiplayer modes was Kill Order, a spin-off of VIP mode. A randomly selected player on each team is the high-value target and is granted extra armor. This person must try to stay alive for as long as possible while the other teams hunt them down. I played it a few times and didn’t like it, but I tried it again and haven’t removed it from my rotation since. It’s fun to see a team of people hunting down one person on another team as a group of players from the opposing team try to get that person to safety. It’s some of the most chaotic action I’ve seen in Black Ops 6.

Guns and Equipment

Gunplay is what you’d expect from the series up to this point. You can use up to 5 attachments on a gun unless you have a perk to use more. There are three sets of perks to use, and you can pick one perk from each set. If you use one perk from the same color set in each slot, you’ll get access to a specialty perk for that color set. Wildcards also return, allowing you to use two primary weapons simultaneously or add a fourth perk to your arsenal. I primarily run with a heavily modified C9 SMG and occasionally switch to the Tsarkov 762, a quick-firing Marksman rifle. I’ve reached prestige, so I’m starting to toy with other weapons to see which ones I like the most. There are ten levels of prestige already, so you’ll have a lot of XP to gain before being maxed out.

Zombies

Maps

Zombies mode is back this year, and we have two brand-new maps: Terminus and Liberty Falls. Terminus is a prison complex that has been converted into a research station, while Liberty Falls is a small town in West Virginia that zombies have overrun. Liberty Falls is a cool map that I enjoyed a lot more than Terminus, just based on the traversal alone. If you’re in a bind, you can go along ziplines to get from one end to the other. You pay essence to open doors, which feels much more traditional than Terminus. There, you must restore power to the generators to gain the ability to open doors. Terminus also has fun ideas, such as venturing to small islands on a raft to reach the next step in the story, but I still preferred Liberty Falls. There are tons of Easter Eggs on both levels, and they’re both playing through to see everything the mode offers.

Teamwork

The annoying part about Zombies is that you need to have a group of people you know to be successful, which means having four people ready to play simultaneously for a long time, as this mode can last hours on a single run. I have a core group of three people I play with, and we tried to play with a fourth, but they would either be way behind or ahead of what we were trying to do. You need to know what perks, buffs, and pack-a-punch weapons are most effective in getting the most out of your team, so it’s best that you have all like-minded individuals who try to work together.

I had a lot of fun playing Zombies and plan on returning to it frequently to get everything I possibly can out of the mode, now that I’ve also unlocked some of its content. It’s nice that we’ve returned to round-based modes after a quick detour, which I wasn’t too happy with. There’s nothing better than taking down a zombie horde with your buddies.

Conclusion

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a fantastic package of modes. There doesn’t seem to be a weak mode this year, and I’ve had a lot of fun with it. The gunplay is solid, omnimovement makes a positive difference in most modes, and the game looks and sounds great.