Ah yes, that sweet, sweet omnimovement.
A year ago, Activision disrupted its long-standing Call of Duty developmental cycle, shuffling Modern Warfare 3 into what should’ve been Treyarch’s spot with its last title, Black Ops: Cold War, having been released in 2020. The results weren’t great.
Granted, we still had some fun with it, but the lackluster campaign and repurposed multiplayer undercut its long-term appeal, and we’d checked out within a couple of months of its release. While we’re not privy to the internal reasoning, the decision to have Black Ops 6 come out four years after Cold War has at least resulted in a return to form for the series.
For some, the campaign in Call of Duty is, at best, a brief distraction from the meat-and-potatoes element that is multiplayer. It’s the reason why, over the years, it’s been marginalized in some of the releases. We’re happy to report that is not the case in Black Ops 6.
As is Treayrch’s wont, you’re dropped into action that’s surrounded by actual historical events. We’ve seen Vietnam and the early ’80s Cold War as some examples. This time around, we’re headed to Operation Desert Storm for the backdrop.
The campaign opens with a basic extraction mission, but things go sideways when your target mentions he’s wanted by a paramilitary force known as Pantheon. Before you can get him out, Adler shows up and kills the Iraqi Minister. While Adler submits to capture, you and your team (made up of familiar faces like Marshall and Woods) are blamed by the CIA for the failure and summarily suspended.
Naturally, that move just means you can operate without oversight, so your team joins up with Adler at an old safehouse to launch a thorough investigation into Pantheon in an attempt to unravel what role they’re playing in the geopolitical world. If you know Call of Duty, you know what to expect in terms of betrayals and swerves whilst weaving in the events of the time. It’s nothing special, but it works to keep the campaign moving forward.
It’s absolutely a dramatic step up from last year when the ham-fisted introduction of “open combat missions” felt like bot-filled Warzone maps rather than actual campaign content. This time around, Treyarch gets it right, weaving in open-world missions that allow you to tackle objectives in different ways and explore the map while still delivering a varied collection of more structured missions. It evens take some interesting liberties, using the excuse of hallucinations to introduce enemies and levels that feel more like Resident Evil than CoD. It ends up being one of the best single-player efforts from the franchise in recent memory.
As ever, though, multiplayer is where the longevity comes into play. You can safely rely on the staples of the series with snappy gunplay and varied loadouts to accommodate different play styles. The leveling and loadout systems have stabilized as well with few tweaks in either department, though now if you select three perks from the same “family” you’ll be granted an additional specialization. For example, if you choose three Recon perks, you’ll unlock the ability to briefly see all enemy positions when you respawn, which can be beneficial.
The signature new addition for Black Ops 6’s multiplayer mode is “Omnimovement,” which allows players to sprint full speed in any direction (yes, even backwards) and also leap through the air while maintaining the ability to lay down fire.
While it doesn’t slow down time, it’s easy to draw the comparison to the olden days of Max Payne’s bullet time mechanic as you breach a door and leap sideways, firing in mid-air in an effort to takedown a foe that’s trying to compensate their aim to track your flight.
Initially, the increase in the sprint/slide and/or sprint/dive was a bit annoying, and even after sinking lots of hours into the game it’s still not our preferred approach — we would definitely be considered old school in our view of what is (and isn’t) acceptable in the world of Call of Duty where we’ve been gunning down players since the double tap with the M1-Garand was the way to go.
That being said, there are ways to defend against it (read: aim where they’re going to be rather than where they are) that still allows for a combo of steady aim and map control to be a viable approach.
Speaking of the maps, the suite of available launch locations is rock solid. Everyone will have their favourites (Skyline, Subsonic, Derelict), and those that they aren’t nearly as enthusiastic about (Babylon, Red Card), but none of the maps on offer had us backing out during the countdown because we couldn’t bear to play it again.
Different maps favour different play styles, and that’s OK. Our main gripe is a few of the maps can feel a little too big for the standard 6v6 modes like Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed, and it’s never much fun to go without firing a shot for 30-plus seconds before being summarily shot in the back, only to start looking for engagements again.
Zombies is back as well, this time in the hands of its original creators, Treyarch. The Omnimovement system makes an appearance here as well, and the mode contains two new maps along the usual assortment of zaniness. As we’ve said for years, Zombies simply isn’t for us. It requires a degree of patience, free time, and need for coordination (which you’re simply not going to get in random pairings) that we just can’t invest in. Most of the online feedback seems positive, though, which couldn’t be said for the MW3 version, so it sounds like a return to form.
OVERALL (4.5/5)
With tight gunplay, a varied and enjoyable campaign, and a multiplayer that adds another layer via Omnimovement, Black Ops 6 is a strong installment in the long-running Call of Duty series. If you skipped the largely rehashed Modern Warfare 3, this is a good place to jump back in.