Going in,Call of Duty: Black Ops 6is something of a known quantity. The first-person shooter series is a monolith, almostperennially the best-selling game of the yearand a product of consistently high quality, butCall of Dutyalso seemingly possesses an inability to overcome its inertia. I played the original, World War 2-centered trilogy, but really cut my teeth on the series during the halcyon days betweenCoD 4and the originalBlack Ops. Nearly two decades later,it feels like I’m still playing some souped-up version ofModern Warfare, with a fresh coat of paint courtesy of 2019’s soft reboot of the same name.
This isn’t singularly a detractor, but a through line toBlack Ops 6, a game that doesn’t really feel new despite some bells and whistles, but instead familiar, stable, and optimized. When you playCall of Duty, there’s no mistaking the fact that you’re playingCall of Duty– it feels a lot like last year’s game. This puts the series in recurring conflict with itself:there’s no reason to disrupt the tightly designed, clearly successful formula, but there’s very little room for significant iterationon the surface, leavingBlack Ops 6as a game with some interesting, but ultimately not groundbreaking, ideas.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
The latest in publisher Activision’s marquee FPS series is primarily developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, but shippingCall of Dutyevery year is an almost unparalleled undertaking, withBlack Ops 6seeing support from Infintiy Ward, Sledgehammer Games, High Moon Studios, Beenox, Activision’s Shanghai Studio, Activision Central Tech, Activision Central Design, and Demonware.Black Ops 6has had a particularly long development cycle compared to the rest of the series, though, and it’s evidenced by a wealth of content, all of which deliversquality gameplay that’s nonetheless weighed downby the series' immense scale.
Black Ops 6’s Campaign Is At Its Best When Trying New Things
But It Doesn’t Get Experimental Enough
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s single-player campaign delivers a passably interesting narrative, with enough variety in gameplay and setting to keep your attention throughout. The story itself does well to avoid some of the more overtly propagandistic elements of theModern Warfaresubseries, and remains compelling despite a few fairly predictable turns. Wonderful performances for the main cast bolster the character-focused plot beats and missions.
Similarly,Black Ops 6utilizes an under-explored era, the Gulf War, buteschews any attempt at analysis of recent real-world history for CIA conspiracies and shadowy, multinational cabals. Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait are merely a backdrop, with Operation Desert Storm used as little more than an excuse for bombastic set dressing.
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Ending Explained (In Detail)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 contains one of the longer campaigns in the subseries, with plot twists and an ending that’s sure to have fans talking.
There is plenty of spy thriller charm to be gleaned fromBlack Ops 6, though. Infiltrating a swanky political event in Washington DC (withthen-Governor Bill Clinton in attendance) or orchestrating a casino heist make for some welcome espionage gameplay to break up the shooting galleries that largely dominateCall of Dutycampaigns.
To this end, there is also a fair number of puzzles to be solved – including an optional one that’s a distinct highlight of the whole game – and even several dialog trees to navigate for extra bits of characterization. The main cast are fairly rote characters, but excellent performances coupled withCoD’s exceptionally high production value help to make them respectable vehicles for the plot.
Call Of Duty Black Ops 6’s New Player Progression, Explained
COD Black Ops 6 is taking a new direction in player progression from previous entries, leaving some fans confused over how it really works.
Black Ops 6’s campaign really shines when it starts to blend genres. A handful of segments are genuinely unnerving, approaching a survival horror experience, and some missions that dip heavily into theBlack Opssubseries' science fiction leanings can at first feel like too sharp of a turn, but end up being some of the game’s more memorable sections. These are the more successful experiments, giving the campaign some endearing variety, butthere are also times whenBlack Ops 6seems to be grasping at something greater than aCall of Dutycampaign.
One fairly open level sets the player loose with scattered objectives and a laundry list of optional side missions. It’s both interesting and somewhat of a let-down; kind of like the survival game crafting elements injected late into the campaign of2022’sModern Warfare 2,it’s fun to seeCoDtry new things, and if it was more fleshed out, it could be a genuinely exciting evolution for the series' single-player. However, it remains relatively shallow – at once not overstaying its welcome, but also feeling under-baked.
Black Ops 6 Multiplayer Is Intimately Familiar
CoD’s Signature Gameplay Still Reigns
PvP multiplayer is the most familiar aspect ofBlack Ops 6, occupying a well-trodden space that’s remained largely unchanged sinceCall of Duty 4laid the foundation. The game’s most significant mechanical innovation, omnidirectional sprinting aka omni-movement, does make gameplay more agile, butit also seems to generally contribute to the dissolution of structured encounters, giving everyone so much mobility that any given match can devolve into chaos. This can be somewhat mitigated by carefully selecting which game modes are enabled.
Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, and Free-for-All typically become frustrating frenzies as everyone zips around the map with little to no direction; objective-based game modes like Domination, Hardpoint, and Headquarters usually result in a more compelling round. With its 16 brand-new maps,Black Ops 6’s multiplayer is a clear reminder of whyCall of Dutyhas dominated sales charts and the multiplayer FPS space for so long: the gameplay is simply fun. Especially in the wake of 2019’sModern Warfare, which revamped the punchiness of the series' gunplay, the series' moment-to-moment action remains satisfying, even if it never approaches the complexity of other competitive shooters.
Black Ops 6throws most game modes into a single Quick Play playlist, but this can be filtered to remove undesired modes since the game does not feature persistent lobbies between matches.
Much ofBlack Ops 6’s gratification in its multiplayer modes comes from its inheritance of the Gunsmith system, where new weapon attachments are unlocked quickly and frequently. New weapons, gadgets, perks, and wildcards come regularly as well, constantly providing new loadouts to experiment with.Black Ops 6’s multiplayer is satisfying and engaging when actually playing, butit’s also bogged down by obnoxious facets that entirely cater to its live-service monetization.
Menu backgrounds are dominated by characters awkwardly pacing endlessly forward, the play of the game is preambled by a slow-motion splash screen of the featured player, and the winner’s circle is a protracted look at otherwise pointless emotes.Call of Duty: Black Ops 6is a full-price game, costing a minimum of 70 USD. These superfluous elements singularly promote additional purchases and provide bloat to an experience that is otherwise largely pleasant, bogging down a product that players pay good money for.
Zombies Is Round-Based Again, Though It’s Not Really A Return To Form
Omni-Movement Has Great Influence On Zombies Gameplay
Mostly separated from the woes of live-service gaming, however, isBlack Ops 6’s other major multiplayer avenue: Zombies. Far from its quaint and claustrophobic inception inWorld at War, Zombies is affected the most by the introduction of omni-movement. Round-based Zombies has returned, andboth maps – Liberty Falls and Terminus – give you plenty of elbow room to dash and slide through the ambling horde. The tried and true strategy of running laps while kiting the undead, turning around regularly to unload a magazine, is exceptionally prevalent.
It’s also wonderfully chaotic when you happen to lead your tagalongs head-on into those of your squadmate, folding any strategy either of you had going and causing all those involved to feverishly look for an escape. Much like the campaign and the multiplayer,Black Ops 6Zombies is entirely familiar – all the cornerstones are there: the Mystery Box, Pack-a-Punch Machine, wall buys, doors to open, Perk-a-Cola (including thebrand-new Melee Macchiato), GobbleGum, wacky questlines, the works.
10 Best Beginner Tips For Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies
The Zombies mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a familiar horde mode to veterans of the series, but beginners may need to learn how to survive.
There’s some melancholy to be had in Zombies' loss of fundamentals. Long gone are the days of rebuilding window barricades to slow the deluge or clawing through the first few rounds with only pistol and knife to save points. Everyone can bring one weapon loaded with eight attachments into the game, but it’s hardly consequential, because getting to the Pack-a-Punch machine on both maps is hardly a struggle.Black Ops 6Zombies escalates very quickly in its gameplay, andthe atmosphere has lost most of the horror and mystery that defined its earlier iterations.
But this all amounts to Zombies feeling in line with the rest ofBlack Ops 6, a game designed for those who have been there before. Put me inWorld at War’s Nacht der Untoten map and I’d probably get bored rather soon, despite my nostalgia for it. Zombies knows what we’re there for: to blast hundreds of enemies with laser-firing Pack-a-Punch’d armaments and figure out how to get our hands on some Wonder Weapons. To that end, it’s not a surprise that it ramps up quickly, once again showcasingBlack Ops 6’s desire to deliver satisfying gameplay with very little barrier to entry.
Final Thoughts & Review Score
Content-Rich But Unambitious
It’s hard to knock anyCall of Dutytitle too terribly, especially one with as much polished content asBlack Ops 6. This one simply aims to optimize and deliver on the pillar experiences of small-to-medium sized multiplayer maps with smaller player counts, core round-based zombies with a focus on rapidly powering up, and a beefy campaign which the last few franchise entries under-delivered on. The gameplay itself feels very good andBlack Ops 6is deserving of the series' legacy, knowing what players want and giving it to them, even if that means playing it a little safe regarding gameplay innovation. That legacy also weighs it down, though, especially since it’s one of many games contained in the cumbersomeCall of Dutylauncher. Time will tell howBlack Ops 6’sperks, gear, Wildcards, and omnimovement affect the Warzone experience when season 1 launches next month.
Unpleasant menus aren’t likely to hamper the experience entirely, though, so anyone with a passing appreciation for the series is likely to be content withBlack Ops 6. Its protracted development cycle clearly paid off, but it also makes me wonder what kind of ambitious project the talent at Treyarch and Raven Software could concoct if it were unshackled fromCall of Duty. Another year brings another iteration of gaming’s FPS royalty, and perhaps more so than its relatives,Call of Duty: Black Ops 6is a rather convincing argument for why the series remains on top.
Reviewed on PlayStation 5
A digital download code for PlayStation 5 was provided toScreen Rantfor the purpose of this review.
