Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 review — Shot heard ‘round the world

It’s been a second. Black Ops is one of the more recognizable monikers in the gaming space, but after Cold War launched back in 2020, we’ve not seen hide nor hair of it. Treyarch was – and rightfully so – getting time to reconfigure their engine to the unified one now used by all Call of Duty studios. That, and they were rushed a bit with Cold War. After four years, Treyarch is finally back to the front, and the results are staggering.

Campaign

It all has to start with the campaign, right? There are those who buy a Call of Duty game only for the campaign, and plenty who don’t. Even so, it’s noticeable when it’s not a good one. Treyarch was lent a hand by Raven Software on this one, and both of their fingerprints are evident on this story.

Everything begins rather suddenly. James Woods, now in his wheelchair, along with new agent Troy Marshall and Jane Harrow are in a conference room with agency director Daniel Livingstone. There’s a discussion about a recent mission – which you play in a quick flashback – in which the two of Marshall and Harrow head out to pick up a hostile asset… which means you’re more or less kidnapping him. In the middle of a chaotic escape, Adler shows up, shooting your asset dead and leaving you to figure out what just happened, along with a code phrase for Woods. From here, it’s bye bye to the CIA as it seems to have been infiltrated by an organization named The Pantheon.

I say suddenly because it doesn’t feel like you get time to breathe. There is no setup to being on the run – you simply are within the first thirty minutes. I don’t have a problem with it at all, but it can be a bit jarring as you attempt to understand what is happening.

Left behind by the CIA, it’s up to your character, William ‘Case’ Calderon, along with Woods and Marshall to recruit a few helping hands as they search for leads. The first one was handed to you by Adler, that being the name of a safehouse. This is your hub for all missions, and reminds me of the many hubs in previous Black Ops games; especially the one in Cold War. There are even a few secrets to find as you peruse the property, with a worthwhile reward for completing a particular easter egg.

The friends we made along the way is a very prevalent theme for Black Ops 6. While there are certainly characters we cherish from previous Black Ops games, I feel like this sixth entry does each character more justice than I’ve seen in previous ones, maybe sans Woods. In the safehouse you have the opportunity to speak with the newbies and Woods, and the dialogue choices allow you to take a peek deeper into their motives and feelings. Felix Neumann, a former Stasi agent and techie extraordinaire, is a personal favorite of mine, with a ton of character development and well-written backstory to follow. Others are similarly well done, like the stoic yet vulnerable Sevati Dumas, and Marshall playing the reluctant leader type. It’s a good crew, with each playing a crucial role in the mission at hand.

All of the avenues the Black Ops 6 narrative leads you down hearkens back to its glory days. Espionage and conspiracy are the key pillars, and Raven manages to continue on the Black Ops tradition of making you look twice. Some missions are standard, military-type tropes, but others have you shaking your head in disbelief at where the team has taken things. I rolled credits feeling like they addressed the questions I had and checked the boxes of a Black Ops game, while also wowed by the liberties taken. There are plenty of twists that occur, with just enough meat left on the bone of some of them to keep you thinking after you’re done.

This is largely due to the mission design, which is top notch. Every mission has its own feel, even if you’re doing similar things in certain ones. One moment I’m sliding around the rocks of a desert looking for cover, then I’m sneaking up a bell tower to take a sniper shot at a thug once I’ve listened into his conversation and gotten what I needed. In another, I’m infiltrating a Clinton campaign dinner, then off to an open-world desert to set up an assault on an enemy compound. I’m doing my best to not spoil any big details here, but the setpieces are immaculately picked and the constant mission variety works in a wonderful way.

Two missions I want to speak on specifically are Hunting Season and Emergence. The first is the open-world mission I briefly brought up. This will remind you at least somewhat of what Sledgehammer attempted in Modern Warfare III, but here, it’s done more successfully. A lot of that is due to a lot more time to build it, and it shows in the details, with Hunting Season feeling fully realized in gameplay and narrative with no rushed development. Emergence is the other, and… you’ll truly have to play it to understand how incredible it is. We’ve used the term mind-blowing in describing Black Ops 6 before, and it certainly applies here.

As per usual, the game also succeeds in how fantastic it plays. World-class gunplay anchors the experience; you can’t shoot a gun better virtually than in a Call of Duty game. Not only that, but the extra efforts in sound design are commendable – the immersion each level has between the gunfire, explosions, and general audio puts you in that world. The campaign also puts a ton of weapons in your hands, which sounds like a no-brainer, but often I leave the story without getting a good chance at experiencing the whole arsenal. I think the team intentionally pushes options in your face, and that’s a great choice to prepare your gamers for the multiplayer and Zombies. That’s also present in the tactical wheel, which allows you to pick up all different kinds of tactical and lethal equipment and utilize them as each level continues. By the way, the homing knife rocks.

Another area where Black Ops 6 is outstanding is its graphical fidelity; something often overlooked in Call of Duty games. The cutscenes are aces, jawdropping in quality. While I tend to run my settings really low for multiplayer performance, it’s worth turning everything up for the campaign. The locations you’ll visit are well chosen as well, leaving behind the drab grays military shooters tend to hold onto and embracing a vibrant color palette, like when you visit a casino in High Rollers or invade the dark secrets of Separation Anxiety. That’s not to say the grays are non-existent, but the missions don’t blend together thanks to the art style selections.

After completing the campaign, my only qualm would be in how it ends. I don’t think it’s a bad ending, far from it in fact. But, there’s something to be said for an impactful finale, and it doesn’t land with the bang I was hoping for. I’m probably spoiled forever from throwing a knife into General Shephard’s eye in MW2 2009; a high bar to vault. There are enough great moments throughout the campaign to make up for it however, and the background lore they’re building has me very curious (and excited) as to the direction of the Black Ops series. It almost seems to be leading to something much larger than an eight hour campaign can contain.

Multiplayer

No matter where you go with Call of Duty, multiplayer will always be a key tenet to how well the game will be received. As rough as the MWIII campaign was, the multiplayer redeemed it in many ways. I’ve already spoken on Black Ops 6’s multiplayer before after time with it at Treyarch and COD NEXT, but the full package presents even more options and necessitates another look.

First off, let’s get the map discourse out of the way. Many aren’t as big of a fan of the way these maps work, and I get some of the narrative. As I’ve played the current map roster, I’ve noticed a flow change in Black Ops 6. There aren’t nearly as many routes one can take on a map, with tons of open spaces on most of them. This presses many players to simply fly out into an engagement, or find the nearest heady to wait until an opportunity for a gunfight presents itself. The flow of these maps is great for instant shootouts, but I’m not sure the competitive player will be satisfied with them. I’m personally having trouble with some of my timings, especially since I’m having to sprint into open space to get places.

With that out of the way, I love designs chosen. Nothing runs together – each map stands on its own and stands out because of that. Treyarch has usually done well here, but this feels like their best work. My personal favorite is Rewind, even if the flow is a bit wonky. There’s something about the shopping center battleground that works perfectly for a Black Ops game. Others like Vorkuta, Skyline, Vault, and Derelict all have an aura that makes you want to play them. Variety is the spice of life, and Black Ops 6 has it.

If you’re looking for something a bit more hectic, Face Off is back. It’s a little different than Cold War, with a full 6v6 loading in as opposed to the former’s 3v3. The maps aren’t much bigger than they were in Cold War either, with a blistering pace to be followed the moment you spawn in. These maps are tremendous in play as well, with that Shipment vibe we all know and love. These double as Gunfight maps too, and they work exactly as well as they do in Face Off. Warhead is probably the best one of the bunch, which is best described as if Nuketown threw up itself and dumped a load of sand everywhere.

Omnimovement is another pillar of Black Ops 6’s design, a new movement mechanic that lets you sprint and dive everywhere. Whether forward, backward, or side to side, you have options at your disposal. While Cold War had a much slower pace compared to the slide-canceling of Modern Warfare, Black Ops 6 has a pace that rests right in between both. This results in a happy medium that fits the gameplay feel of a Black Ops game without speeding it up too much.

I’ve found myself utilizing a lot of what you can do with Omnimovement, but it feels like something that accentuates what you’re doing as opposed to overriding it. It’s a natural extension of your operator, allowing you to get a full range of motion as opposed to punishing you unintentionally because the game code said no. Moving this way would usually be thought of as clunky, but when you’re an action hero and one of the best athletes in the world (at least virtually), diving John Wu-style while gunning down a guy sliding to your right is more than possible and as smooth as it gets. It all happens really fast, but once you grasp what Treyarch is trying to do – enabling your choice in movement rather than restricting it – it all makes sense.

Picking the right loadouts will be the most impactful item in your multiplayer experience, and there are pros and cons to this system. I like the old Cold War builds, and this largely resembles that. The great news is there is a wealth of options, with weapons and gear galore. I think what’s here will allow for plenty of playstyles: whether you like to sprint in guns blazing, sit back and shoot from a head glitch, snipe from a high position, or flank your opponents for the sneaky backstab. There are a few annoyances in the tiered levels; for example, flashbangs are overpowered and the tac mask perk is at the very end, but these kinds of things can be mitigated with tweaks.

The leveling system in general feels quite slow. The initial fifty-five tiers that unlock all remaining equipment takes quite a bit of time; even after a full weekend in which I was largely glued to my seat I haven’t finished it yet. Weapon leveling is even more egregious, with my only having finished a single gun completely. These two systems need to be sped up a bit to feel more satisfying.

Thankfully, camo grinding is just right, with simple challenges available that don’t require you to level a gun all the way up to do. It says something that I had gold camo by the time or before I reached the final level of the XM4. The prestige system also returns to its roots bearing some fun rewards that will take you down memory lane. All of this is in the game day one as well, so having so much to accrue – even if it takes longer than it probably should – is phenomenal.

Attachments are in a much better place than they have been the last few years. This function of Call of Duty has been corrupted by Warzone, with a ton of new options available for players to use but with few making an impact. Treyarch has slimmed down the list, but also made it possible to add them to a gun without making as many concessions. Some attachments don’t have a single con, giving you a boost without taking away from it. Streamlining and simplifying this system was necessary, and I appreciate Treyarch doing so. Cross-progression is also still a feature in Black Ops 6, so take your weapon builds to Warzone and Zombies and level things up across the board.

Speaking of the weapons, there is a stellar arsenal to use in Black Ops 6. I’m almost at a loss as to what to use each round, as there’s a nice balance between all of them. Assault rifles are definitely still king given the more open map design, along with great movement. That said, the mix at launch for submachine guns, snipers, shotguns, and light machine guns is great.

I mentioned in my COD NEXT impressions how well-balanced all the weapons felt, and I still feel that way. There are outliers in terms of most effective weapons, with guns like the AK-74 and Jackal still do-it-all and quite powerful. But, I don’t feel like they’re in a league of their own, just leading the pack. Great game design allows there be a meta while not discouraging the use of other weaponry. Here’s hoping this leaks into Warzone in a few weeks.

Not surprising to anyone, the world-class gunplay of the campaign makes its way into the multiplayer. Pairing it with the Omnimovement leads to arguably the smoothest Call of Duty experience in franchise history, with snappy movement and shooting. I’m extremely impressed with this year’s gun audio as well, which also could be the best ever for a Call of Duty game. One of my favorite things about a Call of Duty game is how it sounds, and each gun’s raw power feels on display through my speakers or headset. The choices of how each gun sounds has been selected properly, and even with a silencer or suppressor on they rip. In any case, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and Treyarch continues to uphold the excellence that is Call of Duty gunplay and gameplay.

There have been only a few technical problems so far at launch. A bug where you die at the beginning of a Search and Destroy match, loadouts not saving changes, and so on. I’m impressed with how well the servers have held up after the influx of players, so that’s a nice surprise. I do wonder if there aren’t some issues inside the servers though, as I feel like I’m shooting a few ghost bullets. Maybe there are some netcode things that need to be ironed out for hit detection to be corrected, or maybe there are ping troubles. In any case, Treyarch has been addressing things on the fly, and it seems help should continue to be on the way.

Since a new season is already around the corner, this last section of my multiplayer review is a good place to discuss the live service aspect of Black Ops 6. I’m not sure of everything we’ll be seeing once Season 1 arrives beyond the Warzone integration and the Area 99 map, but it seems like Treyarch is moving fast to ensure we’re always playing something new. Nuketown hits just a week after launch, and Infected has already been added in the game modes. The cadence for incredible post-launch support is here, let’s hope they stick the landing.

Zombies

Zombies is that final staple that brings everything together for a Call of Duty game. Whereas Cold War had some enjoyable experimentation and Modern Warfare III’s Zombies went full open-world, Black Ops 6 goes back to a simpler time where we were all stuck on a map having to open doors. I say simpler time, but if anything, the style of Zombies has grown even more complex as the round-based mode has grown.

For this launch, there are two maps available to play. It’s more than just that, as each map is completely different from the other. Again, Treyarch has done a great job of keeping things fresh, making sure you get two unique experiences. Liberty Falls is a tighter and brighter location (although more dreary in atmosphere since COD NEXT), and Terminus is a large, intricate, and dark map.

I’m most familiar at this point with Liberty Falls, after experiencing it at COD NEXT and spending a lot of time with it at launch. While the map somewhat plays more akin to a multiplayer one, the smaller area makes for a frenetic pace. This rundown town, recently mobbed by the undead for an unknown reason, has you as part of an unnamed team searching for answers. The only downside is this is a side mission style map; the story doesn’t translate as much into the larger narrative behind the Zombies crew.

Terminus on the other hand is a big part of the story, beyond being a huge, winding map. This prison is where the crew from Cold War is being held, and new operator Maya Aguinaldo is here to break them all out. Speaking of, make sure you play as the crew operators during Terminus, as specific dialogue and story details are available with them involved. The compact, metal corridors and dark laboratory underbelly of the facility breaks way into a few jungle-like paths and spaces, overall quite befitting of a main Zombies map. If you wanted Zombies aura, you get it on Terminus.

For someone who’s always enjoyed the Call of Duty series, my experience with Zombies has been on a casual level, so I’m still learning the ropes of what the maps and mode entails. Where MWIII’s open-world Zombies was much more intuitive in telling you what to do, much of the round-based mode is vague and expects you to figure it out. In this mode, you really should go into it expecting to die a few times as you learn what the different perk-a-colas, machines, and gobblegums do.

Each map has a distinctive set of power ups and wall-buys available. The mystery box is still out there, and moves around each match or if you get a teddy bear on your buy. Liberty Falls doesn’t have every perk cola on it, with most existing on the bigger Terminus map. Gobblegum machines are around every corner however, obviously a big part of the RNG of the game. The mysteries of the map, exploring every nook and cranny to learn where things are, is a fundamental part of the round-based experience, so I’m glad that’s intact.

New to the series are the augments, and these are going to be a grind. You research these to unlock them, and do so simply by going to the menu and selecting the one you want to work on, which passively gains research as you play. The augments subsist of both minor and major ones. For instance, a major augment for your Stamin-Up perk is walking faster while aiming, while a minor augment lessens projectile damage as you tactical sprint. There are three for each category, meaning six different augments on each perk cola for a grand total of forty eight. You can only have one of each augment equipped though, so making sure you have the right one available for whatever objective you’re trying to accomplish on a map is important.

Augments also extend to ammo mods and field upgrades. Ammo mods are always on the map via The Arsenal machine, and your field upgrade comes with you in your loadout. Paying attention to what these can do will boost your ability to survive versus tougher hordes as they come, and help you reach higher rounds. The augment system is a nice feature, and adds depth and strategy even if gaining them is a bit passive in nature.

Gobblegums follow in the footsteps of augments in being a bonus, but I wish the path to acquiring them was more clear. These are completely RNG, as you get them from a pre-determined pack you build in your loadout. Even worse, they’re one time use items, so whatever you use in a match is lost as soon as it’s chewed. I like the idea of these super random and useful perks, like Stock Options which allows your weapon to ignore your magazine and fire all available ammo for a couple of minutes, but earning them is all up to chance.

For now, Gobblegums drop in only a few fashions, as random pulls in random rounds, through leveling up, or through prestige. We’ve already heard these will be available through the COD store, so sadly the only direct path to more right away is a microtransaction. I’m glad you can earn them without spending any money, I just don’t like the way you are being so haphazard, especially as more rare Gobblegums are much less likely to drop.

A Zombies mode wouldn’t be a Zombies mode without, well, Zombies. These come in many shapes and sizes, although the undead we all are familiar with being the standard showing along with a few armored and heavy variants. Occasionally though, things will get hairy, and there are some grotesque new creatures who are hungry for your brain.

Vermin are new spider-esque enemies, and replace the dog rounds we’ve had in the past. As someone who hates spiders, these things are terrifying, but you can enable an arachnophobia setting to help a bit. That said, they look like floating leeches, which isn’t necessarily a great trade off. Abominations and manglers return, and especially in a smaller map like Liberty Falls will make your life hell. Parasites are right in there with the vermin, gross flying zombie bugs that are a pain to track in the sky. The most horrifying of them all is the Amalgam, a huge and twisted mass of what seems to be multiple zombies fused together. In any case, it’s fear-inducing when it lunges towards you.

As I’ve battled my way through these many deadly foes, it’s clear this version of Zombies is tougher than recent iterations. I remember one-tapping Zombies in the opening rounds of Cold War and MWZ; here it takes a few shots to put them down. This gets worse as you continue on, with even the walkers becoming bullet sponges. If there were ever an encouragement to Pack-A-Punch and utilize the many upgrades at hand, the difficulty is certainly one. I’m curious if the increased difficulty is an ode to past Zombies modes, but in any case, I wouldn’t mind seeing it tweaked a little bit. Solo is almost impossible, with even the most seasoned Zombie hunters failing to achieve certain objectives.

Something I was never as aware of was the main quest behind the Zombies mode. As a casual player, nothing on these maps makes you assume there’s anything more than a bit of dialogue and survival happening here. This quest is going to appeal to the mega-fan, but the system behind it is so obtuse I certainly questioned trying it even with my phone open to an online guide. There are no interaction prompts available to get you started, nothing pushing you in the right direction – this is all about discovery. It’s tough enough to hold back the dozens of shamblers when you’re focused on them, it’s truly another thing to try to do a bunch of esoteric tasks.

That said, what Treyarch has hidden between the lines is spectacular. Having to press through multiple steps and objectives needs a good payoff, and the intensity of these main quests are thrilling. I understand if you don’t want to take a crack at it now given the vague design, but the great thing is you won’t have to miss out on it. Two weeks after launch, a guided mode will arrive for these quests, a boon to people like me who don’t grind Zombies regularly. I appreciate the team for taking us back to the style of Zombies hardcore players love, without abandoning the new players who’d love a chance at learning what to look for. There are also a bunch of smaller easter eggs to find, make sure you observe your surroundings closely.

Just like multiplayer, you’ll have more to look forward to soon. Season 1 arrives in a few weeks, and Treyarch has already promised a new Zombies map before the calendar year is up. With the previous Zombies cadence in seasons yielding new content at the mid-season update, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it launch in December. Until then, there’s a wealth of content already to engorge yourself upon.

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