Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 review for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X

This year’s Call of Duty has received a lot of marketing. The much-discussed unheard-of four-year development cycle promised us to receive the best Call of Duty we’ve gotten in a while. So, did Black Ops 6 pay off, or was it a blunder? I think most people have a lot of positives to say, myself included, but… you do have to question if that sudden shift to a four-year cycle had outside ramifications on the series that were worth the damage to reputation.

Last year, I wrote a review for the previous entry in the Call of Duty franchise: Modern Warfare III. That game was the illustrated consequence of a sloppy development flip-flop to having Treyarch having a four-year cycle, suddenly putting Sledgehammer on the task of creating a new entry into the now-guaranteed yearly series in… under a year. The release of Modern Warfare III was a major blunder and hit to the series’ reputation. They hamfisted major moments of a story that had been so well written in its previous installments. They slapped things together in a way that all but made the game feel like it was just an expansion to Modern Warfare II from the year prior that cost $70. So… that was the consequence of the choice of giving one developer an extended development cycle.

Well then, what was the upside to this decision? If you ask me, it ended up giving us the best Call of Duty release since Modern Warfare (2019). Yes, I hold it to that standard. The fabled game of the franchise and the major resurgence point; where Warzone began and the series as a whole entered its modern era. Black Ops 6 carries with it as many innovations that change the game as it does familiar ground so that veterans can drop in and already feel at home. Black Ops 6 brings a new, epic chapter to the story, a return to traditional round-based zombies, and the high-quality multiplayer changes we needed to see to make it feel ironed out, pristine and sleek. I’ll go through my thoughts on each segment of the game below, starting with the one I know most people care about: the multiplayer.

Multiplayer

This year’s multiplayer brings a lot of innovations to the formula. The highly-advertised Omni-Movement system introduced probably being the biggest game-changer. Omni movement is a system introducing the ability to sprint in any direction, as well as slide and dive. It also smooths out the movement shooting on a lot of the existing rough edges in a way that just makes everything feel smoother than it ever has. I might even dare say that this movement system feels so slick and fluid that it seems to have eliminated so much of the goofy-looking corner jump spam the community has picked up as a habit over the years. I’m not sure the best way to word this, but it really makes the movement of the other players feel so much more grounded when everyone isn’t flat jumping around the map like a rabbit.

Black Ops 6 also brings back traditional prestige in multiplayer! Reverting from the past 5 years of infinite levels and season limited to prestiges, Black Ops 6 offers players the chance to get to rank 55 and choose to restart back at level one again, losing all unlocks, gaining a few new rewards along the way, and keeping one item to carry through. They’ve also decided to make each of the prestiges represent something from their past entries. References to World at War, and all of the previous Black Ops entries along the way, as you unlock operators and guns that resemble characters and time-period firearms from each previous game. Once you work your way through the 10 prestiges, you enter “Master Prestige”, at which point your level cap increases to 1,000 and you unlock the ability to present yourself from any of your choice of the previous Treyarch games’ prestige symbols every 100 levels. Level 100 unlocks all the first prestige emblems, 200 gets all the second prestige emblems, and so one. Not sure how they handle the fact that Black Ops 3 went up to 15th prestige, but I’ll let you know when I get there.

Black Ops 6’s multiplayer launches with 16 new maps: the highest count in any release in a while (not including the 16 maps from last year, as they were all remakes of classic maps from 2009). These maps are 12 full size, and 4 “Strike” maps, that being small scale maps for tight combat that exist entirely in their own playlist. The 12 full-size maps vary from normal to arguably too large. I don’t have any complaints for 10 of those maps, but two stand out from the rest as feeling like they just don’t live up to the quality design of the rest. Red Card, a map that takes place on the edge of a stadium just feeling way too large for a 6v6 match, and Babylon… oh god, Babylon. Babylon has what is essentially a guaranteed spawn trap for one team without any effort on the part of the other. It will just spawn one team in a small box over and over and over, with visibility on every side. Other than those two, though, no complaints.

The Strike maps are also excellent in their own rights. They are all tight and close-quarters in the way of shipment or Nuketown, but have fresh designs and maintain traditional 3-lane map design. By far and away the most chaotic game mode in this game, but man, it is a lot of fun to jump into for a bit. The map Stakeout in particular stands out to me as the exact kind of chaos I love. It’s effectively two one-bedroom apartments that are fighting eachother. It’s beautifully designed.

Zombies

This year’s entry to zombies comes with two maps: Terminus and Liberty Falls. Each feels very distinct and different from one another and is lovingly designed to fill every square inch with interesting detail and comprehensive design. Liberty Falls takes place in a city in West Virginia, running through the streets and entering stores to find your perks and upgrades. Terminus is a more “traditional” style map in my opinion, being the dark, brutalist philosophy of zombies. Running through a prison island and fighting through the hoard. Both maps have their own full easter egg present for the fiends out there that love the hunt; Terminus being significantly more difficult than Liberty Falls to complete according to a friend of mine who has now done each of them.

I’ve only gotten the chance to play one full session of each map (2 hours on Terminus, and about 4 or 5 on Liberty Falls), but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each and am looking forward to running them more and finding my way through everything. My understanding as it stands is that, at launch, the easter eggs maintain their usual mysterious and enigmatic through-lines everyone is used to. As each new map releases in the future, the previous easter egg is given the opportunity for new players to experience in a guided session that helps you experience everything first hand rather than having to watch someone else do it online. They do offer an incentive to players to complete the easter eggs prior to this guided experience by way of some rewards. Right now, they give you a unique character skin for each.

Campaign

Black Ops 6’s campaign has turned the quality of last year’s campaign around entirely. Last year, with Modern Warfare III, Call of Duty suffered a brutal downward spike. Modern Warfare III offering a three hour long experience largely populated by quasi-open world missions utilizing warzone mechanics to add variability to the missions by way of boxes to loot for rare weapons and armor plates. Fortunately, Treyarch did not take this formula and try to build upon it. The open Warzone-plagued missions are nowhere to be seen, returning to the tried-and-true formula of linear missions, and what a relief that is.

Black Ops 6 sees them returning to the “central hub” mechanic that was utilized in Black Ops: Cold War’s story. Utilizing a safe house to spend time in between missions, speak with your comrades, and purchase some training upgrades for your character with money you can find within the missions. These can be things like reducing recoil or sprinting faster, as well as the ability to purchase guns to drop in with and attachments to personalize your missions if you’d like. Custom guns aren’t compatible with every mission, as far as I can tell, but it’s possible I missed something.

Unlike my review of last year’s Modern Warfare III, I will avoid discussing any spoilers on this year’s campaign, as I think this one is actually worth your time to spend experiencing the rollercoaster that is always a Treyarch storyline. If you’re someone who has historically liked Call of Duty’s campaigns in general, but especially if you’ve liked Black Ops’ storyline that’s been running for a while, you’ll find everything you loved and more in Black Ops 6. Definitely don’t skip this one.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, Black Ops 6 is a stellar entry to the Call of Duty franchise, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s coming in future seasons. I’ve had a ton of fun playing multiplayer and zombies with my friends, as well as running through the campaign. If this is how the expectation of quality is set for how the series should continue, then consider me hopeful for the future.

Note: Activision provided us with a Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 code for review purposes.