Ground warfare has never been Black Ops’ style; Instead, the sixth game goes further down the rabbit hole of shady government projects and covert military missions. The timeline has now reached the 1990s and the first Gulf War, when the CIA disavowed its once state-sponsored squadron. There’s a mole to track down, missing weapons of mass destruction to recover, and an international terrorist organization to take down.

There is no shortage of epic scenarios and frenetic shooting galleries, as is the norm in Call of Duty. Taking cover still restores your health, but now recovered armor plates (borrowed from Warzone) help you survive return fire longer. Moment-to-moment firefights are also enlivened by elite enemies.

These armored enemies have their own spy devices that rival yours and don’t go down so easily. You also have to search for cash deposits, which are usually hidden off the main path, to buy perks like faster reloads and more sprint stamina, unheard of upgrades for a COD campaign. It’s very satisfying when you stumble upon a safe full of cash and remember to note down the radio transmission that revealed its combination earlier in the level.

return to base

What’s revolutionary here (at least for the Call of Duty series) is the sheer variety of gameplay. A first stealth level could have come straight from Splinter Cell, while the next brings a Far Cry-style semi-open world with optional vehicles and objectives. Completing them will earn you skills taken directly from multiplayer, which will help you during a hectic final battle. A drug-induced survival section is straight-up horror, and there’s an Oceans Eleven-style casino heist.

Missions are broken up with welcome downtime in an abandoned KGB safe house straight out of Scooby Doo, with puzzles to solve and lore to find while chatting with your teammates to fill out the backstory. The facial animations during these occasionally emotional scenes are truly impressive, and one of the early mysteries will keep you guessing or reaching for a notebook to keep track of each clue.

Each level is filled with incidental details and the character models are truly outstanding. The Call of Duty games don’t push PC or gaming console graphics like they used to, but it’s still a visually impressive campaign, especially when the action starts properly. It’s a roller coaster ride, as always, but much less monotonous than previous games in the series. Even players who would normally jump straight into multiplayer owe it to themselves to compete in a match.

Made to move

After the series’ multiple deviations into historical and sci-fi settings, Black Ops 6’s stronger multiplayer feels like a welcome return to normal. Legally distinct M4s, AK74s and MP5s are the order of the day, as you race through maps that combine tight, enclosed corridors with long lines of sight perfect for shooting.

The big change is Omnimovement, a new system that allows you to run and dash in any direction, and then get off the ground just as quickly. Whether or not it was a reaction to Battle Royale hits like Fortnite and Apex Legends that prioritize fast movement, the addition has created as hectic a Call of Duty as I can remember since Infinite Warfare’s jetpacks. Now players don’t just run around corners: they dive from balconies, slide from behind wrecked cars, and hide behind cover. You have to learn to do the same if you want to compete.

Naturally, there’s more than a militia’s arsenal of weapons and accessories to unlock, and only the truly committed can see the 40+ levels of upgrades per weapon. At least the perk system has been simplified, making it clearer which ones will benefit from a certain playstyle. Using three complementary perks activates an additional specialized ability, further encouraging stealth or aggression.

Players who remember the glory days of the original Modern Warfare 2 will say that things are still too hectic and the time-to-kill is still too fast. I don’t disagree; Higher level score streaks seem particularly difficult to achieve, as no one seems to survive long enough to unlock them. Questionable spawn points were partly to blame at launch, with at least one patch released to fix it as of this writing. The maps are also quite small, even if you avoid the Strike maps intended primarily for 2v2 skirmishes, and there are no larger ground war battles.

Of course, that could change later. Naturally, new seasons of content will add additional maps, maps, weapons, perks, and scorestreaks to keep players coming back, and that’s before. Black Ops 6 either integrates into the behemoth that is Call of Duty Warzone, or Activision starts properly pushing those battle passes to make money.

Scarier with friends

Omnimovement also animates this year’s Zombies mode, which returns to wave-based survival rather than open world like the derided Modern Warfare III effort. Here you get two large maps, filled with gobblegum and pack-a-punch machines to help keep the undead at bay in later rounds. Each level has its own set of Easter eggs and story dumps to discover, and is effectively a continuation of Black Ops’ Zombies’ latest story, although it doesn’t put much effort into informing newcomers about what happened before.

Some concessions have been made for those with less time on their hands these days, including the option to exfiltrate and hoard your progress rather than playing until an inevitable demise. That it took this long to save and exit to be an option for single-player players, with returning to the start of the last round the next time you load the game, is mind-blowing.

My main sticking point was that there are so many weapon upgrade mechanics, skills, and perks to catch up on. Anyone who can’t tell their Juggernog from their Deadshot Daiquiri will quickly feel lost. Given how complicated multiplayer can be to level up multiple loadouts, it seems like the game hasn’t really learned to respect your time, just endure it in a slightly different way than before.

However, it’s still satisfying to take down wave after wave of monsters, and the occasional boss enemy mixes things up a bit.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Verdict

This year’s Call of Duty plays it safe and does things to make the series feel fresher than it has in a long time. The globe-trotting campaign is masterfully crafted, with the kind of gameplay variety that will blow away those hoping for another twist on the series’ shooting galleries. It’s been given all the necessary development time, unlike last year’s rushed Modern Warfare III, and while the plot’s “gotcha” moments aren’t as strong as the original Black Ops’ hallucination twist, the conflict More personal is just as attractive.

It’s great to see co-op returning to its original form, and while I’m not convinced you need all the upgrade systems and unlocks that come with the top, long-time fans will appreciate having so much content to keep them busy. once I discovered all the Easter eggs in history. The competitive multiplayer mode is not more of the same either. The enhanced movement is a natural pairing with the gunfights, and the moment-to-moment action is as rewarding as ever, even if death comes too quickly and the maps are too tight for comfort.

All told, Black Ops 6 is a great package, which becomes even more attractive if you’re a Game Pass subscriber.