Nobody likes a quitter, and last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is proof of what can happen when you get your head down and work to right one’s wrongs. Heavily criticised as a glorified DLC, a year of unmatched support has seen the game rise from the ashes as one of the most robust, content-rich multiplayer offerings the series has ever seen.
It’s seriously impressive what Sledgehammer Games managed in just 12 months, implementing a long list of maps, modes, and fun twists on the core FPS gameplay loop. However, such is the Call of Duty franchise that all its work must be left to the past as a new version takes its place, this year from Treyarch in Black Ops 6. Going back to square one could have been the theme of this particular transition, as the developer looks to follow up on a strong year for the series. Though, with an excellent single player campaign, strong multiplayer content, and the ever-impressive Zombies mode, it has unquestionably avoided such a situation. This is the best Call of Duty has been at launch in years.
The developer has returned to its alternate history timeline with an instalment that carries on from the events of Black Ops Cold War, in the midst of the Gulf War in 1991. Its unique themes and setting help give the campaign a distinctive vibe and tone, as it plays around with macho military action and James Bond-like spy thriller scenarios. A roughly eight-hour playthrough quickly switches between the two styles of gameplay, as one level to the next can see you go from infiltrating a casino to blow open its secret vault to another assaulting an airport inside a tank. There’s little room for rest — besides the safehouse you return to between missions — as the campaign delivers itself at the usual breakneck pace of a Call of Duty title. It’s tremendously enjoyable and satisfying to work your way through.
Where it really starts to stand out, though, truly distinguishing itself from past efforts, is in a set of levels towards the end. Far and away the highlight of the show, Treyarch introduces some psychological and supernatural elements inspired by the likes of Doctor Who and PREY that lead to some impressively inventive mission design. On top of the already entertaining push and pull between traditional run and gun levels and stealth missions, the game’s commitment to subverting your expectations pays off.
It has its superfluous elements, like useless single player perks pulled from the most inconsequential RPG skill trees. You can buy upgrades with cash collected during missions, but their effects are so redundant that the entire feature is a waste. The safehouse itself also has little to offer outside of a series of puzzles, though it does gain some importance towards the campaign’s conclusion.
What sticks out the most is its sheer variety. From an open world level with optional points of interest to complete, to a psychological dive into one’s traumatic memories, to a horror sequence stripped of most of your weaponry, Black Ops 6 keeps you guessing at all times. With so much inventiveness and quality FPS action, the campaign will go down as one of the series’ best ever.
Of course, that’s just the start of the journey, as Treyarch has paired its fantastic campaign with a really strong suite of multiplayer maps, modes, and extra features — even at release. The way its online matches play hasn’t changed whatsoever; it’s the sheer breadth of content that has.
On day one alone, the game features 16 maps across 10+ modes (most with extra hardcore variants) and multiple progression systems to master. You can follow the traditional levelling up path that marks the return of the classic Prestige system, giving you the chance to reach the maximum rank 10 times over and then level up a further 1,000 times as a Prestige Master. You can also level up every gun in the game for new weapon skins (which will soon carry over into Warzone) and complete a heap of challenges to unlock new emblems and calling cards to customise your profile with.
This will all sound familiar to Call of Duty veterans because it is: Black Ops 6 replicates the same style of multiplayer action the FPS franchise has been delivering for generations now. You’ll fire up playlists of Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Search & Destroy and the like, and generally utilise the same tactics that have worked for the past 15 or so years. Equally, the spawns are their usual mess at release and skill-based matchmaking can make some matchups utterly miserable. It’s the usual fast-paced CoD mayhem that has either seen you board its train for life or turned you off completely.
What’s so impressive about Black Ops 6 is that it offers so much to do and accomplish that it quite literally could be the only game you play for the next 12 months if you wanted it to be, and that’s just at release. With the classic Nuketown map right around the corner and Season 1 landing next month, Treyarch is primed to capitalise on its strong launch with more and more content.
The only thing that could properly stop a seasoned CoD player from making that commitment is the launch line-up of maps, which leave a lot to be desired. There are no real standouts this year, with a lot of mundane, forgettable locations playing host to the online clashes. You might find a handful you can put up with, but the voting system in pre-match lobbies is more about choosing the map you want to avoid (like Babylon) rather than what people actually want to play. After delivering so many memorable maps in the past, it’s disappointing to come away without any new Treyarch favourites.
Perhaps the developer was more focused on perfecting its new omnimovement system, which transforms how you move and interact with the experience. The update applies across the entire game, but you’ll feel it most in multiplayer as the skill ceiling has been raised thanks to its potential. While previous entries have experimented with additional movement options (dolphin dive, mantling), the way you simply run about the map has always generally stayed the same.
Omnimovement addresses this by giving you complete control of your sprints, elevation, and dives. Now you can both sprint and dive backwards and side-to-side, and twist your body when laid on the ground to aim at a certain angle. The feature is at its most obvious when you or the enemy are in one of these positions, but it’s actually in the more intricate settings where the best benefits are felt.
When you’re taking cover, for example, previous Call of Duty games have made you physically move your character around a wall to land some shots. This was sorted to a degree with mantling in 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but in Black Ops 6, whenever you want to aim around a corner, the game will seamlessly point your gun around the angle in a much more natural fashion. It feels like you’re genuinely peeking your weapon and head around the corner to shoot at a target instead of shifting your whole body. With this effect implemented across the entire body, movement feels so much more realistic, as opposed to a soldier unable to perform anything beyond the actions of a robot at 90-degree angles.
The Black Ops 6 package is rounded out by Zombies, which returns to a wave-based structure after Modern Warfare 3 tried it in an open world setting. There are two maps available at launch: Liberty Falls and Terminus. The former sees a squad of up to four players fight through a West Virginia town that’s fallen to the undead while the latter puts you in an island prison.
We’re probably the furthest you can get from a Zombies expert, but with each map accompanied by its own storyline and set of objectives to work towards, Treyarch appears to have delivered ample content for the co-op crowd. We just wish it wasn’t so complicated.
For generations now, Call of Duty developers have been so consistent in their handling of sublime visuals and smooth performance that the series’ technical points have become to feel like mere footnotes. The game looks incredible no matter what mode you play, and it always runs at a reliable 60 frames-per-second with little to no hints of drops. It’s business as usual for the IP.
Conclusion
Following the launch woes of Modern Warfare 3, the FPS heavyweight series marks a very strong and impressive return to form in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Its single player campaign is one of the franchise’s best-ever efforts, the multiplayer is jam-packed with engaging content, and the Zombies mode seems just as good as it always is when Treyarch is leading things. It never really went away, but Black Ops 6 feels like Call of Duty back at its modern peak.
Comments 56
Always in for James Bond-style spy thriller stuff. Great review, Liam. I think I'll wait to see what other maps they add and then I might give this a go. I really enjoyed Cold War.
Wasn't planning to buy it, but deciding to get it on a whim. Don't regret it at all. So far the campaign is a blast and I'm addicted to the multiplayer.
Poor multiplayer maps is the reason I stopped playing COD after BO2. Every map became a tiny crappy Nuketown clone.
That alone should knock off like 3 points off the score. What's the point if the maps suck? If the maps suck, the game sucks. Period
Xbox 1st party getting a W!!
Maps the size of postage stamps nearly makes omnimove redundant. And the Skill-based matchmaking makes playing the game frustrating when you're starting off. The first 10 hours are a chore. Other than that it's ok so far, but if the reviewer thinks its a game someone could play exclusively for a year, I'm glad I'm not that person. This game could be played every day, up to the point it annoys you, and it will, and you need to play something else.
"Return to form" must be the quote of the month
Is the campaign longer than a weekend of playing, while working 9 hours on both days? Because that's how long it took me to beat the original Modern Warfare 2, at which point I stopped buying them. I'm not prepared to spend full price on a game, even a year after launch, for a campaign that will not satisfy me, given that I don't play online.
@McTwist "If the maps suck, the game sucks. Period."
The maps don't suck. They are varied and each encourage a different bunch of strategies, which is a good thing and extend the longevity of the multiplayer experience until the new/old maps arrive.
@McTwist MW3 2023 might be worth a look. It may have started with just MW2 2009 remake maps at start, but in conjunction with a bunch of MW2 2022 maps that were brought forward and post-launch original maps, there are like 50 different MP maps on rotation and most are really solid.
Wish some of the multiplayer maps were bigger tbh they're all mostly tiny and the spawns are really bad. Campaign is excellent so far so much better than MW3.
@SheerDisappointment The review says approximately eight hours.
@SheerDisappointment Other reviews say 8-10 hour story.
Is quick-scoping still a thing?
@McTwist I haven't played COD in many years but I played MW2 (the original) a lot with my friends and maps like Skidrow, Terminal, Highrise and Bailout were so amazing
The quality of the maps really is very important for an multiplayer shooter
Congrats to Microsoft in getting Call of Duty better than ever
Their next quarterly reports are going to be fantastic them.
An already mid game the best one in years, says enough how crap the quality of this franchise has become lol
This was a regrettable purchase. I prefer MW2 and 3. Never have liked Treyarch as much as the others.
I really feel like a big reason COD has managed to stay relevant for all these years is because it is one of the only series out there that still offers a full shooter package. (Besides BO4) I remember the days when it was expected for a shooter to feature campaign and multiplayer modes and COD for the most part has always delivered there.
Has it been great every single year? No. However whereas other shooters have mostly chosen either only featured a campaign with no multiplayer or vice-versa, I appreciate COD always making the effort to provide both.
Hate it all you want but I always feel like I got my money's worth when I buy a COD. Hopefully other shooters take notes sooner or later that having value out of the gate is important.
@Banjo- Definetly 10hrs if you play on veteran.
@get2sammyb “ then I might give this a go “
I’m picturing you sitting in front of your tv, Dualsense in hand, moving the cursor back and forth trying to decide between COD and Infinity Nikki. Decisions, decisions.😉
Nice review by Liam. I really only clicked on it because I was curious who at PS wrote it b/c this isn’t a big FPS crowd but I wound up reading the whole thing. Gotta admit it got me interested, though my hands and brain won’t let me play anything first person. But I’m tempted.
@rjejr Oh if it's between Call of Duty and Infinity Nikki, I pick Nikki every time. Haha!
@BloodEagle Yes. Also, now that many games are open world games with a lot of boring filling, I enjoy these pure high-quality action thrills. And then there are zombies and multiplayer options.
i just got a month of gamepass sorted
Gotta disagree with zombies being complicated. Sure, compared to WaW and BO1 days the game mode has a lot more things to do, but that's kinda the natural evolution of the mode. BO3 and BO4 took it a bit too far, Shadows of Evil is very unfriendly to new players so it wasn't a great on-disc map, but Cold War simplified things a lot and from what I played BO6 is very similar. Plus, Liberty Falls is that WaW-BO1-style map where you can really focus on just slaughtering zombies without having to think about side objectives, mandatory quests etc.
9.0!? Think they need to start doing substance tests in the push square offices, the campaign and zombies are both inferior to cold war, zombies is the most boring I have ever played and the only way anyone is having fun with the multiplayer is if they suck and get the bots lobbies or are using a vpn, a multiplayer where you spawn on top of enemies because the maps are tailored towards bad players who love one shot weapons and the skilless nonsense of a map like shipment.
84 on xbox and ps5 ok game...
accolades should be for games close to 90 ...
I feel like I live in the movie Groundhog Day every time I see Shipment in a CoD 😂
@johnedwin A 8/10 is a really good game isn't it? I don't care for COD but it seems people love it.
@LiamCroft Can you share what the total install size of BO6 is, as of now?
I know it will only grow from there in the next year, but I want to know if Activision's promise to reduce install size compared to recent COD games is real or just BS.
Thanks...
Push square commentators told me the series was dead under Microsoft
@get2sammyb " I pick Nikki every time. "
Yeah that's kind of why I clicked on here to se who wrote it, figured it wasn't you. 😁 Shogun is mostly JRPG, RPG and mosou, and the kid (who must be like 30 by now) is here for the fun stuff probably crossing their fingers for Viva Pinata to get ported. Should have figured it was Liam, but I had to know.
I’ll probably pick this up soon! I wish it had a separate trophy list specifically for the PS5, but neither here nor there; the campaign looks awesome.
@Deityjester It’s almost like opinions have to be the same for everyone.
I thought the campaign was really bad and the end levels were just stupid, spoiled it for me, seen a lotof reviews say best campaign in a long time, dont know about that, might just be me. MP is fun though but as usuall ill play for a bit then stop playing it. Overall id give it 7.5/10
@Loki7T1 My install is at 244GB for Call of Duty overall, but I do have some Modern Warfare 3 stuff and all of Warzone still on there.
Yeah i think its great so far but the campaign mission with the zombies and what not felt stupid or unnecessary and currently that's how far i am playing it.
8 is a really fair score. The multiplayer maps are pretty rough and are all way too fast-paced, besides Red Card which is an absolute slog and should be removed from the rotation.
The two zombies maps have been great to switch to from time to time to level/weapon boost. I just hit Prestige 1 level 41 today and it feels like Zombies solo is by far the fastest way to level.
For sure looking forward to Season 1 coming and hopefully some more balanced traditional 3 lane maps.
Glad to see that the campaign is finally a really good one again. I'll get it when it's on a good sale. I know CoD games don't go on sale as often as other games, but they do, and I'll get it then as the campaign is all I would play.
@Shad361 also said dragon age greatest game ever
An amazing game indeed!
@Deityjester "9.0!? Think they need to start doing substance tests in the push square offices"
Talking of tests, maybe an eye test is required here 😉 - it says 8. The 9 is the user score.
@McTwist I'm actually enjoying the maps, they do need some bigger ones though
@ScottyG I love red card what's wrong with it?
It's a great game. So much money going to Xbox though!
Honestly more than anything the omni-movement is what puts me off this game. It looks designed for sweats and I feel like it's hard to just jump on CoD after work now without people diving and sliding everywhere wearing a paid for Nicki Minaj skin. CoD hasn't felt liked CoD in a long time. I get that it's known for arcade style gameplay rather than military simulation but please, I beg, some immersion at least.
I'm not a big fan of CoD or an MP player, but the SP campaign sounds interesting, and since it's also on Game Pass, I'll give it a go there.
That moment you die in Call of Duty multiplayer and an eight year old comes over the mic and starts smack talking you. That's what it's all about.
@Oram77 well spotted! it's almost become gaming journalist code, a bit like when celebs are reported as 'breaking their silence'
Was playing Low Town map the other night and one of the other teams players was PAT@PUSHSQUARE. Have to say the were probably one of the better players in their squad.
looking forward to playing the campaign in December.
Removed - trolling/baiting
Played the campaign on gamepass and it really is one of the best yet would give it a 9/10
Would give it 10/10 if it was longer but they all lose a point for that
@Deityjester If you're too lazy to read the review, don't bitch about it then.
I'm not fussed, it may have the themes/presentation but to me gameplay matters, if the gameplay isn't that exciting of mechanics (movement if the review is to be believable, if it's Titanfall 2 or others or it's own very interesting one then sure but to me the prep stuff I'd heard about didn't sound that impressive to me or I'm too hung up on a more flexible movement system and aiming/running animations like Unrecord that Steam project or something else not done yet, or weapons/gadgets/other aspects) and it's just wow the presentation is good or the story makes sense or the modes are good enough then pass I don't care for COD that much.
Wow open world/open space stuff great it's Gears 5/God of War R or Battlefield like, who cares it's not exciting.
DW/Prey as in Prey PS4 (link I know is PS4 because not a 2006 page is created RIGHT?) not 2006 the more mechanically interesting one even if Prey PS4 is a fair game.
Safehouse between missions? Is this Infinite Warfare? Or something. Movement system, supernatural elements? I mean the MP is weird but if the campaign doesn't have supernatural elements then pass. Cool the MP has it I guess even if the MP has gotten weird over the years.
Ah RPG skill tree parks, pass, unless they are worth while most in other games i hate anyway, even Pikmin 4 doing it make me roll my eyes when I preferred the old Metroid like format of picking them up not half and half menus for upgrades in a shop and part upgrades to find and things. Modern gaming, they say they hated menus in the past as UI is annoying to do and done late (at least Insomniac staff said so, who knows about other studios) yet push them so much these days why? Why RPG aspects, I miss PS2 era game design for a reason the mechanics not more menus and other garbage gameplay I don't like.
I don't expect Bright Memory Infinite type movement/ideas but even still it's shorter, 1 person and way more exciting in a Titanfall 2 way.
The cons seem fair I guess. Space Marine 2 I questioned the lack of Operations classes prep in the campaign but then went eh I guess it works even if just weapons (like first game, weapon variety & 2 factions strung out too long, yay, still fair game but pretty weak) not abilities for classes.
There's a reason I'd rather play Singularity if I ever find a copy/other Activision shooters left behind/old COD on PS2 then modern COD. The Club was arcade shooting gallery on foot in a modern gameplay feeling way, what a unique game we will never get again. Among many other EA, D3, Sega/other PS3 era 1 & 2 offs, trilogies & just dead for the IPs that did succeed & those I don't care about/mechanically boring games got passed on because world/tone and more focus, boring.
Battlefield 2 Modern Combat had a swap feature, loved it, but BF has to be appealing in a realistic enough way for people or the destruction system or whichever priorities they have for the games, Driver San Fransisco did too a swap feature, those are dead.
Part 2:
The last time they did exciting things with COD in PS3/4 era is when I dropped off, the loadouts of BO or the exosujits of Advanced Warfare, the fair ideas/formatting in Infinite Warfare actually. The push away from vehicles, the push away from the exosuits & other stuff I liked those & everyone went go back to modern or world war or whatever & push presentation, or offer this & that in MP (to me shooting at a tire was the most 'it took them THAT long' to me kind of impression when it was added to whatever MP in the last few games).
So I'm like ok sure but if the gameplay sucks then I'm not playing & I haven't bothered since as BO3 was the last co-op entry in the series split screen wise & MW2019 was eh of ideas especially boring stealth, MW3 to me is a joke & while Unreal Tournament or Star Wars Battlefront 2004/2005 doing their campaigns that way is fine it just didn't make sense for COD at all.
Raven may have made a fair campaign but they aren't the same studio as when they made Singularity or Quake 4 or other games and game design has more presentation/story/themes/world recreation/other focus nowadays, so do you think I have high hopes for BO6, no not at all.
I buy up PS3/360/Wii shooters for a reason and not modern ones and go when is an exciting one going to come out like Bright Memory Infinite or Aveum. Gameplay first or more exciting settings/themes and gameplay isn't first in game design anymore. So why would i buy it even besides the like any annual game buy it cheap not at launch.
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