Every time a new Call of Duty game comes out, the excitement is always there, and for Black Ops 6, the hype was simply unimaginable. It turns out that Black Ops 6 is a flashback to the early ’90s right after the fall of the Berlin Wall, so not only did Treyarch assure fans a different kind of historical experience with this new release, but they also broke their own record for the closest to the Game Pass first-day release. So, the game is released, but the question that everybody wants to figure out is whether Black Ops 6 will be a fan revoltingly happy with the revolution or just another rehash of the same-old, which fans are disappointed with?
Apart from that, it makes its boldest and most ambitious moves, and, in fact, these moves are in the Multiplayer mode. Treyarch returns to its traditional tactic-focused style, but with a crazy new twist in the form of omnimovement this time. Players can run in any direction, turn mid-air, and do dazzling moves that seem to be taken from a stunt scene of the latest blockbusting movie. It is quick, flowing, and surprisingly both very simple and fun to play a few rounds with it, and you will find that going back to a more traditional shooter is awkward. However, the acrobatics can get a little over the top. Imagine players are jumping through windows, twirling in mid-air, and firing clips left and right. It is fun, but it usually makes the fight more random and less tactical.
Map design is somewhat of a mixed bag. Most 6v6 maps have reverted to the three-lane layout, thus providing games with regular rhythms and preventing campers from dominating the game. Lowtown is quite different from the rest of the pack with its attractive beachside village charm and vertical layers that offer both visual and spatial depth. But, there also exist some maps that fail to have the desired effect. Babylon, for example, is affected by too many sightlines and overly populated spawn points, thus giving rise to the same issues that players were complaining about in Modern Warfare (2019). When the netcode is weak or the spawn logic is malfunctioning, the anger can escalate very quickly.
Customization continues to be a struggle to balance. The Gunsmith set of tools is capable of fully adjusting almost everything on your firearm, which is great—until you witness an overpowered version in every single match. Although the time-to-kill is slightly slower than recent installments, it is still fast enough so that the twitch reflexes are the ones that prevail most of the time. Loadouts get a lift from the addition of the third perk bonus, thus catering to players who are stacking perks of the same type. Wild Cards also return, thus enabling creative setups like dual primaries or extra attachments. The game comes loaded with a ton of skins and unlocks, but the question remains whether balance will be maintained with new content drops, a matter that Call of Duty has had trouble with in the past.
And zombies go broadly back to the traditional format. The DMZ-styled mode as an experiment is no more. Instead, players are provided with two maps straight off the bat: Liberty Falls and Terminus. Liberty Falls is large, highly detailed, and set in a dark West Virginia town; however, its open design makes it a little bit too generous in terms of gameplay. On the other hand, Terminus, which is set on a spooky island blacksite, does a bit better job of recreating the typical Zombies feeling of being in the tight spaces and creepy atmosphere. Each map has its story and cool cutscenes, but not quite as legendary as the Treyarch classic Zombies maps.
From the visual and technical perspectives, Black Ops 6 is quite impressive. The engine delivers pretty graphics, very smooth gameplay, and a whole lot of accessibility features. Crossplay works without a hitch and, overall, the polishing is top-notch. But a lot of the old problems are still there. Poorly implemented netcode, obtuse UI, and cheating that is hard to root out are still the main issues of the series. The new launcher is only a small improvement, but the series is gradually improving.
On the other hand, the reaction of the fans has been lukewarm. The game reached a peak of around 300,000 players on Steam but was down to 100,000 shortly after – a much steeper drop-off than that of Modern Warfare 3. A few loyal fans are even wondering whether Activision and Treyarch will be able to fix what’s broken or if the series is just slowly fading away. The idea has even been suggested that, if current trends continue, the series might either stop the annual schedule or go further in the direction of Warzone in the future.
In fact, Black Ops 6 is the best multiplayer in years in every way, maybe even from before Modern Warfare (2019). It does the basics right, takes the gameplay to thrilling new places, and is visually stunning. But it still carries some of the same problems that have weighed on the series for quite some time. And since the current players are already dwindling, the question is whether this is the next big step for Call of Duty or the end of its previous formula.