Each year, the gaming community gets super excited over the new Call of Duty release, and by the time Black Ops 6 came around, the buzz couldn’t have been bigger. It is set in the early 1990s, just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Treyarch promised a new high for a nostalgia trip with this new game, and for the first time, on launch day, it appeared on Game Pass. However, after its release, the question that everyone is asking is whether Black Ops 6 is the one to shake the fans up or just another rehash?
It is in the multiplayer that, fortunately, most of its bold moves are made. Treyarch goes back to its usual heavily tactic-focused style but adds a bit of a crazy new twist this time in the shape of omnimovement. Players can move quickly in any direction, turn mid-air, and do dazzling maneuvers that seem to be taken from a stunt scene of an action movie. The game is quick, flowing, and quite easy to grasp, and it is hard to believe that you return to more traditional shooters after you have played some rounds with it. However, the flying maneuvers can become a little too much. What if the players were darting through windows, spinning mid-air, and firing bullets left and right? It is fun, but it tends to make fights more chaotic than tactical.
Map design is a little bit of everything. The old three-lane format is back for most 6v6 maps, thus giving the games a rhythm they are used to and preventing campers from getting too comfortable. Lowtown is the one that shines among them all with its sunny beachside village vibe and layers that go up and down and give the place more than one dimension. But not every map is a winner. For example, Babylon is suffering from too many sightlines and overly populated spawn points that make the player bring the same issues as Modern Warfare (2019), which already complained of. If the netcode is bad or the spawn logic is off, then the frustration can escalate very quickly.
Customization is still a compromise. The Gunsmith system permits you to nearly totally change your gun, which is great—until you witness an overpowered creation in every match. Even though the time-to-kill is a bit slower than in the latest installments, it’s still quick enough for twitch reflexes to be the deciding factor most of the time. Loadouts get better with the addition of a third perk slot, thus allowing players who are stacking perks of the same type to benefit more. Wild Cards are also back, thus allowing for more creative setups such as two primaries or one more attachment. The game comes with a great deal of skins and unlockables, but the question as to whether balance will be kept with new content releases, which is something that Call of Duty has previously been struggling with, remains.
After that, there’s Zombies, which more or less goes back to the standard. The DMZ-style mode, which was highly experimental, is no longer available. Instead, players receive two maps straight off: Liberty Falls and Terminus. Liberty Falls is a large and well-detailed map set in a dark West Virginia town; however, its open layout makes the gameplay a little too generous. On the other hand, Terminus, a scary island blacksite, is doing a little better job of taking back the classic Zombies feeling of being cramped in a small space and eerie atmosphere. Each map has its story and nice little movies, but not quite to the extent of the Treyarch classic Zombies maps.
Black Ops 6 is pretty much a beautiful one, both visually and from a technical point of view. The engine produces great graphics, very smooth gameplay, and a large number of accessibility features. Crossplay is without a hitch, and the overall polish is of top quality. Unfortunately, a lot of the same issues from the past are still there. Problems with netcode, difficulties with UI, and cheating continue to be the source of trouble for the series. The new launcher is a small move in the right direction, but the series is internally starting to show its age.
On the other hand, the fans haven’t reacted enthusiastically. The game peaked at around 300,000 players on Steam but dropped to 100,000 shortly after—a much steeper drop-off than that of Modern Warfare 3. A few loyal fans are wondering whether Activision and Treyarch have the ability to fix what’s broken or if the series is just running out of steam. The idea has even been suggested that the series might stop being released annually or get further into the direction of Warzone if the current trend continues, especially.
Black Ops 6 is the multiplayer at its best in years, maybe even going back to before the release of Modern Warfare (2019) in every way. It does the basics right, experiments with new gameplay ideas, and looks amazing. However, it is carrying some of the same problems that have been dragging the series down for quite a while now. Moreover, with current players already starting to drop out, the question is whether this is the next big move for Call of Duty or the end of its previous formula.