For the last few years, Call Of Duty‘s multiplayer mode has been the center of attention for players of this first-person shooter series.
But for Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC), it’s actually the story-driven campaign that deserves your attention.
And no, I’m not just saying that because I don’t play well with others…
Set in the late-’80s / early-’90s,
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is set during the end of the Cold War, and that includes multiplayer and “Zombies,” not just the story-driven campaign.
Though if this game is to be believed (and it’s not), the late-’80s / early-’90s is when people learned they don’t have to just go forward.
You see, while Call Of Duty players have been able to sprint forward since the beginning of this series (Call Of Duty, not just Black Ops), and do a forward slide move by tapping the crouch button while sprinting since 2013’s Ghosts, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 adds the ability to sprint, and thus slide, while also moving to the left, right, or backwards. Best of all, you can continue firing when sprinting or sliding.
Similarly, while diving forward into a prone position has been available since the first Black Ops in 2010, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6, again, adds the ability to do it sideways and backwards, and allows you to keep shooting as you do.
Even just going prone normally has changed, as you can now shoot in every direction while lying on your back.
In the campaign,
these new movement ability can come in very helpful, especially the shooting while sprinting or sliding when you’re in a particularly harrowing firefight.
Though, given the timeframe, harrowing firefights are not all you face.
In Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s campaign, we begin at the end, with you being debriefed by the deputy director of the CIA. The emergence of a powerful terrorist group called Pantheon has threatened the security of the United States and her allies, and in trying to take them out, you and your team did some things that were not exactly sanctioned. Or legal. Or ethical.
What follows, as you recount what happened, is an action-packed spy adventure that rivals the best Call Of Duty stories.
And its best campaigns. In large part because Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 fixes many of the mistakes of last year’s underwhelming Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
The most obvious being that Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 doesn’t have all the hand-holding and guardrails that just sucked the energy out of Modern Warfare III, especially at the beginning.
More importantly,
the campaign in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 has a good variety in its action, something Modern Warfare III mostly lacked. (Mostly.) As a spy thriller, there’s times when you need to be sneaky, and even use such gadgets as an RC car to go places you wouldn’t be able to without being spotting.
Though you also go loud when manning the weapons of a helicopter gunship, or use a sniper rifle to take out a bad guy you just eavesdropped on.
And I’m not even going to spoil the wild and crazy part that, at times, recalled both Halo Infinite and Doctor Who.
There are also times when you have optional sub-missions, or multiple ways to complete your objective. You even have some non-lethal assignments, like when you spy on a VIP at a political event. Though, as always happens in these games, a gunfight isn’t far behind.
As different as Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s story mode may be from Modern Warfare III‘s, though, the former does take one good thing from the latter: open worlds with multiple objectives.
During a mission to Iraq,
in which you have to infiltrate one of Saddam Hussain’s castles, you first have to clear the outlying areas of anti-aircraft missile sites, and, in doing so, come across random enemies as well as enemy bases, supply drops, and other targets that would’ve made your upcoming mission that much harder if left unchecked.
It’s just annoying that, when using the map of Iraq, the checkmark that indicates that an objective has been completed is so tiny that it’s hard to see if you sit at a reasonable distance from your TV.
As varied as the missions in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s campaign may be, though, it never strays too far from what often makes this series so much fun: frantic gunfights with numerous enemies coming at you from multiple directions.
Even when these gun battles…
are not wholly unique — such as when you once again chase someone through a crowded area full of civilians while exchanging gunfire — they still manage to be exciting and engaging.
Though, again, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 even mixes these parts up by having some in which you can chose to be quiet or go in guns blazin’. Or, as I usually do it, go in quiet to thin out the herd but then screw up, alert someone, and have to then shoot my way out.
All of which makes for the best Call Of Duty campaign since, well, okay 2022’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II. But given that Modern Warfare II had one of better campaigns in this series…
It’s too bad the same can’t be said of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s multiplayer modes.
This is not to say…
that multiplayer in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is bad. It’s not. It’s as solid as it has been for years. And has all the new stuff they always add, including new weapons, equipment, and battle arenas all inspired by the game’s story and timeframe.
It’s just that the biggest addition to Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is not that big a deal when it comes to multiplayer.
As I mentioned earlier, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 has added the ability to sprint, slide, and dive in multiple directions, not just forward, and to fire while doing so, as well as when you get down on the ground.
As you might imagine,
the sliding and shooting in multiplayer can be effective if you time it right — like when I had someone dead to rights but they slid underneath my bullet spray and shot me in the gut— and the same is true for when you sprint left, right, or backwards.
But lying down, be it on its own as the end result of you diving, just makes you an easily target.
Which is why no one in any of the multiplayer matches I played ever took a dive or went prone.
Of course,
lying on the ground would be even dumber during a zombie apocalypse. You might as well just write “snack bar” on your forehead. Good thing you’ll be too busy running for your life when you play “Zombies” in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 to lie down.
If you’ve played any versions of this mode in recent games, you know how both the story and the mechanics have gotten deeper and more inscrutable since the undead first rose in 2008’s Call Of Duty: World At War.
Thankfully, things are a bit simplified in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6.
As always,
“Zombies” in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 has you fighting waves upon waves of the undead, while looking for ways to unlock new areas where you can fight the undead.
You also, as you slaughter the living impaired, earn cash you need to buy better weapons, ammo, and to set off elaborate traps that someone else left behind for you to use.
All of which comes with a slightly goofy tone, which is why this mode has always been more Zombieland-ish than Dawn Of The Dead-esque.
What’s different in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is that the story is laid out better in the opening cinematic, and is not nearly as overwhelmed by the lore of past games.
Similarly,
things in the world seem to be labeled better. Whether you’re exploring the island prison of the “Terminus” map or the small town of “Liberty Falls,” it’s a lot easier to figure out where you’re supposed to go next, and what you can do in the areas you’ve opened up.
The “Zombies” mode also improves itself, somewhat, by having a dedicated solo option. One that not only lets you pause the game so you can catch your breath, but one that also let’s you pick up where you left off, though only if you pause the game and then exit to the main menu.
Unfortunately, “Zombies” in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 doesn’t come with the one thing I’ve been hoping they’d add since World At War: difficulty options. Especially when playing solo. “Zombies” is tough, borderline punishing, and playing it on your own seems to be even tougher than when you have other people helping you out. Hence why the good people of Liberty Falls call me “food,” and not “that bad ass zombie killing machine.”
Taken together,
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is still an excellent first-person shooter. While the new moves aren’t a gamechanger, they can be helpful when you’re being shot at by a terrorist or chased by a zombie. And while multiplayer isn’t anything new, and “Zombies” is only slightly improved, they’re still engaging and fun. It’s just that they’re both overshadowed by the excellent campaign, one that ranks alongside the best ones this series has ever offered. And that, players, more than deserves your attention.
SCORE: 8.5/10
