4/5 ★ – WrathofBen's review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

After the disappointment that was Sledgehammer’s MWIII, I’ve been eagerly awaiting Treyarch’s mighty return to Call of Duty. Especially since this one had a 4 year development time. I remember watching the Call of Duty direct last summer, and seeing Treyarch announce omnimovement, a new way to move in all directions. This, return of round-based zombies, a fleshed out campaign set after the events of Black Ops II, AND Cold War multiplayer with new features all made me so excited for this game. And for good reason, because this did not disappoint in the slightest, aside from a HOARDE of technical issues, which we’ll get to later. The story starts was you play as Case, a CIA operative working with Troy Marshall, Jane Harrow, and Frank Woods (remotely, since he’s been Menendez’d to a wheelchair). Their mission goes sideways when their target gets assassinated by Russel Adler from the previous game. He’s suspected to be a traitor to the CIA, and the one who tipped off Menendez in Panama. The CIA believes he is the reason Mason and Hudson died, and Woods is handicapped. Woods, however, thinks otherwise, and gathers his team to an off the books KGD hideout. There, they begin investigating what the CIA is hiding, and what this threat known as The Pantheon are up to. Thats about as far as I’ll go with plot details because this game is SUPER plot heavy, and I don’t wanna spoil any of it. Just know, it’s some of Treyarch’s best work. Level design is phenomenal here. Everything players loved from Cold War is expanded upon here. So many levels are open-ended, with many giving you a map right at the start to hit objectives however you wish. There was one mission like this in Cold War, but I lost count at how many were in this game. Heck, there’s one level that was abut as big as a Battlefield: Bad Company level, but had SO much more to do. It’s truly impressive that Treyarch was able to pull off open world levels like this, especially when Sledgehammer JUST tried this and failed epically in MWIII. It doesn’t feel like Warzone, it’s a crafted level with plenty of things to do, and multiple ways to approach an objective. And you’re not alone, as you have a whole squad to back you up. Treyarch really embarrassed Sledgehammer with that one… Even the smaller levels were immensely enjoyable! While linear, they are full of open combat, stealth, exploration, you name it. It’s just fun! While the only real collectible is cash for your hideout, each level has a challenge associated with it. This is usually linked with an achievement, but also unlocks goodies for multiplayer. Again, I like this! Give players a reason to play the campaign. Because, not everyone plays the campaign in these games. They usually drop $60-$70 to JUST play multiplayer and MAYBE zombies. Which is SO weird to me… You can upgrade your hideout over the course of the campaign with funds you find in each mission. This allows you to use weapons more proficiently, equip armor faster, and hold more ammo and grenades. You can also spend those funds on 3 weapons blueprints to use in multiplayer, zombies, or Warzone, which is pretty cool! I opted for the character upgrades though. Gameplay feels incredible here, with omnimovement being the ultimate highlight. It feels so good to spring, slide and dive in all directions. On top of that, your character has a backpack that allows them to store all kinda of scorestreaks, lethals and tactical grenades. These ultimately let you take on a combat scenario however you want to. See an elite enemy with a giant health bar? Got a shock stick? Then, easy peasy. You can also equip armor, just like Warzone. I thought this would annoy me, but I honestly appreciated it in the later levels. Gunplay feels really nice, although the game feels better to play on keyboard and mouse. At least in the campaign, there are no hit markers, but hit SOUNDS. So I found it hard to know who I was hitting, and how well I hit them. On PC, I was able to control myself much better. Other than the original Call of Duty, this is my first Call of Duty campaign on PC, so it was a big deal for me! Which is why this next section is gonna hurt to talk about… Like Cold War, this game has launched with INSANE bugs and glitches. But that’s not even the worst bit. Nah, the worst part is that solo zombies and the campaign REQUIRE A NETWORK CONNECTION!!! For some reason, my PC drops connection for 5 seconds every hour or so. It makes no sense, but usually if I’m online in a game, it picks up pretty fast. This game? It has a seizure and hard crashes the game. I would be watching a cutscene or sneaking in a level, and would meet a black screen, followed by a “Lost Connection” screen. I downloaded this game to my hard drive, why in the WOLRD do I need an internet connection to play single player content??? It’s the dumbest thing ever. I even had a checkpoint that glitched when I crashed, and I had to restart the level on Xbox because my PC wouldn’t play the level. It would crash every time it loaded… 4 years, and these problems are still missed? These are CRITICAL!!! What are we doing here??? Okay, I had to get that out of my system. Let’s talk about something cool again. Like multiplayer. Essentially, this is Cold War multiplayer with the new omnimovement, some new gear, and really awesome maps. This game launched with so many maps! It’s kinda impressive, honestly. The highlight new mode for me is Kill Order, where a random person on your team is a high value target you need to protect. They have armor, and perfect visuals of the map and where enemies are located. If killed, they are worth 5 points. Otherwise, it’s just team deathmatch. But I’m one of those freaks that LIKES team deathmatch, so I like this mode a lot! My only real complaint is that shotguns and ARs feel really weak to me. Shotguns in general are inconsistent. I guess it depends on how you mod yours, but there are times I shoot someone point plant, and they survive and light me up with 3 bullets from an SMG… make that make sense. Otherwise, not much to talk about. It’s just fun, like it was in the last game! Zombies launched with two maps this time, with the return of round based zombies. Terminus and Liberty Falls, while both very different from one another, are very fun additions to the zombies legacy. I haven’t gotten very far in them yet, (Easter eggs, boss battles, etc), but have really enjoyed what each map has to offer! I love that gobblegum is back from Black Ops III, and that you can partial pay for doors with friends! The S.A.M. Challenges are also really fun too! I haven’t noticed omnimovement to be as effective in Zombies, but it’s a nice addition. Instead of using aetherium to upgrade abilities and perks, you pick one thing to focus on, and gameplay upgrades it over time. I honestly prefer this, because it allows the player to feel fulfilled in the upgrade they are working towards. Visually, this game is beautiful. Some levels are just jaw-dropping to look at. The character models are all so detailed too, it’s honestly really impressive. Jack Wall nails it again with another great soundtrack for a Black Ops game. Especially his multiplayer theme, my LORD! It’s so good! Sound design is another evolution from Cold War, which I don’t mind. That game already sounded great, so that works! All in all, this is a great Call of Duty game. Its technical issues can be fixed with updates, but it shouldn’t HAVE to be. I also have no idea if offline play is ever coming to this game or not. In my opinion, that is absolutely necessary. Losing connection to the campaign ruined my immersion so much so consistently. That should never be an issue with a single player mode. But the rest of the game is a huge blast, and the Omni-Movement is a welcome addition to the Call of Duty sandbox. I give this a solid 8/10. Would’ve given it a 9 had it not been for those horrid technical flaws. I’m probably gonna be playing this game for a while, which is WAY more than I could’ve said for MWIII at launch. I was prepared to play that for a week before I reviewed it, and decided I was done after a couple of days. I don’t want to put this game down yet. So, good job Treyarch! (And I think Raven Software? They might’ve actually developed the campaign, I’m not entirely sure…)