After the garbage Activision pumped out last year with Modern Warfare 3 the morale amongst many fans of Call of Duty has been low. The rushed development time of only 16 months and the reused assets for more than half the game’s missions, combined with a myriad of other issues many fans hoped that this year’s entry in the franchise would be palatable.
I’m glad to report that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is more than just a good time. It is perhaps the best game Raven Software has ever developed and one of the best shooters that I’ve played in recent memory. With its early 1990s setting, exceedingly well-told story, and incredible attention to detail BO6 isn’t just a great Call of Duty game, it’s a contender for Game of the Year.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was written back in October.
A Loyal Enemy Is Better Than A Fake Friend
A retrieval mission in the Middle East turns sour when alleged rogue combatant and enemy of the State Russel Adler shows up and murders the person you are tasked with extracting alive for information on Sadam Hussein. Once he is held in captivity by the United States government, your small group of soldiers is temporarily disavowed by the military, and you will spend the next 10-12 hours hopscotching all over the world throughout the story’s lengthy 11 missions.
One of the earlier missions has you break Adler out of a CIA holding cell to have him give you pointers on how to progress. I liked this setup; throughout the whole story you have to trust someone, but said person is morally dubious. Also, you never know whose side they are on or what they might be hiding.
You might think this premise would wear thin after a few hours, but the writing and direction of the story is so good, that it managed to keep me enthralled throughout the entire campaign.

Early 1990s Setting Make For Some Great Use Of The Period’s Technology
Since this game is set during the 1990s, you won’t be worrying about your smartphone being tapped or about your actions being posted on the internet. This also means that you will have to improvise during many scenarios that you would normally be able to solve with things like a smartphone and the internet.
One of my favorite missions is the one where you rescue Adler, In this mission, your film camera has been equipped with a microphone and a device that enables you to scan someone’s retina which you will later use to bypass a retinal scanner. This part of the level wasn’t just a gimmick, as it taught me how to be stealthy and patient. Something that many shooters these days are lacking.
Not only are the missions themselves very robust and interesting, but the main headquarters that your group has taken refuge in is also an extravagant and well-put-together storehouse with plenty of secrets.
After the first mission, you will be given access to a house that will act as the quasi-hub world for this game’s story.
In it, you can walk around, uncover lots of cool hidden glyphs with your trusty ultra-violet light, and even use money that you pick up in the missions to buy weapons, character upgrades, and other cool stuff that will aid you in combat.
Also, unlike last year’s Modern Warfare 3, once you unlock something, you can use it for any mission, not just that one level you acquired it in.

What’s Old Is New
In terms of combat, there have been many improvements to the formula. You are given a weapon wheel that slows down time around you while you are picking an item to use, whether it be lethal or tactical equipment.
This, at times, made it feel like a Rockstar game. The slowing down time while you’re picking an item reminded me of GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2.
There have been some small improvements to the Heads Up Display as well. When you pull the pin on a grenade, a circle will encompass your screen and get smaller, indicating how much time you have left before it explodes. I also loved the small things in this game, such as a floppy disk appearing on the top left corner of the screen whenever the game was being saved and all the licensed music that added to the authenticity of the time period.
The game also features a health bar, and when you get shot, you flinch a bit, but the entire screen doesn’t go red. This makes it easier to see an enemy combatant even while you’re getting shot. At first, I didn’t think much of this, but after I played through the whole campaign like this, I can’t tell you how refreshing it felt to play through a modern shooter where the screen doesn’t get smeared with strawberry jam every time you get hit.

The Deader The Better
The Zombies mode that I didn’t like so much from Black Ops Cold War has made a return, and while it may still be incredibly complicated to complete the story, I appreciate that you can still have fun and kill zombies without needing to level up your character.
My biggest complaint with Cold War Zombies was that you were essentially stuck in one area until you managed to unlock enough good equipment for your character profile.
While the overabundance of upgrades and things that you need to keep track of can be infuriating, I at least felt as though I was able to explore the majority of the maps on my first go without spending ludicrous amounts of time just trying to figure out what I had to equip and when to get to one specific area.
One significant change to the formula is that you no longer get points just for shooting zombies. You have to kill them before you are awarded points. At first, this might seem like a horrible idea, however, given how much easier it is to acquire ammo now that you can buy it outright from an ammo box instead of needing to rely on a max ammo powerup appearing, it kind of evens itself out.

Better Move Fast
The most substantial improvement for this year’s Call of Duty is perhaps the new omni-movement system. Up until now, you were only able to sprint forward. Now however you can sprint in multiple directions. This assists in multiplayer tremendously. You now have more ways to dodge gunfire and shrapnel that comes your way.
The maps are also really fun, and many have a fun gimmick or two. There are 16 multiplayer maps at launch, and none of them are old maps or asset flips. Treyarch knew that they had to bring the heat with this game, and they did an excellent job.
The progression system is very similar to Black Ops Cold War, however, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, the constant pressure to make you purchase COD Points to buy bundles with weapon skins is still as annoying as ever, but I feel we have at least gotten enough substantial content in the base game for the add-ons to feel like add-ons. It doesn’t feel like you are buying a giant microtransaction with a slice of video game attached to it. At least not for me.

Among The Best Shooters I’ve Played In Recent Memory
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has a masterful campaign with loads of replayability, unique mechanics that feel like more than just gimmicks, and a story that knows how to pay homage to its legacy while still being newcomer-friendly.
The Zombies mode is also very enthralling. At launch, two maps are available, each of which feels unique and not just a copy-paste job. The difficult as fuck challenges and reliance on Gobblegums that take hours to unlock or require you to spend real-world money to acquire to complete the story on these maps may be a turn-off to many newcomers. However, there is still much fun to be had if you want to play for fun; just booting up a game casually to play with your friends didn’t frustrate me as much as Cold War did.
The omni-movement mechanics have made the multiplayer much more robust and changed the way the game is played. With a plethora of things to unlock, I can see Black Ops 6’s multiplayer being played for years to come.
By being given four years of development time the developers at Raven Software have spread their wings and laid one gem of a shooter. Arguably, the best campaign in the franchise’s history is presented as the main dish with the multiplayer and Zombies modes adding zest to this well-cooked package. For only $70, this game is a must-buy for fans of shooters, spy-thrillers, hardcore gamers, and casuals alike.