Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Review (PC,Xbox) – Back In Black With A Bang

It has been an interesting time for the Call of Duty franchise, from Activision being acquired by Microsoft to the largely disappointing release of Modern Warfare 3 last year. Now, we have the return of Treyarch at the helm for Black Ops 6, and let me assure you—they are back with a bang!

Game Name:  Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (reviewed), PC (reviewed)
Publisher(s): Activision
Developer(s): Treyarch, Raven Software
Release Date: October 25, 2024

Mission Briefing

First things first, if you’ve played Call of Duty before, you’ll have a good idea of what to expect here in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. In terms of modes on offer, there’s the traditional campaign and multiplayer, along with the return of round-based zombies.

Back In Black

I was delighted when I heard that Black Ops 6 would feature a more traditional single-player campaign, and what I found was a familiar yet uniquely engaging experience.

The story in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 follows ‘Case,’ a CIA operative who goes rogue alongside Troy Marshall, Frank Woods, and others. What unfolds is a Mission Impossible-style action movie campaign, full of bombastic set-piece moments. It even has a twist—though, unfortunately, I saw it coming. What makes the campaign truly unforgettable and my personal favorite in the franchise? That’s easy: the variety of missions and how they constantly present new gameplay challenges and opportunities.

For example, one mission places you in an open-world area with multiple side objectives. Completing these side objectives can aid you in achieving your main goal. The open nature of this mission was a lot of fun, giving me the freedom to approach things my way without feeling aimless or overwhelmed.

Another mission I enjoyed has you attending a party with various political figures—even Bill Clinton is there. In this mission, you need to capture a close-up photo of a certain person, and you have a few options for how to accomplish it. In my playthrough, I uncovered an affair and a subsequent blackmail plot, which allowed me to get what I needed. Throughout this mission, I almost felt like I was playing a Hitman level, looking for the right situations to exploit to my advantage.

These are just two examples of the very different missions in the nearly ten hours I spent with the campaign, and I encountered even more mind-bending, thrilling missions along the way. From start to finish, I was completely engaged. The variety of mission designs and gameplay options made it a joy to return to the world of Black Ops. Raven Software did an excellent job leading this year’s single-player campaign, delivering what I feel is the best single-player experience in the series so far.

A Blast From The Past

So, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has an outstanding single-player mode, but what about the multiplayer? Well, it’s great! Treyarch has looked to the past for inspiration, bringing back the traditional prestige system. This system allows you to hit a level cap and then reset your level up to ten times, aiming to reach master prestige. Doing so will apparently unlock a unique reward, though I haven’t reached that point yet.

Having the traditional prestige system back is a fantastic choice, unlike the seasonal prestige system we’ve had over the last few years, which resets every season. The traditional system continues across all seasons, bringing back that feeling of constant progression in multiplayer that we all crave.

At launch, the game offers sixteen brand-new maps, most of which are designed for traditional 6v6 matches. The game also includes a few smaller maps for the popular 2v2 gunfight mode.

In 6v6 games, all the classic match types are here—Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, Headquarters, and more. Each match type is playable in both the standard ‘Core’ mode and the more punishing ‘Hardcore’ mode. Personally, I don’t recommend ‘Hardcore’; while I enjoy the quicker time-to-kill and the lack of a mini-map for a more immersive experience, these changes often lead to players sitting in corners without moving.

I’ve enjoyed my time with multiplayer immensely. Each map follows the traditional three-lane design we’ve come to expect in Call of Duty. While you might think this would make every map feel the same, most of them offer unique advantages and disadvantages based on your play style, keeping each match feeling fresh. And we’re not even at Season One yet, when more maps and weapons will be added.

Speaking of weapons, currently, you have thirty-three choices and you can see them all below:

• Assault Rifles
  XM4: Unlocked immediately
  AK-74: Unlock at level 10
  AMES 85: Unlock at level 19
  GPR 91: Unlock at level 28
  Model L: Unlock at level 40
  Goblin MK 2: Unlock at level 46
  AS Val: Unlock at level 55
• Submachine Guns
  C9: Unlocked immediately
  KSV: Unlock at level 7
  Tanto .22: Unlock at level 16
  PP-919: Unlock at level 37
  Jackal PDW: Unlock at level 43
  KOMPAKT 92: Unlock at level 92
• Shotguns
  Marine SP: Unlocked immediately
  ASG-89: Unlock at level 31
• Light Machine Guns
  PU-21: Unlocked immediately
  XMG: Unlock at level 13
  GPMG-7: Unlock at level 52
• Marksman Rifles
  Swat 5.56: Unlocked immediately
  Tsarkov 7.62: Unlock at level 22
  AEK-973: Unlock at level 34
  DM-10: Unlock at level 43
• Sniper Rifles
  LW3A1 Frostline: Unlocked immediately
  SVD: Unlock at level 25
  LR 7.62: Unlock at level 49
• Launchers
  CIGMA 2B: Unlocked immediately
  HE-1: Unlock at level 19
• Pistols
  9mm PM: Unlocked immediately
  Grekhova: Unlock at level 13
  GS45: Unlock at level 28
  Stryder .22: Unlock at level 40
• Melee
  Combat Knife: Unlocked Immediately
  Baseball Bat: Unlock at level 52

My personal favorite weapons so far are the AMES 85 and, as a sidearm, the semi-automatic Grekhova pistol. I do have one issue with multiplayer currently, and that’s the pace of attachment unlocks for weapons. Compared to previous years, it feels like attachment unlocks come at a snail’s pace.

An Undead Dream

Now, for potentially the best news: round-based zombies is back, and it’s like a dream come true. Treyarch has recaptured the magic of the early zombies experience and combined it with lessons learned over the years.

At launch, zombies mode includes two maps. Liberty Falls is a medium-sized map themed after a small American town, and in my experience, it’s the easier of the two. The second map, Terminus, feels like a maze with its main prison structure and underground areas. You can even use a boat to access areas off the shore of the main Terminus Island.

Zombies mode plays as you’d expect, with rounds that get progressively harder as more and more special enemies spawn. However, no dogs this time—instead, you encounter spider-like vermin that don’t just appear every few rounds. They can randomly pop out of the undead at any time; they’re quick and can climb anything. My advice? Kill them quickly!

There’s also a storyline and tons of Easter eggs across both zombies maps for you to discover. For players who prefer a more guided experience, Treyarch has announced that a guided mode will be available by the end of 2024 for those who just want to enjoy the zombies story.

Moving So Fast

Ah, the gameplay. Given that this is a Call of Duty game, not all that much has changed—controls are the same, you still have perks in multiplayer, and you still fire guns with the right trigger, and so on.

That said, there is one change that can be game-changing in certain situations. The new omni-movement system allows you to move and run in any direction, letting you move so much faster overall. Omni-movement also means that when lying prone, you can turn 360 degrees, allowing you to find shooting angles without fully repositioning. Combined with the ability to slide and dive, Black Ops 6 offers the most mobility in franchise history. It’s a lot of fun to dive backward off a train, and rotate on the ground to find the perfect angle around the carriage, all while staying covered. It feels fast and fluid.

Does It Really Look This Good?

Keeping up with recent tradition, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 looks and sounds fantastic, both in gameplay and in the pre-rendered cutscenes throughout the campaign. There isn’t any real improvement to the presentation from the last few years, but in truth, there didn’t need to be. Among first-person shooters, Call of Duty has consistently been one of the best-looking and best-sounding games, and Black Ops 6 is no exception. That said, if you have a headset capable of 5.1 surround sound, a good setup, you’ll really hear just how damned good the sound is.

Occasional Technical Misfire

When it comes to performance, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is very strong most of the time. On PC, I was able to achieve a consistent 80-90 frames per second throughout all gameplay at native 4K resolution on the game’s highest available graphical options. However, there was one major technical problem with the PC version (at least via the Xbox App): when playing the single-player campaign, the game would crash approximately every hour, pointing towards some DirectX issue. No matter what I tried, it kept happening—but only in single-player.

Multiplayer and Zombies were rock solid with zero issues. To my amazement, even the servers had none of the usual opening weekend problems, which is even more surprising given the recent confirmation that this was the biggest opening weekend ever for Call of Duty.

The crashing issue on PC meant that I had to play over half of the single-player campaign on Xbox Series X. I am pleased to say that while it looks nowhere near as clean and crisp as the PC version, frame rates seemed to be locked throughout the campaign, albeit at the lower target of 60 fps. On console, this was a great experience and importantly, there were no crashes.

Mission Accomplished

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the complete package: a great single-player campaign, best-in-class first-person shooter gameplay, fun fast-paced multiplayer, and the return of round-based zombies. Mission accomplished for Treyarch and Raven Software, who have created what I believe to be the best game since at least the Xbox 360/PS3 era, and perhaps the best in the franchise to date.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 was played via Xbox Game Pass for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.