Call of Duty has been in a regular state of chaos the past few years. AfterVanguard,Modern Warfare IIandModern Warfare III, all of which were developed by either Infinity Ward or Sledgehammer Games, players are ready to return to Treyarch’s Black Ops series.Call of Duty: Black Ops 6is different, though. Filled with new mechanics, an updated movement system, and built on Infinity Ward’s latest Call of Duty engine, this isn’t the same Black Ops we’ve seen in the past. Treyarch recently held the beta forCall of Duty: Black Ops 6, giving the world a chance to see what the studio has been working on for the past four years. With the beta over, isCall of Duty: Black Ops 6ready for launch or does it need more time in the oven?
Black Ops is Back and Faster than Ever
The most important aspect to get right with any FPS title is the gunplay, something Treyarch has managed to get right with each of their titles. As far as the beta is concerned, Treyarch nailed it. Gunplay feels precise, fluid, snappy and powerful with each gun feeling unique. It retains that arcadey, fast-paced feel Treyarch is known for.
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Aiding the gunplay is the much-hyped Omnimovement system, which generally lives up to that hype. Essentially, the new movement system opens new directional movements that before wouldn’t have been possible, like being able to run sideways or dolphin dive backwards to escape death. It’s a level of versatility that hasn’t been seen since the jetpack era. While it’s not perfect, Omnimovement does successfully encourage players to keep moving rather than camp in one place (i.e.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II). Of the most recent betas,Black Ops 6was easily the most active in terms of combat engagements.
Black Ops is back and faster than ever.
There are also massive improvements to the Gunsmith, Perks and general UI. For one, Treyarch has mostly ditched the horrendous Hulu/Netflix UI we had been saddled with for the past two years. In its place are proper list style menus that mostly keep everything in one area. Where the game does keep the horizontal lists, it at least condenses all items to one page and eliminates scrolling.
The Gunsmith adoptsCall of Duty: Black Ops 4’sphilosophy when it comes to attachments; fewer with greater impact. There are fewer but more impactful options rather than 200+ attachments for each weapon. There’s more encouragement to find the setup that feels right for you rather than resorting to the meta options. The one caveat to all this though is the weapon balancing, which, at least in the beta, skewed heavily towards the Jackal PDW SMG. Despite a nerf between weekends, it was difficult to find lobbies where players weren’t defaulting to that gun. SMGs overall were powerful and could even outperform assault rifles at medium ranges. Hopefully, Treyarch will be able to reel them back in before launch.
Likewise, Perks have also been pulled back from the odd time-gating mechanic inModern Warfare IIand Equipment system inModern Warfare III. InBlack Ops 6, Perks are just Perks with easily discernible effects. The one new wrinkle involves Perk Specializations where, when you pick three Perks of the same color (Red, Blue, or Green), you get an additional special perk. While neat in theory, these Specializations are completely overpowered. The red Enforcer Specialization quickly became meta thanks to its speed and regen boosts, though the blue Recon Specialization wasn’t that far behind thanks to its wall hacks. Perk Specializations aren’t a bad idea, but they need to be completely rebalanced lest everyone start running solely red Perks.
While the beta was overall a joy to play, there are major areas that need addressing. First off, the beta was a technical mess across both weekends with the game frequently stuttering out of the blue. This lead to numerous deaths, frustrations and even a complete crash. For a game that’s a month away from release, having major technical issues that weren’t addressed either weekend is concerning.
The biggest problems, however, lie inBlack Ops 6’smap design, spawns and Omnimovement. As great as Omnimovement feels, the biggest issue it creates is the increased speed. The maps (Skyline, Scud, and Derelict) aren’t badly designed maps or that small, but the increased speed and quick time-to-engagement make them feel smaller. WhileBlack Ops III’smaps were designed a bit bigger to take the faster jetpack movement into consideration,Black Ops 6’smaps feel like they were designed for a traditional boots-on-the-ground Black Ops game. The result is a game that feels faster and sweatier than any other Call of Duty game. This increased sense of speed from engagements also fuels the atrocious spawns that plagued weekend one, though Treyarch thankfully alleviated that concern for these three maps in weekend two.
Black Ops 6’smaps feel like they were design for a traditional boots-on-the-ground Black Ops game.
What can’t be forgiven is the atrocity that is Babylon. A Shipment-like map, Babylon combines the worst aspects ofBlack Ops 6to create a uniquely-terrible experience. Terrible spawns frequently spawn you into instant death. Quick engagements and a fast time-to-kill turn matches into a meat grinder. Explosive spam makes traveling down any lane difficult. It sounds impossible, but Babylon, in its beta state, gives strong Santa Seña Border Crossing vibes, something no one wants. This map needs to be put under a microscope and tuned properly, removed from launch until it can be fixed or outright discarded and replaced with something else.
Also concerning is just how much Infinity Ward is inBlack Ops 6. What kept Call of Duty fresh each year in its golden era was the fact that Infinity Ward and Treyarch had unique styles. With Treyarch moving onto Infinity Ward’s latest engine to unify development, that means some of the mechanics of Modern Warfare II and III are inBlack Ops 6. These range from minor things (interactable doors, fast time-to-kill) to mechanics that don’t need to be here (Tac-sprint). The worst feature to carry over, though, is the large amount of visual noise when firing a weapon and the lack of visual clarity. Remember how some Operators could blend well into the environment inModern Warfare 2019andModern Warfare IIand create camping nightmares? While not as bad as those games, it was an issue in theBlack Ops 6beta, especially when enemies laid prone. Treyarch needs to find a way to make Operators pop more or riskBlack Ops 6turning into a camping nightmare.
A Lot of Fun, a Lot Left to Polish
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There’s a lot of thingsCall of Duty: Black Ops 6does right, as proven in the beta. That core Black Ops experience that made Treyarch the ‘A-team’ of Call of Duty is still here. The beta provided a lot of fun opportunities, interesting customization options to play around with and an inventive movement system. It’s a breath of fresh air after the slow-paced, meta-focused Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.
At the same time, there’s still a lot to fix and little time to do it. The technical issues must be sorted out by launch and the spawn fixes made during weekend two must be properly translated to the remaining maps not in the beta to avoid a catastrophe. As for Babylon, it needs major reworks or should be removed from the game. There’s a lot for Treyarch to do, but the studio has consistently proven itself in tough situations. Whether it was pulling togetherWorld at War, retoolingBlack Ops 4to be less of a hero shooter or putting togetherCold Warrapidly, the studio has always delivered high quality Call of Duty titles. Hopefully, they can pull out another win withCall of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6launches October 25 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
