Black Ops 6, Call of Duty

Call of Duty season rolls around again, its almost Christmas and that means its time for new Black Ops.

After a couple of years with Infinity Ward helming the charge through Modern Warfare territory, and let’s be fair the 2023 instalment should have been DLC and a multiplayer update. It is refreshing to be back in the hands of Treyarch, which as a die hard Infinity Ward fan caught me by surprise.

Black Ops 6 has landed as a full package, Campaign, Zombies and of course the meat in the sandwich Multiplayer.

The story starts somewhere…

Let’s look at the campaign. What are the key ingredients for a decent Call of Duty? Globe Trotting adventure – tick. Engaging characters – mostly tick. Set pieces, twisting narrative, and mayhem – tick, tick and tick. The key ingredients are definitely there, the game looks great, the sound is rock solid and everything feels meaty.

To summarise it’s a follow on from the chaos of 2020’s Black Ops : Cold War, which in itself was a fine game. We pick up with characters like Woods and Adler, still peddling their guns-ho hokum, there’s no escaping the fact that Black Ops and especially Treyarch have hung their hat on twisting narratives. If it can’t be undone without a big reveal then they don’t do it, and boy they do love throwing in hallucinations, and mind bending nonsense. Which to be fair suits the atmosphere they build, but it more often than not turns me off a game.

Overblown writing, drawn out cutscenes regardless of how good they look still get skipped. As ever, just make a game, get me in the level and point me forward. Trying to impress me with a betrayal at the highest level or convince me the world is full of zombies isn’t what I signed up for…again.

However, once you ignore the scene setting and unnecessary dialogue, even more so when you know there is a trophy attached to ‘having conversations’ – the gam, the actual game is good. The globe trotting mission are well placed, the maps have plenty of options and I really do enjoy the mission objectives, that make you play through different scenarios. I love having options, stealth versus loud, sneaking around, finding routes and alternatives. Black Ops does some of these things really nicely, admittedly a lot of these mechanics are familiar from games of old, but there’s a reason why they worked then, and its refreshing to have them back.

Whether it’s disposing of bodies, swimming under patrols or being funnelled through a debris strewn back corridor, there are plenty of moment to moment Black Ops vignettes on hand. The missions are varied enough to be fresh and in retrospect I’d be happy to play through it again, more so than Cold War. Treyarch have also included some new movement mechanics across game modes, thankfully not wall running or jetpacks, but being able to fling your body around and roll around Jon Woo style. It’s a cool mechanic and works mostly well, it also tends to happen to me when Im not planning it (read avoiding a surprise attack) so I end up stuck on my back being picked off easily.

Oh, we’re playing the same cards again.

On the down side, apart from my “skip all cutscenes” approach, I have to say its not big and clever to keep introducing the hypnotism / mind bending / hallucination cards, we’re over it. I don’t need the drama, I just want to save the world one clip at a time. There are also plenty of collectibles and notes pick up during the campaign, which is fine, but having to collect stacks of cash laying around or in puzzle-locked safes to buy your upgrades is worth a re-think. It also has to be said that while the general enemies do a great job, there is no need to add ‘super-mobs’ with layers of armour, especially where the answer is to force the player into picking up armour and shoving it down your shirt just like a game of Warzone.

There are a few game breaking bugs showing up too, my worst was having spent plenty of effort getting Adler free, we fought our way out then he got stuck somewhere in the last checkpoint. So the mission could not be completed, and the way the checkpoint save had left me, I had to play the whole thing again.

Like Cold War, Black Ops runs from a base of operations, where characters can interact, you can upgrade the facility and build up your arsenal of equipment. I have to admit to enjoying this aspect, even though I don’t like feeling I ‘have’ to talk to everybody or pay my own way with collectibles. What is really worth a nod is the mysterious puzzle element of the Rook and the way I wasted 90 mins exploring the place. Opening secret doors and finding my way into the basement, cracking codes and generally enjoying exploring. When the time came to move on with a mission I didn’t want to go.

GGs Black Ops Boyz

Call of Duty is nothing without some online fun and Black Ops is no exception.

Having spent over a thousand hours on Modern Warfare across the last couple of years I was keen to get online, the game certainly feels different to Modern Warfare. Its faster, the weapons feel different, the pace just runs hard. Once you get a few games in it starts to feel good, while you cant satisfy everybody I have to say I’m enjoying it. The maps don’t have any real negative stand-out, the weapons all feel well balanced, and being 90’s themed there’s nothing outstandingly out of place. At this early stage, and Ive just paid for the first Battle Pass it’s looking good, I’m into my third Prestige now and preferring the mechanic that keep you fresh, rather than the MW way of keeping everything unlocked.

It’s funny, I remember well reaching maximum level years ago and never turning over the Prestige, now I’m the opposite I like the idea of starting over and each time adding a permanent unlock to my initial build. Maybe that’s just because I’ve spent too long playing over recent years and feel more confident.

Something positive to note is currently (yes, currently) a lack of abusive players sending aggravating messages, mostly sore losers. I’ve also felt in Black Ops there is less in the way of hacking, aim-bots, bunny jumping crackheads too. this might be the benefit of skill based matchmaking, it might be because the faster pace means they lose their advantage. Whatever it is, props to Treyarch, for now at least.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzombies

Zombie modes are synonymous with Call of Duty games these days, that’s all well and good. While I’ve tried them, I’ve never been a fan and preferring to tackle things solo doesn’t make a good experience. There are zombie games that do it well, hell I can play Zombie Army all day if needed, but this kind of open world Horde Mode doesn’t do it for me.

Yes there are unlocks and experience and it all adds to the Black Ops ecosystem, I’d just rather not.There’s something about unlimited enemies popping in from nowhere that just isn’t as finsesed as eth rest of eth experience, and there are scenarios in place that we’ve seen a million times.

I don’t know I think its a mode that should stay standalone. I came for the campaign and stayed for the Multiplayer.

Black Ops, Call of Duty or Call of Doodoo?

Black Ops 6 is a a solid entry, the gunplay is great, the set pieces in the campaign are often spectacular. Sound, graphics, and fun levels are dialled to high.

The multiplayer is my new ‘go-to’ for a couple of hours per night, it’s quick enough to load, there’s not that many obvious lunatics dropping in and I like my builds. While I don’t enjoy Zombies, I can see it will suit some people, but for me now, it’s all about grinding Prestige for the next 12 months, for fun rather than kudos.

See you on the field…Message ends..//