TechRadar Verdict
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is an outstanding first-person shooter package that offers a thrilling blockbuster campaign with some of the best graphics on the market. Its polished multiplayer is fast-paced and intense, bringing the franchise to new heights despite a few poorly balanced maps, and the cooperative zombies mode is the absolute best it’s been in years.
Cutting-edge visuals
Well-paced, thrilling campaign
Electric multiplayer
Innovative ‘omnimovment’ mechanics
Highly engaging zombies mode
A few subpar maps
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Platform reviewed:PS5Available on:PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PCRelease date:October 25, 2024
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6feels like a throwback in the very best of ways. Lead developers Treyarch and Raven Software have smartly combined some of the most successful elements from entries across the long-running first-person shooter (FPS) series to craft a highly polished experience that excels in almost every regard.
Classic systems such as the traditional prestige mechanics, which offer the most dedicated online players the opportunity to partially reset their progress for exclusive rewards, or the simple but effective weapon attachments still haven’t lost their luster in 2024. It’s not all things that we’ve seen before though, as a handful of clever new innovations, like the flagship ‘omnimovement’ system, and the most high-fidelity graphics we’ve seen yet successfully drive the franchise forward and keep each facet of the experience feeling fresh.
The result is one of thebest FPS gamesin almost a decade and a must-play for fans of the genre. There are still a couple of sore spots, like a handful of poorly designed multiplayer maps, that hold things back from total perfection, but, with plenty of new content on the way through a barrage of seasonal updates, the next twelve months ofCall of Dutyare well-positioned to be some of the greatest yet.
On the run
TheCall of Duty: Black Ops 6campaign picks up roughly ten years after the story of 2020’sCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Set in 1991, it’s loosely centered around the events of the Gulf War, though with more of an eye towards covert espionage than boots-on-the-ground conflict. You play as a group of CIA operatives, sent into Iraq to intercept the Iraqi Minister of Defense and bring him back to the government in one piece.
As you might expect, this simple task goes wrong in a matter of minutes when a mysterious military force emerges from the shadows to thwart your mission. Reunited with the fan-favorite rogue spy Russel Adler, it soon becomes apparent that this organization, known as Pantheon, has close ties with the CIA, forcing the team off the grid. It’s a classicMission Impossible-stylepremise and, while nothing particularly complex or sophisticated, is a perfectly serviceable framework for a series of absolutely stellar set pieces.
In a strong field, one particular campaign sequence sees you work as a team, cinematically swapping between characters to break into a shady casino is an absolute treat.
Variety elevates every moment campaign, with all manner of surprising mechanics and environments crammed into its roughly nine-hour runtime. There’s a refreshingly open assassination segment early on, with a variety of possible approaches that incentivises at least a couple of replays. Later on, you’re stealthily infiltrating a political fundraising event, investigating different possible leads, and scanning clues with a high-tech spy camera before a hair-raising motorcycle chase.
One highly memorable mission even takes on a wholly unexpected survival horror edge, equipping you with an overpowered grapple hook and bombarding you with legions of imagined zombies and powerful boss monsters.
In between each mission, you’re sent back to your safehouse, which offers its own suite of activities. Levels are littered with cash, which can be hoovered up and spent on safehouse upgrades to unlock new perks and gear going forward. Quite a few puzzles are hidden across its grounds too, giving achievement hunters plenty of incentive not just to blitz through the story.
This is also without a doubt the best-looking campaign inCall of Dutyhistory, surpassing even the visual excellence of 2022’sCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Multiple areas are breathtakingly realistic, with absolutely stunning, highly detailed textures and advanced lighting effects. Some of the more abstract scenes also allow the developer to really show off its artistic chops, with bright primary colors and an effective dream-like atmosphere. Performance is delightfully smooth onPlayStation 5to boot, with resolutely stable frame rates even in the most intense moments.
Back to basics
This year’s multiplayer experience smooths out many of my biggest frustrations with recent entries, returning to a formula that will feel immediately familiar to long-time fans. The painfully convoluted weapon attachment system ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3is no more, superseded by a simplified selection of accessories that still offers plenty of customization without ever seeming overwhelming.
Rather than countless barely distinct options, each attachment category is populated by a handful of more significant mods. Some provide little buffs, while others bring much bigger bonuses alongside a noticeable drawback or two. Player perks have also been whittled down and are finally available right from the start of a match rather than staggered intervals.
You can choose up to three per loadout, with every perk sorted into a distinct Enforcer, Recon, or Strategist category. While you are free to mix and match between these categories to create your own custom builds, equipping three perks of the same type yields some very powerful bonuses. Picking three Enforcer ones, for example, gives you a major movement speed and health regeneration boost after each successful kill. These combinations are significant enough to tangibly impact play, but everything is still well balanced with no particular set taking a clear lead.
The brand-new ‘ominmovement’ system, which lets you sprint, slide, and dive in any direction, is well integrated and leads to countless thrilling moments. Diving backwards off a tall ledge while peppering an enemy with bullets feels completely natural and it’s almost hard to believe that movement hasn’t always been this way. Combined with the high number of more compact 6v6 maps in its 16-map line up, most online matches have an absolutely incredible sense of pace.
There are some notable exceptions, though, mainly thanks to a small number of quite poor maps. Scud, which is set against the ruins of a decimated desert outpost, is a particularly sore example with far too many open sightlines that encourage slow games to a crawl as players favor sitting in key positions with sniper rifles. Rewind, a delightfully 1990s strip mall, is significantly better but still feels a little empty in a 6v6 format given its large size. These complaints will almost inevitably be addressed in future updates as more maps arrive, but it does still slightly dampen the online experience at launch.
Army of the dead
The round-based zombies mode is another area whereCall of Duty: Black Ops 6borrows plenty from past games. For the uninitiated, the Zombies mode is deceptively simple - you drop into one of two maps with up to three friends and try to survive against increasingly powerful waves of the undead. Mowing down shambling creatures yields cash, spent on unlocking new areas of the map, buying new weapons, or sticking your gear through a Pack-a-Punch machine for an additional bit of kick. It’s an incredibly effective formula and significantly more enjoyable than the more open-worldModern Warfare Zombiesfound in last year’s game.
That’s far from everything to discover, however, with a raft of easter eggs ranging from cute little references to entire story sequences hidden for the most dedicated players. Exclusive cosmetics, secret achievements, and plenty of level XP reward those who dig deep. I’ve already spent hours in the Zombies mode and, while I did manage to survive to round 41 and find the hilarious zombie bowling minigame on the Liberty Falls map, I still feel like I’m barely scratching the surface of everything that it has in store.
All three major components ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6are an absolute blast and are so brimming with content that they would even work well as entirely standalone games. As a complete package, the level of quality here is something that we haven’t seen from the franchise in years.Call of Dutyis well and truly back.
Should I play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6?
Play it if…
You want a blockbuster campaignTheCall of Duty: Black Ops 6campaign is the franchise at its best, filled with memorable set pieces and engaging mechanics.
You love frantic multiplayerThe online multiplayer is also a treat, with fast-paced encounters and a new ‘omnimovement’ system that practically generates action-movie moments.
Zombies is your go-toThe round-based zombies offering inCall of Duty: Black Ops 6is some of the best it’s been in years. Expect hours of entertainment if you manage to pull together a few friends for a squad.
Don’t play it if…
You prefer larger-scale mapsThe 16 launch maps in this year’s installment are mostly quite small. If you prefer larger maps, stick with the likes of 2022’sCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2and its huge Ground War mode instead.
Accessibility
There are plenty of accessibility features inCall of Duty: Black Ops 6. This includes a wide array of subtitle options for the campaign, and the ability to customize the colors of the entire UI and apply a range of visual filters.
The controls can be fully remapped across the board in both controller and keyboard play, with a range of assist settings that can remove the need to hold certain inputs if required.
How I reviewed Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
I’m a regularCall of Dutyplayer with prior experience reviewing the series in addition to a wide range of other FPS titles. I completed theCall of Duty: Black Ops 6campaign in a single sitting, clocking in at roughly ten hours including the time I spent exploring the safehouse and replaying a few missions.
I then spent around twenty hours (and counting) in its multiplayer mode, trying out all of its available playlists and maps. During that time I reached the maximum level and began Prestige 1. I also played multiple Zombies matches with friends and solo, getting to grips with its mechanics and the two launch maps.
I played on PlayStation 5 using aDualSense Wireless Controller. For audio, I relied on a pair ofAstro A50 Xheadphones, which I found really helped the detailed sound effects shine. Throughout my time with the game, I compared my experience with that of otherCall of Dutygames.
First reviewed October 2024.
Dash is a technology journalist who covers gaming hardware at TechRadar. Before joining the TechRadar team, he was writing gaming articles for some of the UK’s biggest magazines including PLAY, Edge, PC Gamer, and SFX. Now, when he’s not getting his greasy little mitts on the newest hardware or gaming gadget, he can be found listening to J-pop or feverishly devouring the latest Nintendo Switch otome.
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