“Call of Duty: Black Ops 6” Review

A new year brings a new “Call of Duty.” Activision has published the first game in the “Black Ops” series since 2020 with “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.”

I am glad Activision opted to not call the game “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 2,” because it would be a disgrace to the previous entry in the “Black Ops” series, “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.” The best part about “Black Ops 6” is it is not the worst game in the “Black Ops” series, a distinction that belongs to “Black Ops 4.” This new entry, however, definitely makes the lower half of my list.

The main selling point of a “Black Ops” game is more action-packed gameplay and an overall different feel from the “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” series of games. Despite the new movement system introduced, “Black Ops 6” is more similar to a “Modern Warfare” game rather than one of the “Black Ops” series. It is like Activision decided to reskin a potential “Modern Warfare” game with “Black Ops” characters. I find this disappointing as they had four years to make something revolutionary.

The campaign is effectively a continuation of the “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War” campaign. The campaign of “Black Ops 6” is set around the “Operation Desert Storm era,” which I find very cool. Of course, “Black Ops” takes its interpretation of history to the unbelievable, but this time around it is probably the most unbelievable.

The multiplayer mode contains over a dozen maps, but all of them are small and roughly the same shape. It is like playing in a three-lane cube with only a couple maps breaking the shell. I understand the three-lane format works best, but if the maps were a tiny bit larger it would make the experience less repetitive. There are also several bugs with the game, notably characters saying “sniper down” when someone is killed without a sniper and some of the graphics not displaying certain elements. The weapon selection is also disappointingly limited.

The zombies mode is nothing too inspiring. It just feels like doing chores. The leveling system is connected, but playing zombies to level up is ineffective. There are some creatures other than zombies players can kill, but the mode is not as scary as other “Call of Duty” games with a zombies mode, the voice lines are also cringe inducing.

Overall, I would wait to get the game unless it is a priority or long-standing tradition to get the newest “Call of Duty.” There are problems that need to be fixed and it is a limiting gameplay experience. It is not the worst “Black Ops” game, but it has a case to be the second or third worst. At this point, it is about buying the brand name rather than the quality of the game.