The Call of Duty series continues its annual refresh with the release of the 2024 installment: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Developed by Treyarch and Raven Software and published by Activision, the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 uses the IW game engine and is available on PlayStation 4 and 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
We got to test the Windows version and as players of the classic Call of Duty games, we’ll share our thoughts on its Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombie modes. Let’s begin.
Campaign Mode
The main story is set in 1991 and follows operatives Frank Woods and Troy Marshall as they create a team to go after Pantheon, a paramilitary group that aims to disguise attacks to tarnish the head of the CIA and replace him.
It has an engaging and extensive storyline, which is amped up as the game gives you dialogue options when talking to other characters. The different dialogue trees let you learn more about the characters you’re interacting with.
Plus, the high production level makes things very immersive — from the motion capture, graphics quality of the characters’ faces, the actors’ acting and emotions in their voices, and the amount of detail in the environments.
Since you and your team have gone rogue, you have to be flexible when dealing with many missions. Instead of the usual running and gunning, there’s also a spy element to it that requires you to be more discreet, patient, and move intricately.
We’re also a fan of some of the problem-solving elements — like brute-forcing vaults, picking locks, and more.
You’d then be situated in a safe house in between missions. From here, you can interact with other key characters and teammates and access the evidence board where key details are viewable and let you start the next mission when you’re ready.
You can also upgrade the safe house by purchasing a gear station, training area, and weapons bench. You can purchase such upgrades once you have enough in-game cash, which you can collect by scouring while on missions.
Call of Duty has really evolved since the early installments of the series. The nice blend of genres, side missions, production quality, and dynamics makes it a fun and engaging game to play for an extended period.
It’s nice to see them try new things in the Campaign mode and make the story mode much longer now, which greatly benefits single-player lovers in an era where multiplayer titles are getting the spotlight.
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Multiplayer Mode
As an avid fan of single-player games, we’re surprised by how much we liked the Multiplayer mode in COD Black Ops 6. If you just want a straightforward yet well-produced military shooter game, sans the bizarre science-fiction characters and weapons that other shooter titles offer, this game is for you.
The Multiplayer mode benefits from the foundation laid by Call of Duty and has the same omni-movement features of the Campaign for a more agile, action-packed gameplay far from the usual structured encounters.
You can run and slide while shooting, choose and upgrade a variety of weapons, and much more.
There are a bunch of modes to play in: Kill Confirmed, Team Deathmatch, Free-for-All, Domination, Hardpoint, and Headquarters. All of them provided an enjoyable and engaging experience depending on your play style.
There’s also a Training Mode if you’re a beginner like us and want to polish your skills before entering combat with real players.
As with most multiplayer shooter games, Black Ops 6 has a gunsmith system that lets you unlock and upgrade weapons and its upgrades. You can also set different loadouts so you can experiment with different combinations to match your play style, the type of enemies you’re against, and the battleground you’re playing in.
The menu screen shows you pacing forward, with additional characters popping in as more players join the game. Game matching is decently fast, but should be faster as more updates come in.
At the end of every match, the game will show highlights of the top player and will showcase the top three players in somewhat awkward poses.
The bottom line is, we really enjoyed the Multiplayer on the Black Ops 6 — from the weapon selection and customization to the dynamics, and the overall gameplay. Still, we expect the developers to roll out updates to iron out a couple of elements, especially in the graphics utilization in one of our computers.
Zombie Mode
The Zombie Mode lets you kill the undead all by yourself or a team of other players. The chaos of killing uncompetitive zombies is more fun and relaxing than fighting against other highly skilled players and a good way to step up from the Campaign mode if you want to hone your competitiveness.
It is a round-based mode with two maps available: Liberty Falls and Terminus, both provide enough room for you to run around as a group of zombies slowly run towards you.
Of course, you’re given objectives to give the zombie-killing experience purpose. All of these elements really make for a fun, mind-free gaming experience that you can really enjoy after a hard day’s work.
Verdict
The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a worthy addition to the series. It provides a complete experience whether you’re an avid fan of single-player titles trying to up your skills by dabbing into Multiplayer modes, or a veteran with honed skills for competitive shooter gamers.
While we’re still expecting updates to iron out technical aspects of the game, there’s no denying that the Black Ops 6 is one of the most polished COD games to ever come out in terms of gameplay — especially when you look back from where it was years ago.
We didn’t get bored playing this one, especially on our ultra-wide monitor, which the game supports very well. It’s content-rich and gives you a lot of things to do so you can get the most of what you paid for it.
The bottom line is, that we had fun playing the games, and definitely worth the storage space (around 183GB) it took in our PC.
You can get the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Standard Edition on PC for a price of Php3,699. Meanwhile, the Vault Edition that comes with BlackCell benefits, Hunters Vs Hunted Operator Pack, Mastercraft Collection, and Gobblegum Pack, retails for Php5,299.