Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Review (Xbox Series X)

STAFF REVIEW of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Xbox Series X)

Monday, November 11, 2024.
by Adam Dileva

It’s that time of year, where the leaves start to fall, kid’s get bags of candy trick or treating, holiday decorations start to go up, and the yearly Call of Duty iteration releases for gamers to delve into for countless hours. With a Call of Duty releasing every year since its inception, 2024 is no different, and fans are greeted with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, bringing some new ideas, classic modes and more. Fans will no doubt know what to expect, but there’s plenty to delve into depending on if you prefer Campaign, Zombies, or the ever-popular Multiplayer.

Duty Calls

I’m not sure what it’s actually labelled as, but you’ll still be launching Black Ops 6 from the Call of Duty launcher/hub app. It’s still as terrible as previously was where you’ll open the app, prompting for a restart, choose your game/mode, require another update and restart, then hope that you don’t get another update and restart before changing modes. Terrible launcher aside, Black Ops 6 does have some new and refreshing ideas. There seems to be many more choices and options in the settings, from audio, graphics, controls, and more. I actually spent a good amount of time catering each of the settings to my liking. If there’s two major changes to this year’s Call of Duty though, I’d have to narrow it down to the new Omnimovement system, and the triumphant return of round based Zombies.

Omnimovement now lets you slide, dive and sprint in any direction, even backwards and sideways. I thought this would result in many more ‘dolphin divers’ than previously, but it hasn’t been any more noticeable than what I’m used to. It does feel great to dive sideways from a corner and land that headshot though, as does diving backwards to tossing a grenade into a pack of enemies. Sprinting backwards feels so natural now, so I’m hoping it’s a mechanic that stays in follow-up sequels.

Maybe it’s just the placebo effect, but guns feel much more satisfying this year. Regardless of which I’m using, they felt distinct from one another and sounded great. While I’m primarily a LMG user, the overall weaponry just feels more solid and polished, and in campaign you have a weapon wheel to choose all your equipment and gadgets easily, pausing time to do so.

Action Packed Narrative

While it’s not mandatory to have played the previous Black Ops campaigns to enjoy the story, you’re certainly going to be lost without any previous knowledge of who’s who and what’s happened to this point. There’s no recap of sorts to catch new players up to speed of returning characters either, so you won't have any context to why some people are incredibly important or what they've done previously.

A Call of Duty campaign wouldn’t be the same without memorable setpieces, exciting combat and an interesting narrative, all of which Black Ops 6 checks the required boxes. Set in the early 90’s, Black Ops 6 has a story that will have you globetrotting around the world from Iraq to within the United States after being forced to go rogue and being hunted from within. Some popular characters make a return, like Woods and Adler, and there’s quite a bit of variety in the missions, from motorcycle chases, open world, supernatural elements, and plenty of stealth given this is a spy action thriller.

Missions tend to vary quite drastically. Most have a stealth element to them where it’s certainly an option if you’re careful, though I opted to go loud once I got caught. There’s a few sections where stealth is mandatory, meaning basically an instant fail if you’re caught, and these were the weakest and most frustrating parts of the campaign, even if only a few.

These aside, there were quite a few really exciting missions, namely the open world mission where you have to take out a number of targets in any order you wan as well as being able to complete optional side objectives. This mission specifically you’re given a vehicle to drive from spot to spot if you wish, or can try and infiltrate with stealth and snipe every guard from afar. You’re able to even fast travel back to the base in the middle of the map if needed. There's another open world mission where you need to sabotage a base undercover, allowing you to do some a variety of different ways.

Two others really stood out for me, one that had a supernatural element to it about halfway through. I don’t want to spoil exactly what, but it certainly took me by surprise and was a challenge. My favorite though was the Casino mission, where you play sections of the mission from everyone on the team, each very unique from one another given who they’re undercover as. The final mission should get praise as well, as it may have been the most exciting part.

Your hidden HQ, The Rook, is where you’ll be able to have chats with the team and plan your next move between missions. Here you’re also able to spend any money you find in each mission on a range of upgrades. You’re able to improve your weaponry, gear, abilities, and perks for a cost, though finding enough money for all of them will take some time searching each level.

The blockbuster action looks great, the varied environments have a massive amount of detail (especially the Casino level), as does the main cast of characters. Faces look quite realistic and very detailed, especially on closeups. Woods and Adler have never looked so good. Nameless NPC’s don’t have nearly the polish, but you’re generally sneaking around or shooting anyone you see to notice. It was a great campaign throughout until the credits rolled and worth the playthrough.

Braaaaiiiinsssss...

Fan favorite Zombies mode is a staple of the yearly Call of Duty entries, though the mode changed recently with the addition of Warzone. Fans can rejoice, as classic round-based zombies makes a return on two new maps; Liberty Falls and Terminus. Also returning are Gobblegums, a usable consumable item that gives you temporary effects, buffs, or abilities. These single use items can make a huge difference in a run and some are quite unique and vary in rarity.

I’ll admit, I’ve never really been a Zombies fan. To new players, the mode does a terrible job at teaching you what you’re supposed to do, what machines do what, nor teach any basic strategies. Newcomers to the mode are going to feel quite overwhelmed, which is why I’ve never really got into it that deeply. Thankfully this time around I played alongside some friends that are longtime Zombies fans, so I learned from them what I needed to know to really understand the mode better.

The two Zombies maps are drastically different from one another and designed quite well. Liberty Falls is a small town where there’s a number of buildings and rooftops to explore, as well as a bowling alley and a church that places you in some other dimension. Terminus appears to be some kind of prison or secret HQ, as there’s underground tunnels and something deep within. Grab a boat and even explore small islands, but watch out for what lurks in the water.

The first few waves start out easy enough, but you’re going to need to collect as much cash and scrap as you can so you’re able to upgrade your weapons. Pack-a-Punch returns, upgrading your weapon efficiency. You’re able to upgrade your weapon three times, each increasing its power, ammo capacity and even giving special effects, denoted by the special animated camouflage skin color. Collected salvage can be spent at an Arsenal Machine to upgrade the rarity of your weapons, greatly increasing its damage. You can also spend salvage on adding elemental bonuses to your gun as well if you have spare.

Augments is a new way you can customize your Zombies loadouts, adding a number of perks once unlocked. As you play Zombie matches you’ll earn XP towards the Augment you’ve chosen. You’ll research more perks as you progress, eventually able to choose one major and one minor augment for each. These can vary greatly depending on your choices from field upgrades and ammo mods. This too isn’t explained very well, but once you know what you want to work towards, simply load it into your build and start earning XP in matches.

A few rounds in and zombies you were taking out with a good headshot or two will suddenly start to take a lot more firepower to kill. Then the elite zombies start the spawn. These mini-bosses are massive bullet sponges and can easily take you out quickly if you’re not careful. They aren’t too terrible when there’s only one or two, but a few dozen rounds in and you’re going to have more than you can handle, which is incredibly difficult. Worse yet, if you die in a round you’ll get revived if your team completes said round, but you lose all your upgraded weapons and you’re virtually useless with a basic gun on respawn.

On-Brand Multiplayer Returns

I’d guess that a vast majority of Call of Duty players generally gravitate towards the multiplayer portion and rarely deviate from there aside from some Zombies matches with friends. If you’ve played Call of Duty multiplayer before, you’ll know what to expect: shooting other players online endlessly, grinding away for weapon skins and Prestige ranks. I’ve actually really been enjoying Black Ops 6’s multiplayer more than I expected, not just because of how natural Omnimovement feels, but the weaponry and TTK (Time-To-Kill) feels just right.

That doesn’t mean Black Ops 6 doesn’t have any flaws though. 16 new maps were available at launch (17 if you include the 2024 version of Nuketown a week after), as well as all of the modes you’d expect, including Hardcore. I found the maps to be quite varied, though the majority of them are quite small save for a few. I of course have a few favorites; Babylon, a train yard with 3 major lanes and plenty of hiding spots. Scud, a map with a number of different lanes and a downed radar dish that many players tend to congregate to. Skyline is another of my favorites from the beta, taking place in and outside a massive penthouse on a cliffside, and Red Card, taking place in a stadium and one of the larger and long range maps. The same goes the opposite too, as there’s a couple I absolutely despise and would rather quit than play on them, namely Lowtown being the worst of the bunch for my playstyle.

The maps have variety to them visually, all with their own quirks and popular lanes, but the classic problem of spawn killing is still present and not fixed. Nor is getting rid of cheaters on PC, so expect some dying as you spawn and other shenanigans, especially due to crossplay with PC and console. Having launched on GamePass as well, there’s a massive amount of people to play with and against. With plenty of weapon attachments and skins to unlock, as well as a number of Prestige ranks, you can stay playing the multiplayer portion of Black Ops 6 for quite some time.

Visually, Black Ops 6 is what you come to expect from a AAA Call of Duty title. The setpieces are grandiose and large in scale, campaign looks absolutely fantastic, and Multiplayer/Zombies never suffered from any slowdown on an Xbox Series X. The soundtrack to the campaign hits a different level when actual music comes into play and you’re holding off oncoming waves of enemies, and the amazing performances from the main cast is practically flawless.

Some may grow tired of the year Call of Duty entries, and I’ll admit, they’re usually hit-or-miss for myself as well, but I’ve been thoroughly enjoying all Black Ops 6 has to offer. Campaign is one of the best in years, Zombies being round based is the correct move, and multiplayer feels solid overall.

Campaign: 9.5
Zombies: 8.5
Multiplayer: 9

**Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 9.0 / 10
Gameplay: 9.2 / 10
Visuals: 9.5 / 10
Sound: 8.5 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Xbox Series X)

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