I won’t give away too much of the story in COD: BO6, but I will say that the story features a very gripping narrative that blends the historic events of the Gulf War in the 1990’s with the use of futuristic technology. Together these work to create a very unique and stunning story that’s thoroughly engaging.
COD BO6 features three core modes which are Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies. All three of these are really awesome modes and deserve to be played equally.
The campaign offers a mix of stealth, action, and puzzle-solving. The gun-play is satisfying, with a wide range of weapons and attachments to choose from. For the second time in the Black Ops series, you can play the entire campaign online with friends. Experiencing the campaign with your friends online gives you a unique way to play and enjoy the story. Offering a mixture of well-designed levels that are both linear and open-world, there really is a lot this game has to offer.
Multiplayer is the second core mode offered in BO6 and brings with it elements from previous entries in the series as well as brings some new ones. The first thing I will go over when it comes to multiplayer are the different modes that it offers. These modes are Team Deathmatch, Domination, Search and Destroy, Hardpoint, and Kill Confirmed.
Team Deathmatch is a classic mode where two teams battle to eliminate the opposing team, a staple mode found in nearly every Call of Duty game in the series. Domination has teams fighting to control key objective points on a map. The team that scores the most points, wins. Search and Destroy is a tactical mode that is rather tense. It has teams alternative between attacking and defending objectives. The more successful you are at the end of the phases, the higher points, and the highest amount of points wins. Hardpoint has two teams fighting to control a single objective point that moves around the map. The longer you control the point, the higher your score, the team with the highest score at the end of the game wins. Kill Confirmed is similar to Team Deathmatch with the difference being that you have to collect your enemy teams dog tags to confirm a kill. Confirming the kill is how you score points. You can also pickup your teammates tags to prevent the enemy from confirming the kill and scoring a point.
The last three modes that Multiplayer offers are Gunfight, Fireteam Dirty Bomb, and Control. Gunfight pits two teams against each other. Each team is given limited respawns and is one of the most intense of the game modes offered here. Fireteam Dirty Bomb is a large-scale, objective-based mode where teams of four fight to plant and diffuse bombs. Control is the last game mode offered in Multiplayer and it’s similar to that of Hardpoint but instead of a single point to control, there are multiple objective points to control on the map.
The second aspect of Multiplayer is Ranked Play with the third and final being leveling system. Ranked Play offers a lot of the same modes as regular multiplayer but gives it a competitive spin. Players compete against each other to climb the ranks to be the best of the best. The nice thing about this mode is that it matches players to those that are of similar skill levels as one another. This makes matches more fair and balanced that that of regular multiplayer.
The Zombies mode offered here in COD BO6 sees the come back of round based zombies, a staple in the series that a lot of people wanted to see return and return it has! For those unfamiliar with round based zombies, you attempt to survive each round of zombies with each additional round being more difficult than the last.
The Zombies mode gives you two different ways to play, Standard and Directed. Standard Zombies offers a classic, cooperative experience where players team up to fight off hordes of undead. As of this writing, the two maps offered are Liberty Falls and Terminus; with additional maps being planned at a future release. Both of these maps are diverse with Liberty Falls being a small town with locations to explore such as a church, bowling alley, and gas station. Terminus looks more like a military installation on the water that have little islands you can explore by boat. Each map has its own unique storyline, Easter eggs, and challenges that it offers.
Directed Zombies is a new mode for round based zombies. The major difference with this mode is that it’s more narrative driven. It tells the story that Zombies offers, gives you your objectives, and has a round cap of 15. Meaning that the highest round you can get to is round fifteen and it won’t get any harder than that. Though don’t be fooled, even with a cap of fifteen, the zombies pull no punches and can down you pretty easily if they happen to catch you with your guard down. One last thing that sets Directed apart from Standard is that you are able to save your progress should you choose to play the game solo. If you choose to attempt this daunting task, the moment you perish from the horde, your saved game is automatically deleted and you have to start over again.
The final aspect of not only Multiplayer but Zombies that I would like to bring up is the Prestige leveling system and permanent unlocks. Prestige is a system that allows players to reset their level and unlock permanent rewards. You start at level one and go to level Fifty Five. Once you reach level fifty five, then you are given the option to Prestige. If you choose to prestige, your unlocks will become locked again, with the exception of weapons and upgrades earned through Battle Pass. Even though your levels reset, each time a player reaches Prestige, they earn a new emblem, calling card, and weapon camo. Additionally, players can unlock permanent weapon attachments and perks as they progress through the Prestige levels. This Prestige system carries over between every game mode with the exception of the campaign. This makes it so that it’s fun to level up and prestige no matter what game mode you and your friends want to dive into.
COD BO6 boasts impressive visuals, with stunning environments and detailed character models. The game’s lighting and particle effects are top-notch, creating immersive and atmospheric experiences. As beautiful as the graphics are in this game, I will say that it doesn’t have the realistic look that we saw with Modern Warfare III. What the game lacks in graphical realism, it makes up for with the explosions, particle effects, vegetation, and the overall presentation of the game. So it may not be the most realistic looking game, but it still looks gorgeous on the Xbox Series X.
With as much realism that they put into the lighting and particle effects, if they made the entire game look ultra realistic, I don’t think the game would perform as well as it does, even on the Series X. When it comes to the performance on the Series X, you have really fast load times, and even some ray tracing implementation, though not a lot. The Series X has a lot of power and I think that COD BO6 highlights the power of the console without alienating it’s counterparts; those being the Xbox Series S and Xbox One platforms. If the developers would have abandoned the previous generation of consoles and lower performing systems, I think that we would have seen a much more breathtaking experience. We could have seen full ray tracing, more consistent frame rate, and maybe even a more realistic approach like what we saw with Modern Warfare III.
The sound design in COD BO 6 is exceptional. The gunshots are impactful and when you shoot a gun, you can feel and hear the power behind the shot. Explosions are just as hard hitting and impactful as the gunfire, even more so I would say. You toss a frag grenade and you can really hear the explosion. If it goes off too close, not only will you feel and hear a deafening boom, but your ears will slightly ring from it. This not only adds to the realism, but shows you just how much attention to detail that went into this release.
Music in the game from that found in the campaign, the multiplayer background tracks, and even the loading screen music is impactful, atmospheric, and sometimes pretty intense. Hard hitting action from missions, intense multiplayer fire fights, emotional story scenes, the music is just right there and spot on! I mean it just adds so much character and weight to every aspect of the game. Not only does it add so much depth and weight to the game, it would be a great soundtrack to listen to while traveling or doing stuff around the house.
In conclusion, COD BO6 is a fantastic package that offers a wealth of content for both casual and hardcore players. The Zombies mode is a highlight, with both cooperative and solo experiences. The multiplayer is intense and competitive, with a deep progression system and a variety of modes. The game’s stunning visuals, smooth performance, and immersive sound design make it a must-play for any fan of the Call of Duty series!
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.