Summer Game Fest
We played CoD Black Ops 6 exclusively, and we are clear: it is the most important installment of the series in 10 years
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will arrive on October 25th to lay the foundations for the future of the saga in terms of control.
In this 2024 there is an atmosphere of a great Call of Duty. After a Modern Warfare 3 that felt like an overdone expansion, the new installment led by Treyarch conveys quite the opposite. It is a game formed, ambitious, nourished by the extra development time to offer a polished experience and full of content. The rush of the Cold War is a thing of the past: Call of Duty Black Ops 6 arrives to “define the future” of the saga. It will be available on October 25th on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC; it will be included in the Game Pass catalog in all its modes from day one.
MeriStation had the opportunity to visit the offices of Treyarch and play the multiplayer for the first time on the occasion of its presentation at the Xbox Showcase 2024. We know in depth what is the perspective of this new chapter and towards what point is heading one of the most important releases for the franchise in years, with the approval of the reboot of Modern Warfare in 2019.
The New Era of Black Ops
The atmosphere among those responsible for the game is one of complete confidence in the product they have in their hands. They constantly repeat that we have “the best Black Ops” in the history of the brand, and it is not for less, seeing some of the revolutionary innovations that will arrive in this installment. The unification of technologies between teams has allowed the game systems to evolve in stages between releases from different teams.
In Black Ops 6, there is a lot of the DNA that Infinity Ward has imprinted from 2019. In terms of control and feel, all the ingredients are there. What Treyarch adds to the sauce is a revolutionary control system called “Omnimovement”. This system is the result of a quest to evolve the movement of the franchise while maintaining the boots-on-the-ground philosophy that has characterized the saga since its inception.
In practice, this means removing the restrictions on movement in any direction. Now you can move in any direction while maintaining the speed you want your character to have in any situation. Sprinting works not only forward, but also sideways and backward. You press the sprint button and the momentum is maintained in any direction. To reflect this cohesively, a variety of never-before-seen animations have been added from the studio’s motion capture sessions.
But it doesn’t just work when you want to run. Actions like sliding, plank jumping, or moving in any direction while lying down follow the same line. Remember Max Payne 3? That’s where it’s going. The evolution is huge. If the franchise was already the pinnacle of arcade FPS in terms of movement, Treyarch has managed to take it to a new level. “It defines the genre,” they insist. And we believe them.
Diverse campaign linked to Black Ops 2
The promotional material for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 already hinted that the events of the Cold War are canon in the Treyarch universe, with Adler at the helm, playing between good and evil. The new installment is set chronologically in 1991, during the critical moments of the Gulf War. This choice is no coincidence: it continues the narrative arc of the missions set in 1989 in Black Ops 2. Frank Woods and other characters from the past return just as we left them in the game.
The espionage thriller that has always inspired the franchise will continue to be the hallmark of the campaign. Raven Software returns to spearhead it with the promise of expanding the variety of situations to bring together all the great Call of Duty moments. Yes, there will be open-world missions. In one of the examples shown, we traveled to Iraq to find Saddam Hussein’s palace by completing non-linear objectives in a medium-sized area.
We’ll have to see if this structure is the one that repeats the most or the least throughout the campaign, but Raven Software notes that each mission will have a very specific focus. There’s one big infiltration mission. Another has us infiltrating a casino with a Hollywood-style heist. Another mission has us planning and executing the assassination of a high-value target..... We’ll see how that turns out. What we can say is that the visual differences from mission to mission are very pronounced. Not a single scenario repeats itself.
Focusing on the combat, it is noticeable that they have taken into account the rules of other shooters on the market. For example, the enemies are now divided into different archetypes with specific roles. The Juggernaut is still around, but now it will be accompanied by engineers who use gadgets similar to yours, soldiers who are looking for close combat, and more. We will also have new tools to contain them. We can use enemies as human shields and then return them to their companions with an activated grenade. We see other tools like an explosive throwing knife that you can control after you throw it.
The pretext of the story is quite interesting on paper. Several CIA agents go rogue to hunt down a cell called “The Pantheon” that is trying to control the upper echelons from within. And as Adler and his colleagues suspect, they have already infiltrated the government. A tug-of-war begins between the active and rogue agents whether the intentions are real or if Adler has gone over to the other side.
Multiplayer: a safe bet with a big nod to the past
The multiplayer block begins with excellent news in terms of progression: the classic prestige system returns. The 55 base levels will give way to the possibility of making the journey through 10 prestige levels, each of which completely resets your arsenal. Come on, as it has always happened in the classic Call of Duty. It will complement the progress that began in recent years with the integration of Warzone, those master prestiges that take you to level 1000 through the seasons.
Wildcards will also be present in the equipment structure to expand the possibilities in terms of advantages and tools. Weapons will be able to equip up to five accessories at a time, eight if we equip the appropriate wildcard. The perk system returns to 3 equippable perks, divided by their characteristics.
Numbers are really important when we talk about content. Let’s completely forget the rush that Black Ops Cold War provided. At launch, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will feature 16 maps, 12 of them focused on the 6v6 experience and another 4 for melee modes. The variety of scenarios is impressive, and a good sign of this release’s commitment to easing the loop from game to game. And yes, the theater mode will be available from day one.
Another new feature is the ability to customize the interface in detail. The position of the minimap, the remaining ammunition... everything is configurable piece by piece. Fortunately, the menus are arranged differently than in Modern Warfare 2. They are displayed vertically and with a minimalist touch, far from the Hulu-like horizontal boxes.
Zombies and what is to come
We knew very little about Zombies. Only a short teaser put us in the situation of what is to come when it comes to taking control of the game. We learned that the story arc will continue the story arc of Dark Ether. It is a direct sequel with the return of some familiar characters and a new grid of playable operators.
The round-by-round structure will remain this time with two unreleased start maps. Liberty Falls: Dark Ether Incursion and Terminus: Blacksite 13. The brief images that appear show us quite a few new zombies, more than we expected.
During the presentation, they did not go into detail about the post-release plan and how it will integrate with Warzone. They did make it clear that the technology used is common to all the studios working on the franchise. It is the same engine as modern Modern Warfare, so compatibility at the feature level should be total compared to when there was Treyarch’s custom graphics engine.
They will be talking more about this at the annual Call of Duty Next event. On the other hand, they confirmed to us that they are working on reducing the footprint that files leave on the Call of Duty HQ app. Another year it will be tied to it instead of being an individual entity.
The Foundations of the Future of Call of Duty
The stages that make up the evolution of the franchise are measured by the possibilities when you move. Playing the first Black Ops in 2024 is an exercise in archeology compared to the progress of the Modern Warfare reboot. But Treyarch has managed to go above and beyond with a system that sets up what’s to come in the future. After playing Black Ops 6, the movement of the previous installments feels a bit less nimble. The extra development time is noticeable… and a lot of it.