The game billed as having the longest development time in the Call of Duty series, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, has been released, and I’ve played it. So, is it any good? Let’s review it together.
Call of Duty Black Ops 6, touted as the CoD title with the longest development time, has finally been released. I’ve played it - but is it any good? Let’s dive in.
Gameplay
Right off the bat, even basic movement in the game is enjoyable. The new “Omni-movement” system they’ve implemented is fantastic. While traditionally you could only run forward, this system now allows you to run in all directions - forward, backward, left, and right - and jump with complete freedom. It’s genuinely satisfying to leap around Max Payne-style while taking down enemies.
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The gunplay is equally impressive - possibly the best I’ve experienced in any game. From the animations to recoil patterns and sound design, everything has been crafted meticulously. This aspect alone makes me consider replaying the game, which is unusual for me as I rarely replay games. However, this would depend on whether they fix the major issue I’ll discuss later.
Black Ops 6 transports you to 1991, during the Gulf War. While attempting to capture a target, your unit is ambushed by an organization called Pantheon. After escaping, you report the Pantheon threat to your superiors, but they dismiss your concerns. This leads you to establish your own headquarters and conduct operations against Pantheon, while trying to uncover their true nature and objectives throughout the game.
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After a few well-crafted, cinematic missions, the game thrust me into an open world. My heart sank, thinking “Oh no!” Fortunately, this only lasted for one chapter - though it was poorly designed, the game returned to its linear structure afterward.
The open-world section’s design falls flat because it barely functions properly. The game presents three main objectives - essentially three missile launch sites scattered across the map that need to be destroyed. You drive around with your team, randomly encountering enemies who attack you.
The game seems to want you to engage in these encounters, but there’s really no need. You can simply approach the missile sites, and if you’re lucky enough to find a rocket launcher, you can take them out from a distance. This was definitely the most tedious mission in the game. However, the game doesn’t force you to engage with the superfluous side content, allowing you to quickly complete this section and escape the open world.
Starting Black Ops 6, I didn’t expect such diverse gameplay. The variety comes through both equipment and mission design, though not all variety is good. The game begins by throwing you into the action, having you fight your way forward - so far, so good.
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Then it shifts to a low-tempo stealth mission reminiscent of Hitman, where you need to avoid detection. You can tolerate this for one mission, but then it throws you into an espionage mission. The first half of this mission consists purely of “go here, go there” objectives. There’s a door that requires a senator’s retinal scan. To get past it, you need a photo of the senator. You pose as a journalist, and after a series of events, you pretend to take a photo while actually scanning his retina. It feels like completing a quest in an RPG, complete with dialogue choices - though these choices don’t affect anything.
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After obtaining the retinal scan, you infiltrate a secret facility. There’s a brief action sequence where the game gives you the choice between stealth and aggressive approaches. Since I came for an action game, I chose the guns-blazing approach.
Padding Attempts
If you’re expecting non-stop action in every chapter, Black Ops 6 isn’t for you. I was expecting that too, but it wasn’t the case. Some chapters are obviously designed to pad the game’s length. Call of Duty has long been criticized for short gameplay duration. While this game takes 7-8 hours to complete instead of 4-5, if you remove the unnecessary padding, you’re still left with a 4-5 hour game.
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For instance, during an operation in what appears to be an old research facility, you get trapped on one floor. To use the elevator, the game tasks you with finding 4 keys. You’re given a map showing 4 corridors, each with a key at the end. As you progress, you’re swarmed by zombies - yes, zombies - and have to defeat a boss - yes, a boss - who drops a key. You repeat this four times.
Actually, this section wasn’t bad, but it feels out of place in an action game. In one of these four sections, enemies only move when you’re not looking at them, freezing like statues when observed. You also have a grappling hook that lets you swing around like Spider-Man. While interesting in concept, not all attempts at padding are this creative.
For example, enemies drop money when killed. What is this, GTA NPCs? You can collect money throughout levels to upgrade your equipment at your headquarters. Features like:
- Collect money to increase reload speed by 15%
- Collect money to automatically pick up armor from the ground
There’s even an option to buy weapon skins for multiplayer mode with the money you collect in the campaign. It feels like the campaign was included just as an afterthought.
I don’t oppose unlocking multiplayer content by completing campaign missions. But having to collect money in the campaign to buy weapon skins feels forced. There are additional puzzle-like activities for collecting money, including nonsensical safe-cracking sequences. You’re in the middle of combat, and the game expects you to stop everything to tune a radio, which somehow gives you a safe combination. You then go open the safe for money. These elements completely break the game’s atmosphere.
Why is there a safe there? Why does the radio give us the combination when we tune it? Is this radio broadcasting the combination 24/7? Such elements undermine the game’s military realism.
Another atmosphere-breaking element is the silent protagonist. I don’t know about you, but I hate silent protagonists. While it might be understandable in RPGs, in an FPS action game like this, it disconnects me from the experience. I could barely tolerate it in Crysis 2, where Alcatraz couldn’t speak due to damaged vocal cords. Here, other characters act as if we’re speaking.
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My elevator crashes to the ground. They call from above, “Case, are you okay? Case, say something.” I can’t speak, what am I supposed to say? This really irritates me. The justification is “so the player can put themselves in the character’s shoes.” But I already put myself in my own shoes in real life - let me experience being someone else in the game. Throughout the game, it’s unclear if our character even exists in the story. There’s talk of a CIA mole, speculation about who it might be, but we - the character we control - don’t exist in the narrative.
There’s also the issue of non-cinematic conversation sequences in games with silent protagonists. Where other characters talk while you retain control of your character. Some players might enjoy this, but I don’t. I can’t maintain seriousness - while characters are having serious conversations, I find myself jumping around and running back and forth. I’d prefer these scenes as proper cinematics. In these sequences, the game loses all its cinematic impact.
The reason for this is obvious - cutscenes would cost more to produce. They’d need to put in more effort, so they’ve tried to create the longest possible game with minimal cost. For some reason, the game is filled with puzzles - but they’re the most pointless puzzles you could imagine. Unnecessary things added just to pad the game’s length by a few minutes. For instance, you’re given a number sequence with letter equivalents below - you just copy the letters. What is this testing, my ability to see? There are also lockpicking sequences where you just turn your mouse - no mini-game, no skill involved. Just turning the mouse to add 5-10 seconds to the game.
The game could have been much better without these padding elements. The core mechanics are well-crafted. I even caught myself thinking “I wish Crysis 4 was this polished.” But just as the game approaches perfection, something comes along to annoy you. Like bullet-sponge enemies with health bars. I don’t enjoy bullet-sponge enemies in FPS games - I prefer when enemies go down in 1-2 shots. Otherwise, it becomes obviously tedious. And this game constantly throws bullet-sponge enemies at you, requiring multiple magazines to take down. It’s boring. Similarly with shield-bearing enemies who charge at you like Blitz from R6. You need to get a sniper and land 2-3 shots on their barely visible heads. And even headshots aren’t one-hit kills. If you’re going to have shield enemies, at least let exposed areas be one-shot kills. When waves of enemies are rushing you, encountering a shield or armored enemy kills the momentum. My advice would be to use your equipment against these enemies.
Equipment
You have quite diverse equipment options. Remote-controlled kamikaze cars, throwable explosive knives - using these items is genuinely fun. Pressing ‘3’ brings up an extensive equipment menu where you can quickly select what you need. Weapons are as varied as your equipment. Each weapon has multiple variants - standard, suppressed, scoped, laser-equipped, etc. With an already wide selection of weapons, this additional variety makes gunplay even more enjoyable. As mentioned earlier, movement and shooting in this game are perfect. The impact feedback is really good too, except for armored enemies. During crowded action scenes, music similar to Doom’s soundtrack plays, getting you into the perfect mood.
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You can catch thrown grenades just before they explode and throw them back at enemies, or use nearby enemies as human shields. These mechanics feel really satisfying. I wish all games had the human shield mechanic - it’s extremely fun. You can even use it in multiplayer mode, it’s not just for the campaign.
Speaking of multiplayer, I want to touch on that briefly. I usually don’t play multiplayer modes alone - only with friends when we gather for Counter-Strike or Rainbow Six. But this one hooked me. It’s genuinely fun. I enjoy high-tempo, fast-paced games, which is why I used to play a lot of Titanfall 2 multiplayer. The pace never drops, there’s constant action. When this tempo combines with the new movement system, it creates a very entertaining game.
There’s not much more to say about what the game does well. When it delivers action, it’s thoroughly enjoyable. I actually liked most of the non-action moments too, though it’s clear this isn’t what Call of Duty players expect.
Graphics
I’d like to praise the game’s graphics, but I could only play a small portion with proper visual quality. Due to technical issues, I had to play through xCloud, where image quality was limited. However, the graphics are quite good, especially during cinematics where it feels like watching a movie.
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Story
Perhaps because I have no previous experience with the Black Ops series, the story felt very jumbled. There’s this secret organization that nobody knows about, they’ve made a secret weapon. Where did they make this weapon? We need to stop it immediately, who’s using this weapon? Let’s stop them, and suddenly the game’s over. There doesn’t seem to be a proper plot structure.
The characters are similar - they don’t annoy you, but they’re not memorable either. Just generic characters.
Technical Issues
Now for the crucial part: Technical issues. Normally, you start a game, play it, and exit. That’s the natural flow. You don’t stay in the game forever. You spend some time with it and return later, expecting to continue where you left off. But that’s not how Black Ops 6 works. The save system is broken. The game requires constant internet connection as save files are stored online. I play the game, my save file uploads to their servers. Later, when I try to play again, the game can’t download the save file from its servers.
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This is the most basic thing you’d expect from a game - saving. If even saving doesn’t work in this game, what were all these studios doing together? The PC Game Pass version especially has numerous technical issues. Some users are prompted to purchase the game, others can’t launch it. In my case, the game won’t save. As a result, I had to play through xCloud - Microsoft’s GeForce Now alternative. However, it’s not officially available in Turkey. I played connecting to Western European servers, which is why the quality of the footage I’m showing is low. Because that’s how I had to play it. Because the save system doesn’t work.
Even launching the game is torture. You start it up, it tries to synchronize data - which it can’t. Finally it launches. Makes you adjust settings. You do that, then “update available, please restart” appears. You do that, it asks for settings again. You do it again. Select Black Ops 6 from the menu, then campaign mode. The game restarts itself again. If it’s your first time, it does this even more times.
I don’t know whose idea it was to combine all Call of Duty games in one menu, but it’s a terrible system. Just launching the game requires extra effort.
Conclusion
Without these issues, this would be an 8/10 game, but unfortunately, it has major problems. I won’t lie - I enjoyed it even while playing through xCloud with pixel-perfect Anatolian image quality. I’m even thinking about playing other Call of Duty games from start to finish when they come to Game Pass. However, it definitely doesn’t deserve its price tag. I recommend playing it through Game Pass, which is what I did.
To summarize, Black Ops 6 is quite good when you look past the technical issues. I’ve never played a game with better movement system and gunplay. Missions and gameplay are quite diverse. The action dosage is below expectations. There are some unnecessary additions to pad the game length, but they don’t become too bothersome in the end.
In fact, I can say this is the best Call of Duty game I’ve played.
You can watch this review in video format.
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