Finally, after months of anticipation, the next Call of Duty has arrived in the form of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Players are once again being thrown into the gripping world of spies and espionage within the Call of Duty subseries, which has made for a pretty exciting experience thus far. While it may not reach the heights of the series' golden era, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has still been a breath of fresh air for many. Intriguingly enough, one of its biggest advantages is how drastically different it is from Modern Warfare.
For years, the Call of Duty franchise was defined by the Black Ops and Modern Warfare subseries. Players got to experience two very distinct war stories, grow close to different casts of characters, and explore different time periods under the Call of Duty framework. However, in 2019, things changed when Infinity Ward chose to reboot its Modern Warfare series instead of forging ahead with standalone games or continuing in its old MW universe. Although that initially proved successful as the 2019 game was well received, it also meant the original trilogy's universe had been thrown out the window, and luckily, Black Ops 6 did not follow in those footsteps.
Related
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Campaign Changes are a Double-Edged Sword
One major approach to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's campaign is quite different to its predecessor, bringing a range of positives and negatives.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Was Right Not to Reboot
Close
Modern Warfare Rebooted the Franchise
Since its inception, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare subseries has been a fan-favorite. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare brought the entire franchise to new heights with its campaign and multiplayer, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took things even further, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 brought the trilogy to a mostly satisfying conclusion. To this day, these titles are often regarded as some of the best in the franchise, and some are even considered the best that the FPS genre has to offer.
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare trilogy helped set a new precedent for this franchise, as players seemed to love practically everything included within these titles. The campaigns are still talked about to this day, the handcrafted missions in the original Spec Ops mode helped give MW2 and MW3 a unique flair, and as of now, this trilogy consists of the only Call of Duty titles to get remasters. But instead of expanding upon the foundation of this saga with a fourth entry, the studio chose to go back to square one instead. And while that made for another great FPS that featured fan favorites who had been killed off, it also meant that everything that had come before now meant nothing, which was sad to see.
Black Ops Has Forged Ahead With its Wacky Timeline
Unlike Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the Call of Duty: Black Ops series has been all over the place when it comes to its timeline. The Cold War-focused Call of Duty: Black Ops is often considered one of the best games that the franchise offers, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 featured two eras of warfare what was primarily set during 2025. Black Ops 3 jumped all the way to 2065 and turned the franchise into a hero shooter of sorts with its wall-running Specialists, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 stepped backward to the 2040s and experimented with a battle royale mode in lieu of a campaign. Now, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has brought this subseries back to its roots, picking up where Black Ops Cold War left off. While there have been several great games within the Black Ops subseries, it has definitely been disjointed when it comes to its timeline. But even with that challenge, Treyarch has yet to reboot it, instead choosing to fill in gaps in the Black Ops universe with its newer releases.
While it could have gone back to square one, Treyarch instead forged ahead with the universe it has been building and expanding for 14 years. Each entry, bar Black Ops 3 due to its far future setting, has either explored the same characters or relatives of said characters. This has helped make the likes of Frank Woods, the Mason family, Jason Hudson, Viktor Resnov, and recently Russel Adler some of the most iconic characters that the entire franchise has to offer. Players have been able to grow attached to them across multiple titles, with their stories still being written as Treyarch further fleshes out different eras of its universe.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's characters and stories will likely forever be iconic as well, but the fact they were completely rebooted means that players have two versions of said stories to juggle, with the new timeline also retreading some familiar ground and being scrutinized by longtime fans who feel like certain characters and moments do not live up to the old Modern Warfares. Black Ops 6, on the other hand, is building upon the original stories with new ones, which helps make its characters feel more realized and developed. Plus, it means that everything that has come before still matters in the grand scheme of things, with Treyarch able to call back to important moments and keep the interest of Black Ops veterans while still trying new things.
Your Rating
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 star 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star
Rate Now
0/10
Leave a Review
Your comment has not been saved
7.8/10
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.
The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.
In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.
Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
FPS
Systems
OpenCritic Reviews
Franchise Call of Duty
Platform(s) PlayStation 5 , PlayStation 4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One , PC
Released October 25, 2024
Developer(s) Treyarch , Raven Software
Publisher(s) Activision
Multiplayer Online Multiplayer , Online Co-Op
Engine IW 9.0
ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
How Long To Beat 8 Hours
Steam Deck Compatibility Unknown
X|S Optimized Yes
Prequel(s) Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War , Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 , Call of Duty: Black Ops III , Call of Duty: Black Ops II , Call of Duty: Black Ops , Call of Duty: World at War
File Size Xbox Series 216 GB (October 2024)
Number of Players 1-4
Cross Save Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
Cross-Platform Play Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
PC Release Date October 25, 2024
PS5 Release Date October 25, 2024
Xbox Series X|S Release Date October 25, 2024
Expand
See at Official Site See at Playstation Store See at Xbox Games Store See at Steam $70 at Amazon $70 at Walmart $70 at Best Buy