Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is quite possibly the best Call of Duty game ever, and certainly the best since 2019, proving that you can indeed “teach an old dog new tricks”.
Singleplayer.
Co-op Multiplayer.
PvP Multiplayer.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the first game in the history of the franchise to launch onto a subscription service, with subscribers to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass having full access to the entire game at no additional cost; in addition, subscribers to the now defunct Game Pass Console tier have access to the single-player campaign.
Unfortunately for PlayStation users, Sony did not accept Xbox’s offer to allow PS Plus Subscribers access to the game, citing costs.
However, considering that Sony’s attempt to break into the HeroShooter/FPS market (Concord) flopped so badly, resulting in the loss of its entire estimated $400M development and marketing, perhaps putting that money towards adding Black Ops 6 to PS Plus Premium on day one might have been a better use of just short of half a billion dollars.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 had the largest launch in the franchise’s history, and for the first time in many years (possibly ever?), over 52% of console players are on an Xbox Console, which is huge considering that traditionally, PlayStation has enjoyed the largest market share.
This good news extends to PC, where the majority of players are playing on Xbox-owned launchers (Xbox App and Battle.net), meaning that Xbox will benefit the most from microtransactions sales, helping to keep prices down and profits up, something which Microsoft will be very interested in considering their massive investment ($70B+) in purchasing Activision-Blizzard and ongoing costs related to integrating Activision-Blizzard with Xbox.
Microsoft-owned platforms aside, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is doing very well on PSN and Steam. It is enjoying near-record levels of engagement, with daily peaks of around 250k concurrent users on Steam, the best numbers since December 2022!
Critically, it is doing very well, coming in at 85/100 on Metacritic (PS5 version), making it the best-rated Call of Duty release since Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 in 2011, which scored 88/100.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Call of Duty Modern Warfare III, and Call of Duty: Warzone are the first three Call of Duty titles to be officially available for cloud streaming, with all three titles being added to xCloud on 25 October 2024, making Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 the first Call of Duty title to be available to stream on any service from day one.
xCloud aside, due to Xbox’s agreement with various regulators, Activision games (including Call of Duty) have begun appearing on various streaming platforms, with Ubisoft+ is expected to launch its cloud streaming service in 2025, including every Activision game past and present.
Please note that, according to the terms of the agreement between Ubisoft and Xbox, which saw the French publisher acquire ownership of Activision cloud streaming rights past, present, and for 15 years into the future, Xbox will be allowed to add them to xCloud after paying Ubisoft an as yet undisclosed negotiated fee on what is believed to be a per-title basis.
However, it is also possible that Xbox and Ubisoft will agree to a different structure which grants Xbox a license to add the entire catalogue to xCloud in exchange for a single payment or yearly fee, something which must look very appealing to Ubisoft due to its current financial worries, and underperforming releases in 2024.
Like most people, I found Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III’s campaign to be underwhelming; however, I could also see there was a seed of something better, but due to time constraints, it had not come to fruition, and I am happy to say that it did for Black Ops 6, which masterfully combines narrative set pieces, traditional campaign missions, open world objective focused missions, stealth missions and even otherworldly segments into what is quite possibly the best campaign in the history of the franchise, and certainly one of the strongest campaigns since
Additionally, the Black Ops 6 campaign contains far less profanity (and vastly less blasphemy) than both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, which is a nice change of pace.
While I understand these are tough people, do they need to cuss multiple times per sentence? Come on, Soap, clean out that mouth!
You can read what we thought about the excessive profanity in Modern Warfare II here.
I must admit that while I enjoyed Call of Duty Vanguards’ take on Zombies mode and could see merit in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III’s open-world zombie mode (despite not personally being a fan), Call of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s zombie mode is a much-needed and long-awaited return to form that honestly just feels right, and the prospect of it receiving potentially two years of support is very exciting, with Call of Duty 2025, believed to expand upon Black Ops 6 in the same way that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023) expanded upon Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022).
I must admit that while I feel the variety and aesthetic of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s launch maps are far more interesting than those in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III at launch, they do feel a little small, and have some balancing issues that result in many players camping in corners.
While it’s possible to play more aggressively and still win, there are some maps where you can find a spot that gives you a perfect line of sight while being almost entirely obscured from your victim, which is problematic.
Ultimately, map variety will increase, and teething issues will be addressed, just like in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III lifetimes, so I am not too concerned.
But for right now, I must admit, while I am thrilled to have more unique-looking maps, I miss the balancing that came from “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” maps, which enjoyed almost two full years of incremental improvements and updates.
Call of Duty Black Ops has always had some of the best launch operators of any Call of Duty sub-franchise, and Black Ops 6 continues that trend.
Don’t get me wrong, Task Force 141 is awesome. Captain Price is a tough act to follow, but a lot of the operators in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II especially were very much catering to a Mil-sim audience, while the skins got more creative (and a little crazy) over time, as someone who plays Call of Duty to have fun, and not dress up like a solider, I always look forward to Black Op games to see what they have on offer, and Black Ops 6 does not disappoint, or rather it does, but not too greatly.
While players who purchased the Vault Edtion (or Vault Edition Upgrade) can access some form of Adler and Park, and players who preordered (and game pass subscribers) get access to Woods, for the most part, both factions have very few recognisable faces, with only one campaign operator being present per faction for those who did not preorder or upgrade to the vault edition.
This feels like a wasted opportunity, considering characters such as Harrow, Livingstone, Sevati “Sev” Dumas, and Felix Neumann play a major role in the narrative in one way or another.
Traditionally, Call of Duty has no issue adding characters to multi-player even if it would conflict with the campaign narrative, such as players being able to play as Soap despite the events of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
While these characters may appear in later seasons, I feel that characters who were vital to the story, such as Sev and Felix, should have been part of the roster from day one, considering their strong ties to the Rogue Black Ops faction.
All mainline Call of Duty games have genre-defining gunplay, and Black Ops 6 is no exception; every weapon looks and feels great to use, even if Treyarch’s sound design is not as cathartic as Sledgehammer or Infinity Ward’s weapon sounds, the ability to eliminate foes before they do the same to you is what matters.
For the most part, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s launch day arsenal is very well balanced, even if I will go on record as saying that the Baseball bat sucks, and players deserve more than two melee weapons at launch.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 sees the return of the classic Call of Duty prestige system, which rewards players who grind that extra mile with ten impressive reards inspired by previous Call of Duty titles.
You can read more about the prestige system and how it works in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 here.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a shooter video game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision, it was released on 25 October 2024 and retails for $69.99.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
As of November 2024, around 20,000,000 people play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on a fairly regular basis.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is extremely active, and instantaneous matchmaking is possible in most regions 24/7; however, in very remote regions, there may be wait times of around one minute to find a full lobby.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 supports:
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 offers the following matchmaking options:
The Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in-game store sells:
The following peripherals are officially supported:
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is rated PEGI 18+ and contains:
While even the worst Call of Duty titles are solid games, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is truly a cut above the rest, and if not for the single-player bias towards the game of the year award, it could very well be a finalist in almost every aspect of its design.
From its world-class single-player campaign to its highly polished multi-player and zombie [modes], Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is already the best Call of Duty title since 2019 and perhaps since the series began, and with Call of Duty 2025 looking to expand on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in the same way that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023) expanded upon Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022), and the two full years of updates that entails, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 could very well become the definite best title in the franchises long and illustrious history, if it can avoid the major pitfall (a rushed campaign) that derailed Modern Warfare III’s launch.
I highly recommend Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, especially to anyone with a game pass-compatible device or an internet connection fast enough to support cloud streaming, which the developers officially support for the first time in the franchise’s history.
