CALL of Duty releases a new entry every year, and the last 12 months have been disappointing for long-time fans.
Activision’s last offering, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, had a shallow single-player campaign, while the multiplayer added nothing original.
Many players were disappointed to find that MW3 mostly just added old Call of Duty maps into MW2’s multiplayer suite without offering anything new.
After a year of fine-tuning and updates, players are still disappointed by MW3, and changes made to Warzone 2.0 made it feel like a clone of the original.
It seems likely that development was rushed after executives at Activision decided that the series shouldn’t skip a year.
At this time Black Ops 6 wasn’t ready for release, and it’s believed that MW3 was made simply to fill the gap in the schedule.
The question for Call of Duty fans was then if Black Ops 6 would be worth the wait and last year’s disappointing release.
From early impressions following a weekend playing the beta, it appears that Black Ops 6 will be a return to the series’ best work.
We could play the multiplayer mode with a limited roster of weapons and maps, and the changes feel like an improvement not only over MW3 but over any COD game in recent memory.
Omni-movement is a new mechanic that separates BO6 from its predecessors.
Your character can sprint in any direction, and this vastly improves your chances in close-range combat.
You can also dive, and when prone, aim at any angle, making it easier to get the jump on an advancing player.
These may seem like minor changes, but they hugely speed up the pace and flow of matches, leading to a far superior experience.
It also increases the number of skills players need to acquire to do well, but when you pull them off, you feel amazing.
You can also hold enemies and use them as human shields if you sneak up behind them, rather than doing a fancy finisher.
Most players were still choosing to shoot first, but as the meta develops we think this could be a vital skill.
Weapons also feel lighter than in the Modern Warfare series. They feel less impactful but still take a similar amount of time to take out opponents.
We also enjoyed the designs of the new maps, which have unique features like Derelict with its verticality, and Gala with its lack of cover.
With just a few days of playing one limited mode of Black Ops 6, it’s hard to make a definitive judgement on its quality.
However, early signs are promising and we’re excited to see what the other modes have to offer.
If you want to read more about the series, check out everything in the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies trailer.
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