I have to start this review with a confession – I have never played a Call of Duty campaign mode… or Zombies! I’ve played hundreds of hours of Call of Duty multiplayer, ranging from 2012’s Black Ops II right up to 2023’s Modern Warfare III, but I just never felt the need to experience the story. To me, the entire point of Call of Duty was just to play Team Deathmatch, and that was it. I failed to see what purpose a story mode could provide when the franchise is known for its extremely addictive and relatively shallow concept, to just shoot things and win.
Black Ops 6 has been on my radar since I returned to the Call of Duty series with Modern Warfare III last year. I had a blast, the Battle Pass system was addictive and kept me returning every few months for more, and the campaign remained untouched. I saw Black Ops 6 would be released on Game Pass and suddenly got very excited at the potential of playing it day one without having to fork out the steep price tag I usually pay to just get access to the multiplayer mode. This time though, inspiration struck, as on booting up I decided what if I just check out the campaign? After completing the 11 explosive missions that campaign mode in Black Ops 6 has to offer, it suddenly all made sense why campaign mode is there. Because it’s great.
The thing that caught me off guard the most was just how varied the campaign was across the 11 very different missions. I expected simple, linear and relatively monotonous levels meant to just give players something to shoot at, but instead got something far more interesting. Whilst the story may start like that, you soon find yourself at a Bulgarian mansion homebase that acts as a hub, from which not only do you progress the story, but can just explore, combat-free, and complete puzzles in this safehouse manor. The puzzles played out like their own side quest, complete with a meaningful reward at the end of the section.
Besides the puzzles, the house, known as the Rook, also has unlockable areas that you can spend your hard-earned (and stolen) money from campaign missions on to access upgrade benches. These benches allow you to upgrade your characters gear, personal stats, weapon abilities and more, in what is effectively an RPG-style skill tree – in a Call of Duty game! I still don’t know if this is common or new in these games, but as a beginner Call of Duty campaign player it was an excellent surprise to give some customization to our faceless character of “Case”, but more on him later.
After I spent my cash, explored the Rook to my heart’s desire and completed the dialogue trees of the friendly NPC companions, I’d jump into the next campaign mission and again be delighted at their variety. From a character-switching heist, to an espionage and persuade dialogue-focused mission in the heart of enemy territory, to an entire open zone area with optional completable side activities, the gameplay experience was always engaging and refreshing. My personal favorite was the aforementioned open zone area, where the player can explore a piece of the western Iraqi desert and either focus on the story objectives, or explore different areas with enemy encampments, loot drops and puzzles all rewarding the commitment; including surprises that affect the later outcome of the mission.
So the gameplay is certainly varied and enjoyable, but each of the campaign missions is progressing a grander narrative, and I’m happy to report that once again I feel it delivers. The central premise is also something I didn’t expect from a Call of Duty title, shifting the antagonization of foreign powers to a more critical look at insider sabotage and faction-forming within the CIA itself. This led to some plot twists, which were especially effective given how well written characters had been up to that point. There are plenty of optional dialogue trees within the Rook safehouse, and engaging with each really gives you a feel for where each character comes from, and makes you care about where they will ultimately end up at the conclusion of the story.
There’s only one part of the story that fell a little flat for me – and that sadly is our protagonist, codenamed Case. You see, Black Ops 6 opts to go for the faceless protagonist, who is only ever seen covered or from the back, and every dialogue choice you choose for yourself is unspoken. His backstory is clearly communicated, and is pretty exciting when you discover it, but that can only mean so much when we don’t exactly know who “Case” is now. By the end of the story I felt like I had more questions than answers, perhaps a good set-up for a sequel, but hardly a satisfying conclusion to our own playing experience.
The campaign was extremely exciting and delivered in ways I never expected, and so I went into multiplayer already feeling incredibly satisfied with the game. Somehow, even the multiplayer experience found a way to be refreshing to me as a long-time fan of Call of Duty multiplayer; but it is only a temporary thing. You see, Black Ops 6 has been released before its ‘Season 1’ of content drops, meaning for now there is no battle pass system or no in-game store content. It’s quite a rare feeling, especially in a AAA online game nowadays, to play it purely to progress your level and earn free rewards without the stress or FOMO of a billion cosmetic options, battle pass levels and licenced collaborations.
Speaking truthfully, as much as I’m enjoying the stripped back Call of Duty experience, I am glad that it won’t be long before the mid-November first season of the game begins. As much as I enjoy the old school vibes of playing to level up then quitting, the battle pass model of modern Call of Duty makes playing feel more purposeful, as if I’m actually ‘earning’ by playing. As much as I hate to admit it, the industry has conditioned many of us online gaming fans to just accept the way it’s become, and I’m at a stage now where I like the battle pass model, at least when it’s done right.
Black Ops 6 will have more room to use that battle pass system, as it reintroduces emotes to the franchise. I enjoy being able to take a break from the shooting, so it’s a welcome change. The multiplayer is just more of the same shooting, gunsmithing and action as ever, meaning it’s really great with not much more to add. As with all Call of Duty games, I can’t forget to mention the maps either, which all look as impressive as ever. I’m not the most critical person when it comes to map design as I don’t engage in the hardcore competitive scene, but I’ve not had many frustrating moments with any of them. The only complaint I can think of is the Skyline map appears too many times; but it’s a player-voted map system so that must mean people like it!
Campaign isn’t the only Call of Duty mode I missed out on, and this one to some may be even more egregious. Yes, I’ve never played Call of Duty’s iconic Zombies mode. There were a few reasons for this, but the most prominent and silliest is that I’m just a scaredy cat. Zombies are scary! For the purposes of this review though, I decided to go all in on playing the mode for the first time, and whilst I do see the appeal now I do still have some personal issues.
The Zombies mode offers little in the way of a tutorial for how things progress, or really what the ‘point’ is to any of it, instead just assuming the player knows Zombies because, let’s be real, most players do! As a complete newbie though, I would’ve enjoyed a tutorial mission to give new players a guide at what everything does, how the story progresses, and how reliant the story of a Zombies mission is on paying attention to clues and dialogue. Zombies games can last a long time, and at one point I was 30 rounds in with a team way better than me, just constantly dying and hoping the game would wrap up. It’s not a bad mode, it was fun and the players were very friendly, I just didn’t know what I was signing myself up for.
Even now after playing a few long rounds, I still don’t really understand the purpose of playing Zombies. Is the aim to complete the story and are players trying to figure out the easter eggs? Is it just to last as long as possible? Do I get unique rewards for playing Zombies and progressing there over the Multiplayer mode? I’m still unsure, but for fans of Zombies mode it seems like everyone is enjoying it, I’m just very unfamiliar with it, so I won’t let that affect my final opinion.
Ultimately then, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was an incredible experience, from a memorable campaign with hugely varied gameplay, the classic online experience as good as ever, and Zombies for people smarter than me to enjoy. It’s mind-blowing I got to play it on Game Pass and pay so little for a month’s access to this brand new game, and if you can’t outright buy the game I’d absolutely recommend going for Game Pass. Black Ops 6 made me see the franchise how others have for many years – and I’m already hyped for Black Ops 7!
Bobby played Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on PC with his own PC Game Pass subscription.
