Call of Duty is back with its latest yearly entry Black Ops 6, a surprisingly fun re-imagining of the classic Call of Duty formula that adds a whole new movement system.
The Black Ops 6 beta exclusively features the multiplayer component of the game, hinting at location that may be present in the campaign when the game fully launches in October.
It’s not a revolutionary game that’ll change the gaming landscape forever, but the changes Black Ops 6 brings to the table makes it a fun game to kick back and play.
However, as someone who doesn’t love Call of Duty, I wasn’t fully sold on the product when playing the beta.
Fast and infuriating
The staples of Call of Duty are present in Black Ops 6, you’ve got your: broken sub-machine guns, sweaty players, and SBMM (Skill Based Match Making).
SBMM has been the bane of many COD players existence since the release of Modern Warfare (2019) five years ago. But as a casual to the series, this system is perfect for me.
If I had a bad match where I barely killed anyone, my next match I would be matched with people of my skill level, making the game far more balanced.
Balance is a huge part of what makes Black Ops 6 so fun to play in short bursts. Most guns have the same “time-to-kill” but a few stand out as being incredibly powerful. The biggest culprit that breaks the balance is the sub-machine gun category.
It’s not a surprise but when you’re killed by the same weapon thirty time in the same match, and then twenty more times in the next, it gets old very fast. However, the biggest selling point of Black Ops 6, “omni-movement”, helps to give the player a leg up.
“Omni-movement” is very fun to play with, being able to dive and sprint in any direction at any time creates a chaotic game play flow that’s as addictive as it is hard to master.
I found “omni-movement” tough to get the hang of, but after a few hours of using it, it became a crutch that got me through most gun fights. As much as I used it, many people I played against weren’t using it at all which surprised me but it’s still early days and many like me are getting used to the new system.
All the usual issues remain
As previously mentioned, I’m not a huge fan of Call of Duty, much of this lack of enjoyment comes from the people who typically play it. Having played the Black Ops 6 multiplayer for four hours, I was called a good few slurs for just playing the game. It doesn’t bother me too much, but I prefer my multiplayer games slur-free.
Another issue I had whilst playing the beta was connection problems. Load times were long for first starting it up and for a couple of matches I was met with a completely black screen, forcing me to restart then go through the long load times all over again.
The speed the game is played at can be very overwhelming at times, you’ll see the enemy running at speed around you whilst you’re diving around the place trying to aim and kill them.
It forces the player to adapt and makes much of the large arsenal the game presents borderline obsolete. If you’re not using a sub-machine gun, you’re going to get killed in under a second without a doubt.
The brief times I was able to use other weapons, like the surprisingly powerful pistols and shockingly bad shotgun, I was having a blast. It’s a shame that the other weapons aren’t as good but it’s likely this issue will be ironed out with the games full release.
Should you buy?
If you’re a fan of COD and get each new release every year, Black Ops 6 will be a good purchase. But for everyone else, I’m not sure if I can recommend it considering its steep price tag.
It’s a great FPS but with that market already having some incredible games that are far cheaper and less toxic, I don’t see myself purchasing the full release of the game.
I enjoyed my time with the beta but it didn’t blow the socks off me like it has many other people.
Featured image credit: Activision
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