Top 10 Things You Should Know About ‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6’

I had a chance to visit Treyarch and preview the next one Call Of Duty just days before the game’s big reveal last week. Most of what I saw aired right after the Xbox Showcase Sunday. At the preview event I even had some hands-on time with several of the game’s maps. It was a pretty exciting reveal and I had a great time with the multiplayer (although real detailed impressions will have to wait, unfortunately).

After an in-depth look at what Treyarch and partner studio Raven have cooked up for the game, I’m pretty sure Call Of Duty fans, and especially his fans Black Ops series, have a lot to look forward to Black Ops 6. It’s quite a change from the last three releases in the series (Vanguard, MWII and MWIII) and really, don’t you think it’s about time we got back to Black Ops? Cold War it was released way back in 2020, which also means that Treyarch had more time than usual to develop this entry.

While the game is built on the unified Call Of Duty Engine used Modern Warfare and other sub-franchises, there is no doubt that this looks like a black ops game, from the over-the-top spy-themed campaign to the fast-paced multiplayer and, of course, the Zombies mode that so many fans of this franchise are dying to hear about.

First, here is the trailer which debuted during today’s Xbox Showcase:

Okay, let’s take a look at everything you need to know Black Ops 6.

1. The campaign takes place during the Gulf War

The Black Ops 6 The campaign takes place in the early 1990s during the Gulf War and is a direct sequel to both Cold War and in the late 80s Black Ops II. Not every character made it out of that game alive, but Frank Woods returns—now confined to a wheelchair—along with Russell Adler, who returns after being gone for months.

When Adler returns, he reveals that the CIA has been infiltrated by a secret force that now operates at the highest levels of government. Adler, along with new protagonist Troy Marshall and a team of spies, assassins and various criminal elements, must escape to save the world. That picture at the top of this post? It’s taken from a mission where you have to infiltrate a Bill Clinton fundraising gala, sneak into a secret CIA blacksite under the mansion, and then fight your way out of the guns.

Some missions are linear, some take place in open world zones that seem much, much larger than the open world areas in Modern Warfare III, although I don’t know for sure how big they are. Missions range from the frozen Russian tundra to the deserts of the Middle East, Southern Europe and even various locations in the US.

The weapons and gadgets in the game all reflect the 1990s era it was launched in, and many of them are DIY, as the team operates without government support.

Between missions, you can return to the Safehouse – an abandoned mansion that once served as a KGB blacksite – where you can talk to allies, choose missions, solve puzzles and more.

2. Multiplayer adds a new ‘Omnimovement’ system.

This is by far the biggest change to the game and will appear in multiplayer, Zombies and the Campaign—though it’s currently unclear what Black Ops 6 game elements will make the jump to War zone.

The Omnimovement system essentially does this: You can now sprint, slide, and dive in any direction. Whereas before you could only dive or slide forward and only sprint while running in a straight line, now you can do all these things left, right or even dive backwards on your butt. And it’s omnidirectional, meaning there’s 360 degrees of movement, not just the four cardinal directions.

This will definitely change the feel and how the game plays, allowing you to get out of sticky situations, backpedal at much higher speeds and so on. There’s even a dynamic prone mechanic that allows you to go prone and then as you aim in one direction or another, you’ll slowly turn in that direction. You can continue until you are lying on your back and then continue in a full circle.

Additionally, Treyarch has added an auto-healing system which, when toggled, allows you to simply run into walls and other obstacles and take cover over them without pressing a button. Small holes that you would normally have to press a button to duck into will also be navigated seamlessly.

3. Round zombies return, post-Cold War pickup

Treyarch games have always had the best Zombies mode, and for the first time in years we’re returning to the Round-Based Zombies category, with two maps for players to play at launch.

The first is Liberty Falls, a small American town overrun by the dead. The other is Terminus, a prison island in a stormy sea. Both maps are quite different from each other and should offer some exciting co-op gameplay.

The four characters pictured above will be the default operators you take on missions with exclusive cutscenes and voice acting, but you can play with other operators as well.

4. Perks will no longer be gloves, boots, vests, etc.

I really liked the perk changes that Sledgehammer made MWIII over MWII, which had pretty terrible privileges overall. But that system—Gloves, Boots, Vests, Tools, etc.—is disappearing, though I hope it returns for the next Modern Warfare.

Instead, we get classic Black Ops-style perks along with Wildcards. Perks are divided into three categories: Enforcer, Recon and Strategist. You can mix and match them however you like, but if you pick all three from a category, you get a special bonus perk. Wildcards allow you to tinker with various loading options. One gives you an extra perk. another unlocks three additional attachments to your Primary weapon, and so on.

We’ll also see a number of new scope upgrades, a bunch of new weapons, and more.

5. Twelve 6v6 maps and 4 “Strike” maps for 2v2 Gunfight and 6v6 Faceoff

There will be 12 traditional 6v6 maps at launch and 4 ‘Strike Maps’. The latter are built with Gunfight in mind, but also with the frenetic 6v6 Faceoff mode.

The 6v6 maps we were shown have a wide variety, from a train car graveyard to a rooftop hotel to a small American town in the outdoor shopping district and more. The whole philosophy here is to make each map feel as different as possible, with as many locations as possible.

The other design philosophy is to make these all small to medium sized (at least at launch, there will be many more maps with seasonal updates) with competitive play in mind. This is smart. I’ve long argued that these games need a strong base of 3-lane basemaps to build upon. A handful of larger maps later can spice things up.

Treyarch said they wanted each map to feel like it had viable sniper lanes, close range combat, and plenty of flanking opportunities.

6.Bringing back features like Classic Prestige and Theater Mode

Prestige has been linked to seasonal progression for several games now, but Black Ops 6 it reverts to the older version and makes a few changes. At Military Level 55, players will now have the option to follow a Prestige track or not. Choosing to do this resets your level to 1 and then you start the climb and the climb goes very, very high. Once you’ve completed all the “normal” Prestige levels, you can enter the “Elder Game” and level up to Prestige Master at Level 1000, with plenty of rewards along the way.

Theater Mode also returns, allowing players to replay previous matches and plays. Other returning features include Play Of The Game (instead of Final Kill) and a Winner’s Circle showing the top three players from the winning team (and whatever emotes and skins have been equipped).

A new feature is a highly customizable HUD that lets you really work with things like the minimap, placing it at any angle (or removing it entirely) as well as all the other HUD info and icons.

7. Treyarch is working on improving UI/UX and Call Of Duty Launcher

We’ve been shown very little of it, but it looks like Treyarch has really taken player complaints to heart and is working hard to clean up the cluttered menus and make the Call Of Duty Launcher less cumbersome. I don’t know how successful this will be, but I hope they make some major changes. One big change I’d like to see: When a party leader switches from one menu to another, he shouldn’t drag the rest of the party with him!

8. “Black Ops 6” will be the first “Call Of Duty” to be released on Game Pass for free

This has been known for a while, but not everyone has heard of it, so I’ll include it here. Black Ops 6 will be free with Xbox Game Pass. The game will continue to be sold to players on Xbox, PlayStation and PC (including PS4 and Xbox One), but if you have the subscription, you’re in.

9. The Beta will be available to pre-order customers and Game Pass subscribers

As usual, there will be at least one beta before the game launches, and if you pre-order or have a Game Pass subscription, you’ll be in the early beta group. Beta dates haven’t been announced yet, but they’re usually a few weeks before launch. Speaking of which . . .

10. Black Ops 6 It opens on October 25

And that’s it guys! I’ll update this post with any other information that may emerge, as well as any other trailers or related images, graphics, charts, and so on. What do you think about Black Ops 6 so far? Inform me Twitter and Facebook.