Activision recently released a wealth of information about Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, including hands-on experiences with multiplayer, turn-based Zombies, and Warzone. I played through six new multiplayer maps, the undead-infested Liberty Falls, and a Nuketown-inspired Resurgence map. Each Black Ops 6 mode also features Treyarch's new Omnimovement mechanic, which adds a slick fluidity to the series' signature gunplay.
Black Ops 6 launches on October 25 for PS5 and PS4, but if you want to get ahead of the action, check out all the details on the upcoming beta, which begins August 30.
Now let’s dive into the practical details.
Multiplayer
Omnimovement – Black Ops 6's new gameplay mechanics are bursting with potential. You can now sprint and hold the circle button to jump in any direction while retaining 360-degree aim control. Once I grasped the possibilities, I found myself jumping down stairs and doing 180-degree turns in the air to take out pursuers. Another popular technique is to jump into a room occupied by enemies and gun them down before they can react. Even better, Omnimovement is available globally in MP, Zombies, and Warzone.
Global Weapons and Progress – Two big quality of life improvements for Black Ops 6 make managing your arsenal easier. Global weapon progression means you'll have access to all the weapons and attachments you earn in Multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone. Additionally, any loadout or gunsmith changes you make in one mode will carry over globally to the other modes.
Kill Order Mode – In this new mode, both teams protect their own high-value objective while hunting the opponent's high-value objective. Treyarch has struck a nice balance between chaotic TDM-like action and a light layer of strategic, objective-based play. This will definitely be part of my regular rotation.
Body protection – Beat an opponent to it? A new body armor mechanic lets players grab an unsuspecting opponent for extra protection. For a devilish touch, Treyarch has enabled proximity chat between teams to exchange words. Be sure to play sportsmanlike!
Best game – Celebrate your team’s game-winning performance or reflect on your downfall with the return of Best Play Cameras, marking the end of the game with a third-person camera setting.
Shoot doors to open them – A nice hands-free function.
Treyarch’s MP design philosophy – Black Ops 6 marks a return to the studio's MP core: small, fast-paced maps with three lanes. The move away from large, sprawling maps means you'll always be just around the corner from a fight. Prepare for 16 brand new maps at launch.
New multiplayer maps – I fought on six of the upcoming Core 6v6 maps during the hands-on event.
- Scud – A giant crashed radar dish serves as a reference point on the map. Deep, winding trenches, underground passageways and explosive red barrels are scattered throughout the map, providing plenty of unpredictable action.
- Rewind – Gunfight on a US city street. The name of the map is a 90s video store in a mall. Hand-to-hand combat takes place between stacks of VHS tapes. There's a fast food restaurant across the street for even more intense combat.
- skyline – A posh condominium on top of a skyscraper. A narrow hallway on the upper floor became the central point of conflict, where numerous long-range skirmishes took place, and there was even a swimming pool below to jump into when things got heated. Watch out for the dangerous elevator shafts at the bottom of the map.
- Babylon – These crumbling, sandy ruins are a haven for those who crave close-quarters combat. Pack a submachine gun or shotgun to clear corners.
- Expired – Abandoned train cars fill a ruined freight yard, creating jagged paths across the map with unique sightlines that will make your head spin.
Turn-based zombies
Round-based returns – Treyarch revives the roots of Zombies mode, where players survive waves of increasingly powerful monstrosities, requiring steady progress across the map and upgrading weapons to survive. The two starting maps include the claustrophobic Terminus and the colorful new Liberty Falls…
Map of Liberty Falls – This starting map is a slice of necrotic America. Blast your way through waves of the undead as you explore the car-filled streets of the small town, the alleys of a bowling alley, a motel, a comic book store, an otherworldly church, and more. Ziplines connect the objectives on the city's rooftops, creating a layer of winding paths to explore.
Joint door purchases – Players can now pool money to open doors and progress in Zombie maps, meaning more money to upgrade your gear.
Exfiltrate or die – Risk and reward reign supreme in turn-based Zombies. Exfil offers the option to end your run on a high note, or you can go down fighting in the game's new dramatic outros that dynamically change depending on where and how you die. I messed up my Exfil as I failed to clear the zombies that surrounded the landing zone in time. My resulting Game Over involved an armored zombie grabbing my fleeing helicopter and smashing it to pieces.
Melee Macchiato Advantage – This new drink amplifies your punch and hurls zombies across the map with a click of R3.
Wonder Weapons – Destroy the dead with the Ray Gun, Ray Smasher and the devastating Thrustodyne Model 23, a giant converted jet engine that sucks up zombie packs and shreds them to shreds.
Directional mode – Need a guide through the zombie hordes? Treyarch is releasing a new Directed Mode after the launch of Season 1 that will assist players in the main quest up to Wave 15.
War zone
Area 99 – The launch of Black Ops 6 will be accompanied by a new Resurgence map. Area 99 is the birthplace of the legendary Black Ops map Nuketown. An abandoned facility with a run-down retro 60s vibe makes for a fresh addition to Warzone.
New special destinations – Area 99 offers 10 tempting landing spots. Here are a few I battled through:
- Pod Dormitory – These retro-futuristic, colorful dorms consist of separate, capsule-like apartments. A great place to land and maybe grab some loot, privacy, and a vantage point.
- House Factory – A destination full of half-built prefabs, making for some interesting and unexpected sightlines. This point of interest even includes a tiny replica of the iconic Nuketown map. Sweet!
- Nuclear reactor – Take it from me – not Jump into the green glowing, irradiated coolant.
- Assembly of the mannequin – There are piles of damaged mannequins scattered throughout the facility, presumably destined for a weapons testing site somewhere. Note the hydraulic press above the conveyor belt, still in operation…
- Other interesting places – Also look forward to looting Nuketown Shipping, the Test Site, the Bunker, the Cargo Bay, the Cooling Towers and the Warehouse.
The weapon inspection animations are undeniably cool.
Treyarch and the rest of the COD developers have something special in store for Black Ops fans in particular, and Omnimovement is a gameplay innovation that gives players of the historic franchise a particularly fresh experience.
But don't just take my word for it. If you pre-ordered Black Ops 6, you can dive into the Early Access Beta starting tomorrow, August 30th. The full game launches on October 25th.
