Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Campaign - Black Hawk Down to The Italian Job.

(PlayStation 5 code provided by Activision) 

By Sam Coles:  

Call of Duty has been up and down in recent years, but you could always rely on a decent campaign in each game but 2023’s Modern Warfare III was a bit of a blunder. So, when Activision announced Black Ops 6 I was cautious but now I have played the campaign I can safely say that is one of the best in years. I use to be a massive fan of the Call of Duty series, but in recent years I have fallen off the bandwagon, but kept up with the series regardless and this game is a very pleasant surprise. So, let’s get into it.  

Black Ops 6 is set in 1991, where it starts off in the Gulf War which honestly, I thought was a bit of a bland setting for a game, but soon after it veers into the realm of espionage fiction. It has elements of history in the game, but ultimately it goes for a fun fictious spy thriller to entertain the player. You go from your stock standard military shooter of blowing up scud missiles in Iraq, to robbing a casino in an Ocean’s Eleven style sequence. It goes from Black Hawk Down to The Italian Job in tone, where I am expecting Michael Caine to show up and say “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off”!  

Anyway, the plot revolves around a private military group called the Pantheon who have sleeper agents within the CIA, where they are trying to get hold of a biological weapon to unleash on the US. You have old favourite characters joining the band of rebelling agents, such as Frank Woods and Russel Adler. They are being hunted by said group, so they have setup shop in an old CIA hideout where they can rest and setup their operations where you the player can upgrade said hideout. The plot is really good, it is completely insane but in all the right ways although the tone does shift all over the place. One moment it is an intense military drama, then a kookie heist movie then suddenly it turns into a phycological horror. Outside of that, the voice acting is great the performances from all the actors are superb!  

Now gameplay wise, this is where I would usually give a quick synopsis about it but they have changed a fair bit including the campaign. Let’s start with the aspect they have marketed the most, the omni-movement. What this basically means is that you can perform any movement in any direction, so you can sprint, slide and dive in any direction you want. This on paper sounds absurd and honestly in practice it is, but again in all the right ways as I feel like I am in a John Woo film as I dive across tables, slide through enemy’s legs as I turn legs into stumps with my shotgun. It is immensely satisfying to sliding into a room, diving across tables and gunning everything down without being hit.  

The game does include fairly open-ended levels, the game is overall linear with its structure but they do mix things up by including levels that allow you to tackle objectives in any order you want. Unlike the open combat missions from Modern Warfare III, these are fun and have focus and are not repurposed Warzone levels. They also include levels where you can take a stealth approach too, or moments where you just talk your way out of a scenario you know like an actual secret agent with plausible deniability.  

Not only that the game gives you a plethora of tools to tackle each combat engagement, you have your usual tactical options like flashbangs, smoke grenades and distractions. However, you also get more lethal options like airstrikes and mortars to the more absurd such as RC cars with C4 strapped to them or my favourite the exploding homing knives. You don’t have to use these, but they are a massive help as this game is quite challenging even on normal difficulty, I died a fair amount in this game. This game will repurpose you as a shovel if you get too careless during firefights.  

Visually the game looks fantastic, I played this on the PlayStation 5 and it looks incredible with a stable 60 frames per second throughout with little to no hitches. The character models look great and believable with excellent animations throughout coupled with the well-crafted backdrops you will explore in the game, my favourite being the neon lit casino you rob. Sound design is excellent, gun audio feedback has kick with the chatter of a light machine gun to the hip thrusting thuds of buckshot from a shotgun. Visuals and audios are top notch in this game.  

Overall Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s campaign is one of the best in years, it knows what people want from a COD campaign a bombastic and over top set piece driven experience and it delivers that in spades. It feels like Call of Duty is back with this instalment and I love it!