I’ll get straight to the point: Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is the closest thing to living a John Woo movie I’ve ever played in my life. Emptying the magazine into an enemy while you throw yourself to the ground on your side is not only a real pleasure, but it also gives rise to truly great moments and plays that are as epic as they are desperate. Those moments when it seems that time almost stops and you see your enemy’s intentions knowing that you are going to knock him down. Because in COD Experience counts for a degree, and without aim you’re dead, but Treyarch is back in charge of multiplayer and recklessness ends up prevailing over everything else.
The beta of Black Ops 6 It has been a great statement of intent: this will not be another transitional installment, as was the previous Modern Warfare 3, but a revalidation of why today Call of Duty It’s unattainable within a genre that the titanic Xbox Game Studios dominates with ease. And although, in the end, these four days of sensational crazy shooting are only a taste of what is to come, the message that has been loud and clear: the first installment to be released on Game Pass is going all out and intends to straighten out an irregular streak based on good ideas and gunplay that lives up to the acronym. Its secret weapon? Omnidirectional movement.
In fact, regarding the new mobility I have good and bad news for you. I’ll tell you right away that the multiplayer of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 It’s brutal, fluid, and will be implemented in Warzone. Through it, Activision revalidates its absolute authority when it comes to making action-packed first-person shooters with new features worth mastering and new maps that offer a lot of play. The not so good thing is that the chances of you ending up breaking the controller are going to triple. Your analog sticks are going to be punished mercilessly. But it’s going to be worth it.
I’m telling you this from personal experience, mind you. If I add up the hours played on PC and console to the beta of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 The figure shoots up to over 15 and a half hours. And despite the fact that more than half of that time has been spent playing with a mouse and keyboard, so far I have only managed to master omnidirectional movement using the sticks. Something that, I can tell you in advance, will gradually change: my grand plan is to arrive at launch with mobility completely mastered. Not only in view of the difference that this will make when starting this new stage of multiplayer, but because it is something as brilliant as it is satisfying.
How Activision redefines its star mode through omnidirectional movement
First things first, don’t be intimidated by this whole thing. Black Ops 6 has introduced new mobility options if you’re coming from previous installments. The central idea is to make sprints possible in the four main directions and not just to charge forward. As a result, the first thing we’ll notice is that the dynamics of our enemies and teammates are more versatile and unpredictable. Theirs and ours, mind you.
You have to get used to the new rhythm and dynamics of the games, but here comes the other part of the idea: in addition to sliding while running, we can launch ourselves sideways or backwards without stopping and, in the process, maneuver in the air by turning 180º in the direction of our aim or, if we wish, continue the initiative by firing effectively while our enemy tries to understand what is happening. You know perfectly well when he has that reaction, and leaving him in doubt until his replay jumps after being eliminated is, I won’t deny it, a delight.
What does this achieve? If, for example, you’re completely alone, you go through a door and, at the last moment, you discover that you have an enemy on either side – at a moderate distance – you can rush in, eliminate the first one before hitting the ground and without losing your bearings, instantly dispatch the second one without giving him time to react. As I said, just like in a John Woo movie. And although explained like this it may seem pretentious and twisted, Activision teaches us to master this maneuver as part of the final exercise of the tutorial. If you get creative and familiarize yourself with each map, the possibilities skyrocket. Never better said.
I insist for the second time, this omnidirectional movement is more complicated to explain than to execute. The way to sprint in all directions is to press the side stick and possibly it will take you less time to get used to distributing lead as well as mastering sliding. However, this is only one of the initiatives that shape to the redefined Intelligent Movement of this installment, although if you get carried away by the emotion of the moment easily not only will your enemies suffer, but also the controller itself.
In preparation for this beta, which is exclusively dedicated to multiplayer, we were testing mobility on both consoles and PCs and, I confess, it was harder for me to get used to the omnidirectional movement with the keyboard because I’m not that used to using my left hand to perform the actions necessary to move sideways, run and drop. The fluidity is stable on both systems, mind you. But there is something I was extremely grateful for: when walking around and messing around with the options you have a huge capacity for variables when it comes to adapting the interface to your needs. And, while we’re at it, applying the colorblindness filters.
And what about the maps and the visual section? In this first contact we have had access to three game modes (Main Pit, Hunting Order and Confrontation) plus the training circuit and the maps created for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 They know how to take advantage of the new mobility wonderfully, but they don’t penalize those who prefer not to use it. And that, no matter how you look at it, is not easy to achieve. Visually it is a titan, but in the end the maps are always overshadowed by the action. And there is plenty of it.
The environments vary in size but generally manage to get more kills per minute than in previous installments, making the hot spots where players are concentrated clear quickly, so that the action ends up more and better spread out throughout the area. In fact, I can tell you in advance that in the more limited maps, with more corridor areas (whether because we fight underground or between train cars), the combination of omnidirectional movement with sliding and quick rejoining is very playable. Once mastered, it is fluid and lethal. But of course, it is not enough to know how to do it, but to understand when and where it is most effective.
An example of this is in Skylinea kind of luxury penthouse, where the pool area creates a huge opening, but also knows how to invite players to get lost and discover the secret room that is accessed through the elevator shaft. Resulting in a dynamic that gives no respite, as in any Call of Dutybut it always encourages us to take the initiative and, at the same time, try to be reckless. Something that fits wonderfully, it must be said, with the new dynamics of movement and aiming.
All successes? What remains pending before the launch of Duty Black Ops 6
The big news of Call of Duty They are not limited to their mobility or the new maps, although in the end they will be what defines the depth of this Black Ops 6 with a view to future releases. However, there are elements of this beta that have been left up in the air and must be a priority: progression continues to be the driving force of each game and what hooks us to always play the penultimate one; and the Prestige system takes a step back to bring back the successes that had been dispersed in the last releases. What about the matchmaking?
Offer the beta of Call of Duty The fact that the closed beta was launched via Game Pass has led to something curious: as is tradition, the servers opened several minutes later than expected and extra adjustments had to be made on PS5. However, unlike previous PlayStation priority early access sessions, the fact that PC and Xbox players started playing the closed beta from day one meant that the game evolved much faster than it usually does in this first contact: the most effective weapons were established on the second day and, little by little, the intensity of the matches escalated very quickly.
It is understood, or should be understood, that the true purpose of the Beta of Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is to test the game’s online infrastructure and the weaknesses or advantages of the scenarios and weapons. To get direct feedback from players and, logically, to anticipate any problems that arise before the release date. Especially now that the main entry point to the game is not the 80 euros that the standard edition costs, but the monthly Game Pass subscription.
In other words, there’s no point in evaluating a player-level matchmaking system when we’re all starting from scratch at the start of the game, albeit with additional bells and whistles based on how far we’ve come. That doesn’t mean that at launch we won’t need to fragment players more and better based on their skill. Because in the end, Microsoft’s grand plan was always to offer Call of Duty to the largest number of players. And that brings us to another truth: many will be new to the game, and not all will master the new mobility on launch day.
On the other hand, I confess that I was left wanting to try the zombie mode of Black Ops 6. Especially seeing it with its lock every time I returned to the Beta. And even though it may be ready and finished in time for Halloween 2024, I am aware that Activision’s priority and fans’ obsession is with multiplayer. One that has started more intensely than in other years and, in the process, promises to offer even more action, emotions and great moments when compared to the latest installments.
The best Call of Duty of our time in decades? What I can tell you is that Activision has very clear ideas and what they have planned, once mastered, works wonderfully. We’ll have to wait a little longer to have our final impressions, but as you’ll see, it won’t take long for you to get yours.
Release date and requirements Call of Duty Black Ops 6
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 will be released on Friday October 25, 2024 in Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store and Battle.net). In addition, it will be offered at launch and at no additional cost in Game Pass on both PC and for Ultimate subscriptions on Xbox consoles. Its price, as a reference, is 79,99 euros in the case of the standard edition and 109,99 euros for the archive edition, although you can reserve it for a little less if you opt for the physical version.
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 PlayStation 5
* Some prices may have changed since the last review
In addition, between September 6 and 9, there will be a celebration an open beta for all players and platformsso you can get used to omnidirectional movement before launch and try out the new maps. Pre-downloads of this playable appetizer are already available.
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