Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Review (PS5) | Push Square
Nobody likes a quitter, and last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is proof of what can happen when you get your head down and work to right one’s wrongs. Heavily criticised as a glorified DLC, a year of unmatched support has seen the game rise from the ashes as one of the most robust, content-rich multiplayer offerings the series has ever seen.
It’s seriously impressive what Sledgehammer Games managed in just 12 months, implementing a long list of maps, modes, and fun twists on the core FPS gameplay loop. However, such is the Call of Duty franchise that all its work must be left to the past as a new version takes its place, this year from Treyarch in Black Ops 6. Going back to square one could have been the theme of this particular transition, as the developer looks to follow up on a strong year for the series. Though, with an excellent single player campaign, strong multiplayer content, and the ever-impressive Zombies mode, it has unquestionably avoided such a situation. This is the best Call of Duty has been at launch in years.
The developer has returned to its alternate history timeline with an instalment that carries on from the events of Black Ops Cold War, in the midst of the Gulf War in 1991. Its unique themes and setting help give the campaign a distinctive vibe and tone, as it plays around with macho military action and James Bond-like spy thriller scenarios. A roughly eight-hour playthrough quickly switches between the two styles of gameplay, as one level to the next can see you go from infiltrating a casino to blow open its secret vault to another assaulting an airport inside a tank. There’s little room for rest — besides the safehouse you return to between missions — as the campaign delivers itself at the usual breakneck pace of a Call of Duty title. It’s tremendously enjoyable and satisfying to work your way through.
Where it really starts to stand out, though, truly distinguishing itself from past efforts, is in a set of levels towards the end.
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