Summer is over and most of us are dealing with the end of the great traffic that comes with the kids out of school. It also starts the new release season for television shows and new video game offerings. It’s been almost a year, which brings us the newest edition of Call of Duty (COD). Last year we marveled over the relative sameness of gameplay with Modern Warfare III, and this year feels no different.
There was a time when a new game meant some kind of new game mechanics. More and more, new offerings of franchise games like COD feel like a really expensive content upgrade. This one is no different. Of course it advances the single-player story-mode, but most players will have to admit the story-mode tends to teach you how to fully use all the equipment in a less dynamic setting than multiplayer or zombies.
The first weekend of the beta for COD Black Ops 6 (BOP6), Activision released a training mode and four maps. Now, I have completed training modules of many games before, but one of the challenges is a leap of a ledge, turning around mid-air and shooting an opponent on the ledge above you. Normally, in a movie this would be a scene done in slow motion, with some rally cry or poignant music playing in the background. I found myself just glitching and failing over and over and over and over again. The intent, of course, was to teach the great new thing: the new omnidirectional movement. I am sure more coordinated gamers accomplished it just fine (thanks for comforting your auntie, nephew), but my crew has got in the habit of calling this breakthrough the “porn slide.” I am sure no explanation is necessary.
From the beta, it’s nice that the starting characters actually include a Black woman and don’t require you to traipse through the Battlepass to get a half-way decent avatar, but I hope that they do better and make sure everyone gets to see themselves in some way in one of the basic avatars. The basic modes of Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, Domination, Gunfight, and Hardpoint are there in multiplayer, with a new mode called Kill Order. Kill Order is intended to push folks into a common complaint for Call of Duty, getting folks to play the objective. It is intended to force each team to protect a continually changing high value target (HVT), while searching for the other teams. Then there is Face Off, which is any of the modes with score streaks disabled.
The eight maps debuted in the beta are fast regardless of the size, but Gala is a real face-to-face experience, given that there are few walls and apart from a center stage. There is no height advantage for sniping campers. Pit is a really small map, which makes Shipment feel spacious, rack that shotgun and get to blasting. Stakeout is an opportunity to check those corners or conversely hide in them. Babylon has elevation and plenty of places to camp.
Zombie mode was not available, which didn’t upset me at all. But there are changes coming including a directed mode that doesn’t make you jump into the game with no clue what to do. To start there are two new maps: a larger one (Terminus) and a smaller one (Liberty Falls). Also, the never-ending story of zombies is not a feature. There has been a customization added that allows the augmentation of perks, ammunition mods and field upgrades. The result looks very Starfield-y. These are upgrades that you can research between matches and apply to the perks.
For those of you that have been around a bit, Gobblegum is back. For the rest of us, they are single-use items from your inventory, that can be packed into a game and use to do various skills, such as increasing your shields, reviving your team, or getting a random perk. One thing that will many gamers will enjoy is the ability to exfil when you complete the main quest or stay awhile and explore the rest of the map, preferably without me.
Arising from the origins of the beloved Nuketown map, the expansion is here, and the warzone map is better for it. One thing that will be different from Modern Warfare III is the loss of the backpack, so you just get a loadout. However, you can add to your inventory and carrying capacity with a satchel (fancy word for backpack). The developers have also indicated a variety of minor improvements to improve Warzone, including improvements to the user interfaces and fixes to the use of ascenders and ziplines.
Actor Y’Lan Noel, who you best know as Daniel from Insecure is another voice behind the game. We chatted with him awhile back about his role in the video game on the Black Girl Nerds podcast.
Without a doubt, there is a lot to explore with the next release. Maybe put this one on your Christmas list for your loving grands or aunties/uncles. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is scheduled for release on October 25, 2024.
