I love you very much Call of Duty. But if I once rejoiced at each new part, now annual releases evoke strange and not the most pleasant feelings. I’m simply tired of this conveyor belt… And I’m also tired of the topic of war in modern times or the future. Therefore, when Call of Duty is dedicated to the past – let it be World War II, let it be the confrontation between the USSR and the USA – something inside me rejoices, wishing that wars would remain only in video games and history books.
So when Activision announced Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, I started waiting. Just like Cold War once awaited. Anticipating the expected cranberry, I was hoping to see a suspenseful spy thriller. And what I got was a funny action movie about invincible superheroes who don’t care about anything. Not “Six Days of the Condor”, but almost “Ocean’s 11”… That is, Adler.
The review should have been published much earlier; most of the text was ready a long time ago. But the author (me) still couldn’t publish it for various reasons, the main one of which was my stupidity!
Great story, amazing characters
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is made primarily for fans of the series, but even if you are a newbie and the last names Woods, Adler or Mason don’t mean anything to you, that’s okay. The campaign mainly revolves around the new protagonist with his cockroaches.
The hero’s name is Case. This is a character without a voice, appearance, character or will. But with its own story, which is actively told in the second half of the game.
The plot of the shooter is simple. By the early 1990s, the CIA had acquired more traitors with their own goals. The group, which is called "Pantheon", has sufficient resources and power to influence events around the world, including in the United States, the USSR and the Persian Gulf region. It was here that the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait took place with the intervention of the forces of the international coalition that opposed the regime of Saddam Hussein.
So, the historical reference is over. What follows is only absurd fiction, amusing fiction and outright nonsense. Unfortunately for me, a lover of history – including fictional.
Valiant CIA agents Marshall, Harrow and Calderon (Case’s last name) face unexpected difficulties while completing their mission. First, the target that needed to be saved speaks in fear about the powerful "Pantheon". And then this target is killed – and Adler himself does it. Celebrity agent says you can’t trust anyone. Including colleagues and members of the CIA leadership.
Soon the protagonists realize the truth of these words and organize a group of rogue specialists who can unravel the tangle of secrets and prevent the “Pantheon”. This group, in addition to the disgraced CIA officers, included the German technician Felix and the Moroccan assassin Sev.
Both characters have similar personalities, but still look at them for yourself. Felix is an excellent technician who has sworn not to resort to violence because of his past in the Stasi… However, when necessary, the principles of a specialist fade into the background. And the peace-loving Felix turns into a killing machine. Comfortable.
Well, and Sev… After the betrayal, she wants to take revenge on the criminals from the Guild. And at the same time she reveals herself as an excellent camouflage specialist. So beautiful that Sev is not recognized even by former employers and colleagues. She will become an ideal “employee” who will not be recognized by any real employee of the enterprise. And, of course, this girl with a beautiful manicure at a secret base has no problem chatting up any well-trained mercenary. Although these experienced fighters working as a team see her for the first time… A wonderful character with superpowers. I believe.
As well as the fact that all, absolutely all doors that can be broken into have the same locks. And they are equally easy to hack. What’s in the gateway, what’s in the palace, what’s in specially protected areas. Seriously though. Tired of it.
Now these rogue specialists https://lucky-pays.co.uk/ need to quickly carry out missions around the world and even work undercover… Traveling and creating false identities when US intelligence is looking for you – what could be easier, right?? But Mr. Adler has friends everywhere who are always ready to help, even if this help is treason. Danny Ocean nervously smokes on the sidelines.
There’s even a casino heist mission in Black Ops 6. You play through it and don’t understand how so many mockeries of common sense were crammed into a shooter that was supposed to be a spy action movie. It is clear that the developers wanted to show that operations can be like this. But personally, I would have to completely turn off my brain to enjoy this task.
If the beginning of the game looks like historical fan fiction on the theme of the war in Iraq, then as it goes on, the more the plot is dedicated to Case. Starting his line, you smile at the developers who skillfully intertwine their modes. Yes, that’s the writers’ imagination! But the story develops, and the condescending smile slowly fades away: “so they’re serious. »
Mr. Bell, I take my hat off to you. Compared to Case, your story seems to be the epitome of logic, common sense and realism. In general, the main plot of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is very, very predictable… Not in details, but in general. If you make just a couple of assumptions about what will happen in the finale, you probably won’t be wrong.
Gameplay and missions
If the plot of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is lame on both legs, then the gameplay is pleasantly surprising. Of course, there is nothing revolutionary here: first of all, this is a shooter. But with additions in the form of various missions, simple puzzles, calm movement around the location and exciting scenes. Even if they are few, they are memorable. Maybe precisely because there are few of them..
Here’s a motorcycle ride – bright, but very short. Here – they finally let you shoot with a machine gun on a helicopter! And one more thing! And one more thing! And again – using a different technique – they allow you to feel not like a pathetic insect, but the very embodiment of death.
So, between the main missions with focus on shooting and action, players find themselves in an old estate, where the characters communicate with each other, and simple riddles await the hero. The puzzles themselves in the shooter are really nothing special: here is a lock that needs to be cracked, here is a code where you need to enter the correct characters in the right order, and there is a change in radio waves to obtain new information.
In the estate, among other things, we can arrange special areas useful for improving our skills. And then use in-game money to upgrade Case’s skills: shooting, health, amount of ammunition, and so on.
The developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 motivate players to explore locations to get more money. Small amounts may lie on tables or on the floor, but especially large amounts are kept in hiding places and safes. To open these, you need to know the code, and for this you have to solve another puzzle. In general, thanks to this mechanic, the completion of the shooter becomes longer, but all this is entirely optional. And personally, I’m glad to have the opportunity to slow down a little and calmly explore the area.
Ultimately, the money received can be spent not only on hero bonuses in the campaign, but also on weapons for multiplayer.
But let’s get back to the gameplay! As in Cold War, players are given a certain freedom when completing individual missions. So, often the hero can choose whether to act noisily or secretly. And in the case of the latter, not only kill enemies unnoticed, but also hide bodies. However, no Agent 47 or Ezio will come out of the Case: the stealth here is purely primitive.
In general, this kind of gameplay is pleasant, although when killing enemies secretly, strange bugs may arise when the hero is noticed by those who should not see him.
In addition, sometimes in order to complete a global mission they offer to complete smaller tasks – and at the same time optional ones. It would be nice if this approach was maintained throughout the game, but the current version is very acceptable. If you want more information or bonuses, spend more time preparing.
And I would like to separately mention a couple of extremely interesting tasks that stand out from the rest of the standard approach. It is clear that the developers decided to experiment and offer players something unexpected. Well done, if only there was more of this!
In order not to spoil the whole thing, I will briefly touch on just one such mission. A large-scale task that can frighten the atmosphere, but at the same time offers an experience reminiscent of Atomic Heart – with the unusualness of what is happening and driving music in the background. All this at minimum wages, of course. The developers have not reached the level of Mundfish, although I praise them for their desire.
At the same time, I must note that I liked the completion of Black Ops 6 in this regard much less than the experiments in the middle of the game. All this drama and psychologism, escape into feelings and working through internal problems… All these moments could have been easily reduced by replacing the boredom of the next “turn” with a rapid heartbeat during dynamic gameplay. But it turned out how it turned out.
Unpleasant technical problems
Even if you take away the pros and cons described above, there are still things that make Black Ops 6 much worse. Bugs and technical problems.
The beauty of the picture is forgotten, but days and weeks after completion, memories of problems with textures remain. For example, there is nothing on the screen that prevents you from making accurate shots at targets, but the fired bullets hit invisible walls. And the player’s plans go to hell, and the hero may even face death.
The same textures work strangely when moving around locations. Such problems are especially annoying during stealth missions, when every second and movement trajectories are important. But it happens, and this is a special case, that during the first passage of a task you can walk between the table and the door, and during the second, our old friend appears in the same place – an invisible wall. You waste time, make unnecessary movements and most sincerely spit at what is happening..
The game has beautiful cinematics and the picture as a whole. Especially some luxurious locations.
How wonderful it is when your progress during a mission is reset and after restarting the game you have to start all over again… Do the same things again to achieve the same result. And then you just abandon the original plan and create a meat grinder that you so wanted to avoid during your first playthrough.
They also add “positive” moments when Black Ops 6 throws an error right during a mission. When you reach a certain point, you are simply kicked out of the game, requiring you to load an autosave and run to that moment again… To hope that you won’t be kicked out again. Spoiler: he might throw it out again. And all this only on PlayStation 5.
Ultimately, if only the pros and cons of the game remained on my scales, the score would be slightly higher. But when a large and experienced company releases a product containing such unpleasant errors, the negative side significantly outweighs.
2024. The desire to get acquainted with modern new products at release is becoming less and less. Alas.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 disappointed. The first positive emotions fade away when faced with harsh reality, the primitiveness of the meaning of what is happening and technical shortcomings.
