Black Ops 6 Runs ‘n Guns to a Near Perfect Score!

THE. COUNTDOWN. IS. OVER...

What would the fall season be without an epic new Call of Duty drop? We personally have been looking forward to this all year, because we happen to be huge fans of the Black Ops series in particular. We were invited to check out the beta, which only what our appetite for what we could see was going to be another amazing release. But after delving in to a more expanded multiplayer experience, coupled with an insanely fun new zombie mode and engaging campaign.. are we looking at one of the best entries in the series of all time?

Spoiler...yes, we freakin' are. Technically you could quit reading right now and just go out and buy it (free for those on Xbox Gamepass), and then you'll be that much closer to the fun that Black Ops 6 has to offer. We won't be mad at 'ya! But stick around, so we can tell you exactly why it's so awesome.

For those coming over from Modern Warfare 3, you're going to have to start from the ground up. Which we didn't mind, as it was a nice refresh to begin from scratch. Much of Modern Warfare 2 content carried over to the last game, but here you'll be introduced to a set of new weapons as well as many returning favorites from the past. The gunsmith is familiar, as you have a detailed spreadsheet of exactly what stats will improve specific portions of your gun. We personally like to set up camp in a corner somewhere, so things like gun recoil, bullet velocity and damage range are always the first things that we tweak to the max. While the XM4 is getting all the love right now, as it did in the beta, we highly recommend the GPR-91. Its accuracy is off the chart, and without any additional attachments, this thing is already a laser beam!

The nature of our enemy...is unclear now - Black Ops 6

Tons of fun can also be had tweaking your loadouts, catering to absolutely any playstyle you can think of. Perks and field upgrades return (of course), and we love throwing on the Gunfighter Wildcard (so we can up the attachment count on our rifle, turning it into a god-tier weapon). However, perhaps the most fun new-kid-on-the-block is Sleeper Agent. Where you can literally sneak into the enemy's spawn and they won't even realize you're there (because you read as a member of their team). A perk so fun, it's almost like hacking!

But for those folks who like to run and gun, you'll have no shortage of options for movement speed and ADS, that will let you speed around the map and get those critical kills or grab tags in Kill Confirmed. All the familiar favorite modes make a return as well, like Domination, and some new fun favorites like Kill Order. In this mode you're going to be hunting a specific person on the other team, while also trying to protect your VIP target from the enemies. Which cycles throughout the round.

We could go on and on for days about the level of customization, fun operator skins and epic camos you can grind and unlock, but if you're a fan of CoD from past games you are already familiar with the incredible depth that will allow you to stretch this out into a yearlong gaming experience. But what we absolutely are obsessed with at the moment is the new zombies mode. Liberty Falls is our favorite (but Terminus is fun too), as everything about this mode just seems so dialed in and in the pocket. The zombies swarm you in waves, but not to the point where it's completely unmanageable. That is, if your squad is halfway competent. It's challenging without taking away the fun factor, and also a nice way to level-up your weapons for multiplayer mode as well as unlocking additional goodies/badges that will show the world you're a lean-mean zombie killing machine.

As for the campaign, if you love spy movies and specifically flicks like The Bourne Identity or Mission Impossible, this is what you've been waiting for. There's a decent amount of action and pew-pew shooting the bad guys, but for the most part, what really makes this story shine here is how much fun it is to approach missions using complete stealth. It's a welcome change of pace from the all-action, all-the-time campaigns we would normally get from a war game. Not to say that there isn't plenty of that, but it certainly not the focus here. Set in the early '90s during the Golf War era, you're trying to save the world from a sinister organization and the development of a biological weapon. This naturally lends itself to a lot of shadowy infiltration and taking out targets in the least conspicuous way possible.

Visually, there isn't much to report new on the Call of Duty front here. Not that that's a bad thing, the game is always looked great and they have been able to make incremental improvements with each title over time. Sound is also stellar, especially if you have a good set of Turtle Beach headphones, that will let you hear your enemy footsteps coming and from what direction (which can be amplified via the perk system). Now you can get the drop on them, or more importantly, not allow them to get the drop on you.

One of the more fun aspects of the game, which we honestly struggled to get the hang of in the beta, is the omni-directional movement. It allows you to sprint in every direction, not just forwards. And the dive mechanics have also been tweaked to reflect that change. Once you get the hang of this, you're going to be ducking and diving in ways you've never done before, and also allow you to post up in corners on your backside, giving you tactical line of sight on your enemy. This definitely adds a fun new element (besides just going prone or strafing in the traditional way). It's one of those features that we never knew we wanted until we tried it, now we gotta have it! In addition, you can take a member of your enemy team hostage (instead of just finishing them off right away). Adding hilarious insult to injury (and it won't help their ego among their squad in the post-game lobby either)!

While we wait for the first battle pass season to begin, we can't help but wonder just how much time we're going to spend with this release this year. There's something about it that is a little different than the last two Modern Warfare entries, as Black Ops: Cold War has been our favorite in the series to date. But we feel comfortable saying this year's release is on-pace to possibly become our personal favorite. And could take the title in fan's minds as the best of the modern age.

It's just about as close to a perfect game as you can get, factoring in how it keeps on giving for years after launch.