The Black Ops 6 multiplayer beta starts again today and it’s definitely worth trying out, thanks to the excellent new omnimovement system.
Last year’s Modern Warfare 3 reboot was as disappointing as it gets, with hardly any new features for single or multiplayer, nothing but remastered maps, and an unsatisfyingly short and inconsequential campaign. Rumours suggest it was just repurposed DLC and that’s exactly what it felt like.
With this autumn’s Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 – the first in the series to launch after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard – developers Treyarch and Raven Software are promising lots of new features and a big addition that could change how we’ll play their games for years to come.
New maps, weapons, game modes, and the new omnimovement system, immediately seems more interesting than anything Modern Warfare 3 offered. We’ve been playing the closed beta since it started last Friday and it’s due to begin again for everyone on September 6, so here’s what you can expect from it…
Let’s start with the biggest change to the gameplay in a Call Of Duty game in some time: the new omnimovement feature; the mechanic that lets you sprint, slide, and dive, in any direction.
It’s a very welcome addition, because running sideways, jumping head first off rooftops, and sliding around corners – while still able to move your aim 360 degrees – makes movement a lot more fluid and opens up the possibility for some very creative trick shots and combos. Omnimovement also works very well with the auto-lean mechanic, which is triggered whenever you approach a corner while aiming.
We found that sideways sliding works best through doors and around corners, while jumping is better when going off rooftops and from the top of staircases. When you land on the ground after a jump though, the camera has a realistic bounce and will disrupt your aim considerably for a moment, making it quite hard to pull off accurately.
As refreshing and smooth as it feels though, we found that the more we played Black Ops 6 the less we used the diving mechanism. Not just because it’s difficult to win a gunfight while doing so, but because you feel so slow getting back up on your feet again, leaving you very vulnerable.
There is definitely a learning curve to omnimovement, as coordination and timing your slides and jumps takes a while to get right. Luckily, there’s a brief training course that tells you all you need to know and lets you practise as much as you want.
Black Ops 6 also comes with 16 new 6v6 core maps, though the beta only let us try six of them, those being the small-to-medium-sized Scud, Skyline, Derelict, and Rewind, and small-sized Gala and Pit.
It’s a good mix of polished maps in varied environments, with the medium ones all adopting the typical three lane design. But Skyline is the one that feels like it has the best chance of becoming a classic. It’s a penthouse with a sunset in the background and has an open mid area for snipers, three floors including a secret underground passage that takes you to the other side, and a pool that is always tempting to jump into from the first floor, while attempting a trick shot.
The small maps, however, feel too claustrophobic, which is exacerbated by the game feeling faster thanks to omnimovement, as everyone is sliding and diving everywhere. Although we didn’t notice it much in the other maps, the small maps also have some notable issues with spawning too close to your opponents.
There are 12 new weapons in Black Ops 6 and one of them – the Jackal PDW SMG – is by far the most popular gun in the beta. Although it doesn’t look like much, its fire rate, accuracy, and range makes it an overpowered gun. It wouldn’t surprise us if it gets nerfed before launch, as it can easily take on a competent assault-rifler at medium-to-long distance (tip: add the CHF barrel and quickdraw grip to the Jackal and set the lobby on fire).
The Black Ops 6 beta came with seven game modes: Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Domination, Gunfight, Face Off, Face Off Kill Order, and normal Kill Order. The latter is brand new and revolves around each team having one squad member as the designated High Value Target (HVT) – alternating with the others on the team when the HVT dies – with the objective of protecting your own while trying to kill theirs.
Kill Order is a slightly different but fun idea, as it forces you to be a better team player, because you stand no chance by yourself as everyone on the other team can see where the HVT is on the mini-map at all times.
We do wish the game made it more clear when you’re the HVT though, as all you really get is someone quickly telling you ‘you’re the HVT’ via a radio as you spawn, which is easy to miss when you’re in the thick of it.
There are other more serious problems but one has been addressed by Activision already, where we experienced frame drops so bad that we had to leave the lobby a handful of times.
There was also controversy with the beta, as the Call Of Duty’s anti-cheat system went amok and falsely banned players. Activision also addressed this and said they’re ‘making ‘adjustments to reduce issues’, so hopefully that will be sorted by launch.
Another issue is that because progression through the levels is very fast (we reached level 20 in about five hours) you get new attachments and perks after every other game. The problem is that the next game starts so quickly you often don’t have time to see what you got and go into your inventory and upgrade.
There is no ‘upgrade now’ button in the pop-up window that informs you of your new perk, or a ‘new’ label in your inventory to make it easier to find, which would have been helpful.
Scorestreaks are also difficult to obtain, as it takes 675 points – about six or seven kills in the game – to get your hands on a simple UAV, while a Hellstorm Missile costs 1,200 points. This could result in the skill gap expanding, as the better players get to these perks more often than before, while weaker players might struggle to keep up.
There’s also a new feature that lets you grab someone and use them as a human shield, which can be a lot of fun – or very frustrating depending on which side you’re on. Strangely though, once you’ve been grabbed you can’t do anything to save yourself. Instead you just have to watch yourself be dragged around until you die.
It would be nice if you had a chance, however small, to somehow free yourself, maybe by solving a sequence of button clicks in a short space of time or getting lucky with a random number generator feature.
Despite all the new features and content, there were still quite a few things the beta didn’t lets us try, including the rest of the map pool, about half the new weapons, the single-player campaign, Zombies, the reintegration of the Prestige levelling system, and level progression beyond 20.
However, what we did get to try was very promising and although there are many issues with the beta at the moment, they’re mostly smaller annoyances that will hopefully be fixed by launch.
In terms of positives, you’ve got the game-changing omnimovement – which we can see being a part of many future Activision shooters; a selection of mostly good, polished maps; gunplay that feels smooth and satisfying; and a fast levelling system. All it needs is a handful of fixes to make a truly memorable edition in the series.
If you’re interested in playing Black Ops 6 before it comes out on October 25, the second beta weekend starts Friday, September 6 at 6pm BST and ends Monday, September 9 at 6pm BST for everyone on every format.
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