Black Ops 6 Campaign review: Frankly speaking, it gave me Woods

Black Ops 6 is the latest entry in the Call of Duty franchise and its Campaign picks up right where Black Ops 2's 80s storyline concluded. This had me excited, as well as skeptical. You see, last year's Call of Duty Campaign was disastrous and I can't even begin to describe how poorly it was made. But at the same time, Black Ops 2 had the best Campaign in the series so far, in my opinion.

Knowing that it is a sequel to Black Ops 2, I had to dive in to check out the game for myself. But then again, this was a new era of Call of Duty and so I had my fair share of doubts going in.

Just like with all my other game reviews, we'll analyze all the various aspects this mode has to offer. We'll take a look at the story, the gameplay, visuals, audio, and a technical look at its PC port. And don't worry, I will try my best to avoid any major spoilers.

So, without any further ado, let us get started with this review for the Black Ops 6 Campaign.

Black Ops 6 Campaign - My first impressions

In this section of the Black Ops 6 Campaign review, I'll only talk about my initial impressions of the game. Starting the game on PC was quite seamless. Shaders surprisingly didn't take too long this time around to compile and I was ready to get started with the game in just a few minutes.

Before I begin, I must say that I didn't have many expectations going in. After what the Modern Warfare 3 (2023) Campaign delivered, I set my expectations as low as possible and didn't expect any wonders. With that said, we can start discussing the Black Ops 6 Campaign again.

Woods and Marshall in the CIA interrogation room in the Black Ops 6 Campaign (Image via Activision)

The name of the first mission is "Bishop Takes Rook", which immediately gave me the impression that the game's story will have deeper elements and it will not just be another package of guns blazing action sequences.

The mission kicked off with a cinematic that introduces us to the situation our main characters are in right now. We have new characters Marshall, Harrow, and Case, and the face of the Black Ops series, Frank Woods. They are in a CIA interrogation room explaining to Livingstone (the Director) what went wrong during their mission in the Middle East.

Marshall begins narrating the events and this begins the gameplay. You assume the role of Case and, along with Marshall and Harrow, are about to capture a man named Alawi. You three succeed in doing so. Alawi then reveals something quite intriguing. He claims he had a deal with the CIA that was supposed to get him out of the warzone. This confuses Marshall as they are the CIA.

Alawi then informs them that Pantheons are after him and since he was with Case and the team, they became the target of Pantheon. Some bullets are exchanged in the next sequence and then, out of nowhere, Russell Adler enters, who without a thought, shoots Alawi through the head.

Adler shooting down Alawi in Black Ops 6 Campaign (Image via Activision)

This had the entire team shocked and they jumped Adler. But Russell claims he is with Woods and he has intel about a mole in the CIA. He asks them to relay three words to Woods "Bishop Takes Rook".

Now, this is just a brief overview of what happened in the first mission, and right off the bat, the Black Ops 6 narrative hooked me in. A start with cryptic messages and a mystery at hand? Well, sign me in!

On top of that, the level design and graphics in the mission are so beautiful, that it grabs you by the hand and pulls you in, completely immersing you despite you not knowing what exactly is going on. You aren't familiar with the characters right now, yet they seem familiar and relatable.

It's almost like you are about to sit near a fire in the woods (no pun intended), take a cup of tea, and dive into the greatest mystery book of all time. Well, that's a little over the top but you get my point. The game instantly pulls you into the story and it wastes no time in doing so.

I was quite impressed with what these 10-15 minutes of gameplay gave me. It set me up with intrigue, scratching my head, wanting to know what comes next. These few minutes were more than enough for me to raise my expectations for the game and let's just say, it didn't disappoint and actually, far from it.

Story and gameplay - Brilliant tale that makes you forget you're just smashing buttons

Story

I will just say that although the Black Ops 6 Campaign has some good gameplay mechanics and features, it is the narrative that sets it apart. Genuinely, the writers did a tremendous job of storytelling with the title, and the gameplay just helped drive this story forward. This story would also work out perfectly well in a series or a movie format.

A snippet of a mind-altering mission in the Black Ops 6 Campaign (Image via Activision)

I mean, it is simply, hands down, the BEST story I have experienced in a Call of Duty Campaign.

Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is not bad at all. It's quite a leap from last year's game but it is the story that will keep you hooked and the good gameplay feels like a complementary service on top of that.

Since I promised I would avoid spoilers going in, I will stick to the elements of the story that make it so great. First of all, it is the pacing is nearly perfect. It doesn't waste time at all, builds up curiosity right from the first cinematic, and keeps it up throughout the end. It will keep you thinking throughout your session about the next mission and the details you'll uncover going through it.

Secondly, it is the characters. I don't understand how the writers wrote characters that are so likable, relatable, and somehow familiar even though they are completely new. It's like meeting someone you have never met and you feel like you have known them your whole life. Each of them has unique personality traits that make them stand out.

One more thing to note here is that all these characters portray proper human-like emotions. For instance, a character called Felix swears off violence. However, in a mission, when he has to kill someone, he talks about it with Sev and expresses his guilt in doing so. But then he makes up his mind justifying what he did. He says that he saw a guy being tortured by his enemies. This moment of self-reflection caught me off guard.

Felix reflecting on his actions in the Black Ops 6 Campaign (Image via Activision)

In a game like Call of Duty, you kill hundreds if not thousands without giving a thought, and there's Felix, reflecting on his actions of killing one guy. This adds a sense of realism to the game that Call of Duty had been missing in the past titles.

I can go on and on about the characters. Let's take Adler for example. He is barely present in the game but his presence is bigger than life. Russel Adler's charismatic personality goes beyond the screen and it impresses you, the player, as well.

Now, coming back to the story. Sure, there are those mind-twisting moments in the game that are typical of the Black Ops franchise but this is the first time I felt that it was properly implemented.

The only complaint I have about the game's story is that the ending felt a bit cliched. I mean, it wasn't bad and was a throwback to Black Ops 1. But after giving us such a good story so far, the ending could've been a little better.

Sure, it sets things up for the next game but I would really like it if they truly ended it in a classic Black Ops fashion. I won't spill the beans any further.

Gameplay

As I mentioned earlier, it is the story that keeps you hooked and not the gameplay per se. But speaking of hooked, there's one particular mission that outshines every other Call of Duty mission. I am not even kidding. It is the sixth mission in the title, called Emergence. In this mission, the gameplay had a better role than the story.

Snippet from the mission Emergence in Black Ops 6 Campaign (Image via Activision)

I won't spoil it for you but it's one of the lengthier missions, involving a host of puzzles, "unique" movement, and gunfights. A lot of it. Simply put, if you have played Remedy's Control, Emergence is that but in first-person mode, and oh boy, it's a treat right from the start!

Apart from that, most missions will give you the option to go stealth or full-out guns blazing. However, there are rarely any consequences. You also get to make a few choices in a few missions with barely any negative consequences. Additionally, there are a lot of puzzles to complete in the game. However, most of them are straightforward and I promise you can solve them within seconds.

If you made the wrong choice, you simply restart from the last checkpoint and that is it. So although you have the freedom to approach multiple missions in your way, you'll reach the same conclusion regardless of what route you take. But having options is always better than not having, so kudos to that!

There's one more mission that I felt was quite interesting, called Hunting Season, which is an open-world mission. You have a small section of the desert open to you for exploration. You get to hop in a car with the squad and go on missions in the desert. There are three distinct main objectives in the mission and you can do them in any order.

Completing side quest in Black Ops 6 Campaign (Image via Activision)

On top of that, there are side quests to complete. For instance, in one of the side quests, a local village has been taken over by Iraqi soldiers and you can liberate this village. These types of missions aren't found in Call of Duty games. Modern Warfare 3 tried the concept with Open Combat missions but that was disastrous. This is a much better variant and these missions were truly Open Combat, to be honest.

Apart from the Campaign missions, there's a new Safe House facility, where you can upgrade your training area, armory, and equipment station for better gear and perks on the battlefield. You can collect money from various missions and use it to upgrade your gear in the safe station. This was a fun little addition but I didn't find myself using it that often.

That brings me to the end of the gameplay part. As I said before, it's not bad by any means. In fact, it has some of the most innovative gameplay elements in a Call of Duty game so far.

But apart from a few missions, the puzzles, and the Safe House upgrade features, the gameplay loop is the same. You shoot, you kill, you survive. There is not much to look out for in the Campaign. And once again, as a fellow gamer, I must remind you to not miss the mission "Emergence."

Audio, graphics, and performance on PC - A look at the technical components of Black Ops 6

Audio, graphics, and the technical aspects of the PC port are something that one shouldn't ignore. Ultimately, they assist in creating immersion and can make even a bland game stand out as a strong title. So how do they fare in Black Ops 6? For the most part, pretty well. Let's start with audio, then graphics, and finally the PC port.

Audio

No corners were cut in this department. The audio design is fantastic. Even on my cheap HyperX Stinger gaming headphones, every sound and detail was crispy. The guns sound amazing, the footsteps are clear as a day, and all the explosions are loud but not loud enough to pop my eardrums. It was balanced right out of the gates, which I wasn't expecting.

Audio is an area all previous Call of Duty titles have had trouble with. I don't know how things will work out in Multiplayer, but it was flawless in the Campaign. You can properly track where the bullets are coming from. In fact, if a bullet passes by your ear, you can feel it. That's how good it is.

But that's not all. The voice acting was on point, the music was top-notch. I could not find a single fault with the audio design. Everything was perfect. I tried to find something to complain about in my review but I couldn't. But I wish I could've said the same for the graphics.

Graphics

This is an area where I had my troubles honestly. Don't get me wrong, the game is a superb visual masterpiece. However, it seems like a bug at the moment where a lot of reflections seemed grainy. I looked it up online to check if I was the only one facing the problem and apparently, I was not. It might not be directly evident in the image below, but it is certainly noticeable from a foot on a 27-inch monitor.

Grainy reflections in Black Ops 6 Campaign (Image via Activision)

Many others have reported the same and the issue doesn't seem platform-specific. Furthermore, I have noticed in some instances surfaces had poor texture but right next to them, there will be objects that are detailed properly. There are also some cases where I noticed that the shadows were not properly rendered and felt really low quality. However, my problem with it is that right next to them, there'll be items with high-quality shadows.

Although it isn't game-breaking for me, this is something to look out for. And no, it has nothing to do with upscaling or variable rate shading.

Graphics of Black Ops 6 (Image via Activision)

The character models are well rendered, even the NPCs and the ones that act as fillers. Their faces have a lot of detail that showcases their emotions and they don't feel like bots. Developers have put in extra time in some of the levels such as High Rollers for example, which was pure eye candy.

So, despite these minor visual issues, the overall visual presentation looks great for the Black Ops 6 Campaign and was a huge upgrade over last year's Call of Duty game.

How is the Black Ops 6 PC port?

The Black Ops 6 PC port is surprisingly good. I have mid-range hardware that has fallen behind over time. I played the game at the "Extreme" preset, with an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti, 16 GB RAM, Ryzen 5 5600X, and it was installed on an NVME SSD.

Exploring the Black Ops 6 PC Port (Image via Activision)

Even at the Extreme Preset without any upscaling, my game was rarely dipping to 60 FPS or lower. It hovered around 70-80 FPS most of the time, which was a little surprising. The PC version also has ample support for PC-only features such as a widescreen mode, frame generation, and more.

But here's the thing. I have noticed that all the upscaling tech, be it DLSS or FSR, just doesn't boost your FPS. You'll notice a drop in visual quality since the game is now rendering a lower number of pixels and upscaling it, but the FPS gain is minimal. So if anything, using upscalers right now will get your poor image quality with barely a 5 FPS increase. The only setting that seemed to work for me in Black Ops 6 correctly was DLAA.

Variety of graphics settings in Black Ops 6 PC (Image via Activision)

Apart from that, the PC port runs fine and has a lot of options for customizations, which makes it a PC gamers playground. There are ample settings to tweak, not just the graphics ones. Be it accessibility settings or controls, or even the audio, it has everything right out of the box.

So although right out there are issues with the upscale, the game ran fine for me. In my entire playthrough, I did not crash once, which was surprising considering the state of PC ports nowadays (looking at you Jedi Survivor).

Conclusion: Is the Black Ops 6 Campaign worth playing?

I'll put the answer in one word for you: YES. The Black Ops 6 Campaign is 100% worth playing. Its gripping narrative, fantastic level design, interesting characters, immersive audio, and more, will keep you hooked for hours. Moreover, with all the puzzles to solve and secrets to discover, it gives a lot of replayability value to the Black Ops 6 Campaign.

I would go as far as to call it the best Call of Duty Campaign to date. There is no competition. It blows every other Call of Duty Campaign out of the park. The game is that good.

Black Ops 6 Campaign verdict (Image via Activision)

The story has brilliant pacing and build-up that'll keep you wanting to know more and more about the game's narrative with each mission. There's not even a single dull moment in the game, except for maybe the ending. Each section of the game will keep you engaged.

Unlike previous Call of Duty games where they beat around the bush for the story to go absolutely nowhere, Black Ops 6 takes a firm stance to deliver a linear and rational path that goes straight, and each mission that you complete gives you the next part of the puzzle.

There's not a single moment in the title that makes you stop and wonder why you are mindlessly mowing down hundreds of enemies. In the Black Ops 6 Campaign, every action you take seems reasonable and justified, and it is the story that has made it happen to be so.

The new characters in Black Ops 6 were well-written, and although this was their first appearance in the franchise, they were more memorable than the characters from the rebooted Modern Warfare series (except for Captain Price of course). Each one of them had a certain depth to their personality. They are not all about war and killing. They have a human side to them that makes them more relatable and reasonable beings.

Frank Woods in his Safe House in Black Ops 6 (Image via Activision)

Coming to gameplay, it was good but not something out of the blue that took me surprise, unlike the story. There are a couple of new features such as the "Rook" Safe House, which although I didn't find many uses for, was good to have it. I am sure it will come in handy for a few.

Graphical glitches were there but the overall presentation was pretty good. As for the audio, it was the best audio experience I've had since Modern Warfare 2019. The PC port of Black Ops 6 was well-built and ran well on my system without any major issues. Although the upscale didn't work as intended hopefully this will be fixed.

So overall, I had a great time with the Black Ops 6 Campaign, and trust me, I tried my best to be as critical as possible. Despite that, I couldn't find any major flaw in the game's Campaign. Sure, there was a scope to do more with the gameplay and the ending could've been a bit better and "Black Opsy".

Black Ops 6 is a solid first-person shooter experience and I recommend everyone to play it, just for the enthralling tale.