Finally, after months of anticipation, the nextCall of Dutyhas arrived in the form ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6. Players are once again being thrown into the gripping world of spies and espionage within theCall of Dutysubseries, which has made for a pretty exciting experience thus far. While it may not reach the heights of the series' golden era,Call of Duty: Black Ops 6has still been a breath of fresh air for many. Intriguingly enough, one of its biggest advantages is how drastically different it is fromModern Warfare.
For years, theCall of Dutyfranchise was defined bytheBlack OpsandModern Warfaresubseries. Players got to experience two very distinct war stories, grow close to different casts of characters, and explore different time periods under theCall of Dutyframework. However, in 2019, things changed when Infinity Ward chose to reboot itsModern Warfareseries instead of forging ahead with standalone games or continuing in its oldMWuniverse. Although that initially proved successful as the 2019 game was well received, it also meant the original trilogy’s universe had been thrown out the window, and luckily,Black Ops 6did not follow in those footsteps.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Was Right Not to Reboot
Modern Warfare Rebooted the Franchise
Since its inception, theCall of Duty: Modern Warfaresubseries has been a fan-favorite.Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfarebrought the entire franchise to new heights with its campaign and multiplayer,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2took things even further, andCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3brought the trilogy to a mostly satisfying conclusion. To this day, these titles are often regarded as some of the best in the franchise, and some are even considered the best that the FPS genre has to offer.
TheCall of Duty: Modern Warfaretrilogyhelped set a new precedent for this franchise, as players seemed to love practically everything included within these titles. The campaigns are still talked about to this day, the handcrafted missions in the original Spec Ops mode helped giveMW2andMW3a unique flair, and as of now, this trilogy consists of the onlyCall of Dutytitles to get remasters. But instead of expanding upon the foundation of this saga with a fourth entry, the studio chose to go back to square one instead. And while that made for another great FPS that featured fan favorites who had been killed off, it also meant that everything that had come before now meant nothing, which was sad to see.
UnlikeCall of Duty: Modern Warfare, theCall of Duty: Black Opsseries has been all over the place when it comes to its timeline. The Cold War-focusedCall of Duty: Black Opsis often considered one of the best games that the franchise offers, whileCall of Duty: Black Ops 2featured two eras of warfare what was primarily set during 2025.Black Ops 3jumped all the way to 2065 and turned the franchise into a hero shooter of sorts with its wall-running Specialists, whileCall of Duty: Black Ops 4stepped backward to the 2040s and experimented with a battle royale mode in lieu of a campaign. Now,Call of Duty: Black Ops 6has brought this subseries backto its roots, picking up whereBlack Ops Cold Warleft off. While there have been several great games within theBlack Opssubseries, it has definitely been disjointed when it comes to its timeline. But even with that challenge, Treyarch has yet to reboot it, instead choosing to fill in gaps in theBlack Opsuniverse with its newer releases.
While it could have gone back to square one, Treyarch instead forged ahead with the universe it has been building and expanding for 14 years. Each entry, barBlack Ops 3due to its far future setting, has either explored the same characters or relatives of said characters. This has helped makethe likes of Frank Woods, the Mason family, Jason Hudson, Viktor Resnov, and recently Russel Adler some of the most iconic characters that the entire franchise has to offer. Players have been able to grow attached to them across multiple titles, with their stories still being written as Treyarch further fleshes out different eras of its universe.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s characters and stories will likely forever be iconic as well, but the fact they were completely rebooted means that players have two versions of said stories to juggle, with the new timeline also retreading some familiar ground and being scrutinized by longtime fans who feel like certain characters and moments do not live up to the oldModern Warfares.Black Ops 6,on the other hand, is building upon the original stories with new ones, which helps make its characters feel more realized and developed. Plus, it means that everything that has come before still matters in the grand scheme of things, with Treyarch able to call back to important moments and keep the interest ofBlack Opsveterans while still trying new things.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
WHERE TO PLAY
Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
