Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Review – A Campaign Done Right, but the Overall Score Tells a Different Story

Release Date: October 25, 2024 | Developers: Treyarch, Raven Software | Publisher: Activision | Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC (Steam) | Genre: First-Person Shooter | Price: Steam Standard Edition ~$30 USD, all-time low ~$20 USD, available day one on Xbox Game Pass | Languages: Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, and more

Black Ops 6 is a strange one.

Its campaign might be the most acclaimed Call of Duty single-player experience in years. IGN gave it a 9/10, calling it “the best Call of Duty campaign in many, many years”. TechSpot’s aggregate review praised its “variety and flexibility” across a string of excellent missions. Yet on Steam, it sits at a “Mixed” overall rating, with English reviews hovering around 41% positive.

On one side, critics are calling it a return to form. On the other, players are complaining about bugs, performance issues, multiplayer problems, and launch troubles. Same game, wildly different reception.

So what’s actually going on?

Campaign: Raven Delivered

Black Ops 6‘s campaign is set in the early 1990s, during the geopolitical shift after the Cold War. This isn’t a Modern Warfare-style grand military saga — it’s a spy thriller. Infiltration, assassination, betrayal, and the signature Black Ops mind-bending narrative twists.

Raven Software co-developed the campaign and delivered something genuinely solid.

The key insight: Black Ops 6 finally realized that a COD campaign doesn’t need to treat every mission like a Hollywood blockbuster. Level design moves beyond the repetitive “push forward—kill everyone—blow up the objective—extract by helicopter” loop. Sometimes it’s stealth. Sometimes it’s a frontal assault. Sometimes it’s a casino heist. Sometimes it’s a semi-open desert map where players are given room to experiment. The design keeps the tightly scripted set pieces COD is known for while occasionally handing control back to the player.

The safehouse (The Rook) is another highlight — a hub where players can return between missions, talk to squadmates, explore rooms, and uncover more about the characters’ backstories. It gives the cast room to breathe instead of rushing from one mission straight into the next.

Veteran players will also recognize that familiar Black Ops flavor. One player noted, “The story pacing really brings back that classic Black Ops feel — the sense of intensity and shock — and compared to the half-hearted Modern Warfare reboot, this one actually feels like it was made with care.”

But here’s the catch: a great campaign didn’t save the rest of the game.

Multiplayer: Omnimovement Didn’t Revolutionize Anything

“Omnimovement” is Black Ops 6‘s marquee multiplayer feature — players can sprint, slide, and dive in any direction, rather than being limited by the slower movement of traditional FPS games. Activision made it one of the game’s headline features, and many outlets praised its fluidity.

TechSpot’s review offered a more measured take: “Omnimovement is cool in theory, but not really necessary in practice.”

It feels less like a revolution and more like “pushing COD’s already fast movement a little further.” It lets skilled players pull off flashy maneuvers, but it doesn’t fundamentally change the average player’s combat experience.

At launch, the game featured 16 multiplayer maps, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps supporting 2v2 or 6v6. Modes include classics like Team Deathmatch and Domination, alongside new offerings like High Value Target.

But Steam’s overall rating remains “Mixed,” with English reviews sitting at around 41% positive. Some players reported major issues just getting the game to run. Others described the experience as “rough” and “poorly designed.” Activision later disclosed on the Steam page that generative AI tools were used to assist in creating some in-game assets, sparking further debate in the community about the quality and production methods behind certain cosmetic content.

Zombies: Treyarch’s True Home Turf

The return of round-based Zombies was a major selling point for Black Ops 6. At launch, it featured two brand-new Zombies maps, with more added through subsequent seasons.

For fans of the Black Ops sub-series, this is a flagship feature. IGN praised the Zombies mode for its chaotic, over-the-top presentation, while GameSpot gave the mode an 8/10 and called it a strong return to classic Zombies with a modernized twist.

But its value proposition is clear: for players who enjoy grinding, hunting Easter eggs, and mastering map mechanics, it’s a solid draw. For players who just want to run through the campaign and occasionally dip into multiplayer, it’s hard to justify buying a full COD game just for Zombies.

A Game That Gets Reviewed in Pieces

Black Ops 6‘s biggest problem is that it packages a genuinely great campaign alongside a deeply divisive multiplayer experience — and forces players to buy the whole thing.

The campaign is excellent — Raven delivered one of the strongest COD campaigns in years, backed by IGN’s 9/10 and widespread critical praise.

Multiplayer is controversial — Omnimovement sounds great on paper but didn’t change the game in practice, and performance issues, bugs, and launch problems dragged the Steam rating down to around 41% positive.

Zombies has appeal — round-based is back, and longtime fans have plenty to like, but it’s not enough to carry a full-priced purchase on its own.

Technical performance has also been a drag — console versions have faced criticism from technical analysis outlets for their visual quality and performance.

So the overall score was never going to look great.

The problem is that Black Ops 6‘s strengths and weaknesses land on completely different audiences. Campaign players say “finally, they got it right.” Multiplayer players ask “why are there so many issues?” Zombies players can at least say “Treyarch still knows what they’re doing.” And PC users are left wondering “why is it this hard just to run the game?”

That’s the real split behind Steam’s “Mixed” rating.

That said, Steam’s cumulative rating doesn’t fully reflect where Black Ops 6 is today. After multiple seasons of updates, recent reviews have become noticeably more positive, even though the large number of negative launch reviews still weighs down the cumulative score.

If You’re Picking It Up Now

If you’re only here for the campaign, Black Ops 6 is still worth a look. It’s one of the best COD single-player experiences in recent memory, and IGN’s 9/10 and TechSpot’s “best in years” praise aren’t empty.

If you’re coming for multiplayer, it’s more complicated. That ~41% positive rate among English reviews didn’t come out of nowhere. If you can handle the Omnimovement learning curve, don’t mind the occasional bug or matchmaking hiccup, and just want to shoot people, the core multiplayer still has its moments. But if you have low tolerance for performance issues or rough edges, proceed with caution.

Zombies depends entirely on your taste. Round-based is back, the content is solid, but if that’s your only reason to buy, weigh whether it’s worth the price of a full game.

Game Pass is the safest way in. Black Ops 6 launched day one on Xbox Game Pass, so you can try before you commit.

At full Steam price? Hold off. The standard edition has recently been around $30 USD, with historical lows around $20. The value proposition varies wildly depending on which mode you actually care about. Waiting for a sale makes more sense.

Black Ops 6‘s biggest issue isn’t that it’s a bad game — it’s that it bundles a great campaign, a polarizing multiplayer, and a long-term live-service COD ecosystem into a single purchase. For Game Pass subscribers, you can try each part separately. For anyone paying full price, the value proposition is very different.

So no, Black Ops 6 isn’t “not worth playing.” It’s just “not worth buying at the wrong price.”

Copyright Notice: All game screenshots, character images, and related materials referenced in this article are the property of Activision, Treyarch, and Raven Software, and are used for game introduction, review, and informational display purposes.