Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s multiplayer beta is officially here and while it’s not a bad game, it also hasn't left any kind of notable impression. This is yet another interesting entry in the franchise as last year’s game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, was more of an interstitial title that felt like an expansion to 2022’s Modern Warfare II. As such, there's a growing number of players who are yearning for something far removed from the mil-sim feel of the Modern Warfare series.

Enter Black Ops 6, an incredibly arcade-y shooter that embraces its own absurdity for heightened gameplay. Treyarch has always opted to be a strong contrast to Infinity Ward’s entries in the series and that could not be more on display here, with a number of different features that help truly differentiate this year's offering from the Modern Warfare games of the last few years.

Treyarch has taken advantage of its four year development cycle (the longest in Call of Duty history) to attempt to bring significant innovations and advancements to the CoD formula. How much that succeeds is up for debate; there's still time before launch either way, however, so hopefully the beta serves its purpose as a last opportunity to more closely tweak the game to align with its playerbase's desires.

Black Ops 6 Has A New Movement System

The biggest addition to Black Ops 6 is a system called “Omnimovement." It allows more precise movement of the character, letting the player rotate their body while diving/lying down and strafe in all directions without breaking their momentum. Movement is generally much smoother and gives more reactive players the ability to survive encounters where they would’ve otherwise been outgunned. If an enemy comes up behind you, you can quickly dive out of the line of fire and twirl your body around, John Woo-style, to try and win the gunfight.

In Modern Warfare III, getting shot in the back is a much more certain death. It may not always pan out in Black Ops 6, but the chances are definitely increased and can result in plenty of awe-inspiring gameplay moments. However, Call of Duty has always had some clunkiness to its movement and Black Ops 6 is no exception. Diving over a waist-high wall can lead to the player getting clipped, destroying their momentum and likely ruining an otherwise thoughtful play.

If someone is expecting this to be Call of Duty: Max Payne Edition, they should probably temper their expectations.

Similarly, it can be problematic having slide, dive, prone, and crouch all bound to one button. There were multiple occurrences where I went to slide/dive while activating sprint, only for the character to begin slowly crouching/laying down, making them vulnerable. The last thing anyone wants is to essentially stop and drop when they’re trying to propel themselves out of danger.

If someone is expecting this to be Call of Duty: Max Payne Edition, they should probably temper their expectations. Slow-motion is certainly a big piece of why the diving gunplay in a game like Max Payne works so well and that’s not a factor in a PvP shooter. The player is also restricted from aiming their gun at certain downward angles while diving so as to avoid landing on their neck or flipping over, but it can be aggravating when someone is just beneath their line of sight, and they can’t ever so slightly tilt their gun down at them.

Omnimovement is an interesting system, but it needs some more refinement to be worth keeping in future installments. Ultimately, it comes down to reducing the ways players can accidentally disrupt their momentum; possibly even removing things like tactical sprint could be viable for better integration There’s no reason for there to be two sprinting modes in a game that emphasizes movement like Black Ops 6. It doesn’t have any real benefit and actively harms the gameplay due to slower sprint-to-ADS times and cumbersome animations.

Beyond Omnimovement, there are a handful of other quality of life improvements to the moment-to-moment gameplay. Players now have a dedicated melee weapon at all times, no longer needing to sacrifice their secondary for a knife. It still has to be pulled out to be used, but it’s a smart change that hopefully sticks with future games.

The other major change to Black Ops 6 is that players can now be taken hostage by enemy players. If a player runs up behind an enemy, they can grab them and use them as a human shield. From there, they can either be executed or will eventually die after a timer expires or they’re shot to death. This is particularly useful if someone wants to clear an objective - simply “borrow” an enemy’s body, rush into the room, and let their teammate panic over what to do while you return fire.

Black Ops 6's Map Selection Is Weak

The most notable issues with Black Ops 6 lie in the game’s maps. Out of the six maps in the beta, only two of them felt worth voting for: Skyline and The Pit have been the only maps that don’t feel agonizing to play.

Skyline is a classic Black Ops-style map that puts players in a highrise penthouse complete with a pool, secret panic room, and security systems. It’s compact, so players are constantly in action or able to quickly get to it while still allowing a bit of breathing room for those needing to reload or heal. It’s brilliantly designed with plenty of cover, optimal lines of sight, and hidden routes for flanking. There’s even a security system that can be activated to put up armored doors in certain rooms, protecting players from flanks or stray explosives in objective-based modes.

The Pit comes with a bit of an asterisk as it is part of the new Face Off game mode. Face Off is a 6v6 mode with small maps and no scorestreaks, which is really fun for those who want a more purist experience. The Pit is a tiny, circular map set inside a mine and has the pace of a map like Shipment without as much dreadful spawn killing. This map will almost certainly be a fan favorite for those grinding weapon camos and challenges.

The rest of the maps, however, range from some of the worst in the series to mediocre at best. Derelict is a map that’s not terrible in of flow, but it feels very cluttered and makes it hard to visually identify enemies from even a slight distance. The worst offender, however, is Rewind. This map has players battling in and around a strip mall, but unlike a lot of other maps in Black Ops 6, it’s very large. Not just in width, but also length. Matches on Rewind will often end due to time limit rather than score limit because so much of the match is running around being unable to find anyone due to how much empty space there is.

Even with its grand size, Rewind is still prone to perhaps one of the most rage-inducing aspects of Black Ops 6: the spawns. Call of Duty has a history of rocky spawns, but Black Ops 6 might take the cake as having some of the worst in franchise history. There is a strong chance that when a player dies, they will spawn in front of or behind an enemy. I spawned with an enemy player and we ran alongside each other back into battle, assuming we were teammates, before one of us realized that we needed to shoot each other.

The spawns are a massive problem and need to be resolved before launch, as they are the root cause of a lot of frustration and needless headaches. Most of the maps are spacious enough that no one should be spawning on top of each other like it’s Rust or Shipment.

Black Ops 6 May Signal The Need For A Series Break

Will Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 be the game fans want? It may satisfy them for the time being, but likely won’t end up in anyone’s top ten lists for the series. There’s an interesting foundation here that inches Call of Duty forward without reinventing the wheel, but that foundation may be soiled by rotten elements like bad maps. Treyarch also needs to utilize these last two months to refine the omnimovement to ensure it minimizes jank and clunkiness, otherwise it will lead to some viciously loud from the community.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will undoubtedly be the start of a new era for the series with a new movement system, an Xbox Game release, and more. However, it isn’t doing anything that marks the new era of a 20-year-old series feel exciting. It just feels like an attempt to change things to justify making a new game. It’s hard to make diving and sliding feel revolutionary when this series had jetpacks and wall-running less than 10 years ago. Ultimately, it just feels like Call of Duty needs yet another creative overhaul to keep itself going, and Black Ops 6 doesn't feel like it's doing enough to keep things as fresh as they could be.