Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Beta Impressions – Our Thoughts

The open beta for Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 comes to an end tomorrow. Last weekend there was a closed beta for pre-orders, Game Pass subscribers, or anyone who had a code. Myself and two other members of Lords Of Gaming, took the time to play so we can share our thoughts in regard to this upcoming release. Which is dated for October 25th. While doing so, we will be speaking a little about our Call Of Duty history to get a feel for each of our perspectives. Then getting into our overall thoughts on our individual experiences that we had while playing the beta.

My Call Of Duty Journey

My Call Of Duty journey truly started back in Modern Warfare 2 (2009). During this era, first-person shooters were easily my most played genre. Not only did I love playing them, but I was also very good. Towards the end of Modern Warfare 2 going into the sequel, I started to take this gameplay to the next level by competing against others online. This took place on a website that doesn’t exist anymore called Team Compete. Eventually, though, I started to get hooked on other games and genres and stopped competing all together. As time has passed, my loved for the series has ebb and flowed. For example, I didn’t play Call Of Duty : Cold War at all but I have hundreds of hours in Modern Warfare 3 (2023).

My Black Ops 6 Beta Thoughts

The beta released at an interesting time for me. I have been really itching to play an FPS but have been struggling to find anything that looked interesting. Thankfully, I got into the closed beta without any cost to me because Xfinity Rewards was giving out codes. I played for about a total of five hours and have a good understanding of what to expect when it comes to the moment-to-moment gameplay.

When it comes to the gameplay the talk of the town when it comes to Black Ops 6 is a new movement style called “omni-movement”. This lets players slide, dive, and sprint in any direction. When I first started playing the beta, I didn’t find it incredibly useful. Eventually, I started to get the hang of it after overriding decades of Call Of Duty muscle memory when it comes to movement. It felt more useful as I played more but I am still not one hundred percent sold on how it’ll affect gameplay long term in either a positive or negative way. When it comes to gun gameplay the time to kill (TTK) felt just about right at times but also felt some adjustments need to be made in this area.

When it comes to stability, I played on PC, and network issues were the biggest problem in this regard. The game itself ran just fine. Minus some issues with Call Of Duty HQ which, I believe needs to be retired for being so clunky. I could write an article on that alone. Originally, Black Ops 6 wasn’t really on my radar but after playing the beta, I am curious how everything lands when it officially releases.

Robert Kellett Lord Editor

As a casual Call Of Duty player, I haven’t really engaged with the series all that much in recent years. But thanks to Game Pass Ultimate, I tried the beta for Black Ops 6 and it was awesome. Omni-movement is a game changer, as it allows you to quickly redirect yourself and land those killing blows you otherwise couldn’t do in older games.

And while I didn’t engage with this mechanic much during my time with the beta, the idea of using meat shields is hysterical. Not only does it encourage players to be more defensive, but it also adds new options for the battlefield.

In regard to how it ran on my gaming laptop, the game ran very well. Typically running well above 120FPS with basic/medium settings, the game ran very well during my time with the beta. Playing with a Series X controller, input response also felt fantastic as well. The maps playable in the beta were fun. Good pathing and clarity for major landmarks help make leveraging the Omni-Movement very useful.

Subeg Dhaliwal Lord Author

I’ve played every new Call Of Duty release since Modern Warfare 2 (2009) when Infinity Ward was the top-tier studio. Over time, Treyarch has become the A-team, with Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer now seen as lower-tier developers.

Over the years, COD introduced new movement mechanics like the dolphin dive in Black Ops 1 and the slide in Ghosts, before shifting to exo boosts and jet packs. After the jet pack phase, Black Ops 6 brought back boots-on-the-ground gameplay and introduced “omni-directional movement,” combining sliding and dolphin diving for a fluid and fast-paced experience that stays true to COD‘s roots.

Performance-wise, the beta ran smoother on Xbox Series X than on PC, where the launcher caused crashes. Both platforms offer 120fps options for better fluidity. While there are still issues like bad spawn points, I expect these to be resolved by launch.

Black Ops 6 is one of my most anticipated games, releasing in late October on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. I can’t wait to try all the modes at launch!

Prepare for Launch!

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be launching on October 25th for Xbox, PlayStation consoles and Steam. Many of us at Lords Of Gaming, have our eyes on this game to see what it delivers to players. We will be bringing you more black Ops 6 coverage after its official release.