After having a blast with the first few missions in Call of Duty Black Ops 6, I went full speed ahead to the end. Others that finished the campaign warned me the best was ahead and they were right. The middle and ending missions surprised me. They were much different from the COD games I remember.
A Better Version of MW3 Open Combat Missions
I was hoping that Activision would merge their MW3 Open Combat missions experiment with more traditional missions. With the Hunting Grounds mission, it felt like they almost did just that. It centered around helping the SAS to eliminate several SCUD missile sites in return for their help to infiltrate Saddam’s Palace.
The order and path I took to each SCUD site was up to me. Along the way, there were several different supply sites and enemy camps. It was a bit like a Far Cry open world missions. Finishing up the various optional sites provided me with extra tools for the overall mission.
It was a bit weird using a jeep-like vehicle to drive around the desert in the mission. As a big Battlefield fan, I love using jeeps to get around, but the 3rd person only view was weird. All the first person gunplay then to jump into 3rd person mode to drive the jeep was weird. Only a minor annoyance though.
Taking out all the SAM sites provided me with access to a helicopter’s minigun seat. I loved using that to mow down the larger groups of enemies. Other sites unlocked a mortar laser pointer to drop shells onto enemies. My favorite though, was access to the stealth bomber laser guided bomb.
I loved using that to take out enemy armor. All those tools let me easily take out the SCUDs, then head to Saddam’s palace. I got a kick out of seeing the giant Saddam statue go boom and getting to see all the gold in his vault.
A Zombie Twist to the COD Black Ops Campaign
After my little trip to Saddam’s Palace, we set off to a secret government research facility and things went wrong. The great twist in the Emergence mission sent me down into the depths of the facility and infected me with the virus. It had me questioning reality.
I swore mannequins were chasing me around, but only when I wasn’t looking, then I think I saw zombies. It’s hard to tell what exactly I was shooting at. That battle with reality took me into 4 sections of the facility to search for keycards. There were turrets, boss fights with “monsters”, zombies maybe and creepy mannequins. I still question if any of it was real or in the characters head.
People warned me there was quite a surprise in the story and it did not disappoint. Even though I knew a surprise was coming, it was crazier than I expected. It’s a perfect tease for players to dip their toes into the zombie mode later on.
A Nod to Casino Royale and Ocean’s 11
Black Ops 6 story treated me to a mission inspired by both Casino Royale and Oceans 11. Switching between the various of members of the crew showed me the different parts of the setup. I stole keycards, hacked machines, played some cards, did some wet work with a silenced pistol and more.
It was a smarter bit of set pieces than what I’d expect in a Call of Duty game. I snuck my way through security on my way to the vault. Along the way, I dispatched with enemy guards using the silenced pistol like James Bond. When it came to actually opening the vault, that’s when things jumped back to COD mode.
We had an intense fire fight in front of the vault, while another character I switched to used the distraction to grab a safe deposit box. My crew and I fought our way through the casino before escaping via a boat. It definitely felt like a nice mix of a spy movie and action movie combined.
Black Ops 6 Mission Flexibility
From the start of Black Ops 6, there were a few missions that offered a surprising amount of flexibility in between more linear ones. Late game, I fought my way through an airport, then through a plane, before driving a tank through that same airport. It was action packed, but a more classic linear COD mission.
What followed in the Under the Radar mission was a lot more choice on accomplishing the goals. It was up to me (as Sev) to sabotage a radar dish, attack helicopter and SAM site. She was disguised as one of the guards, but I still had to avoid getting caught in restricted areas or picking locks.
When it came to the radar dish sabotage, I had 3 options: plant an explosive on the dish, plant one on the power supply or I could convince the operator to run a test on my command. I chose the latter option to talk my way to victory.
Taking on the SAM site offered similar choices. I could either swap out the warheads or plant explosives. My choice was to swap them out. That required a bit of a chat with a guard to convince them I was supposed to be there. Each of these chats gave me things to look at in the scene for clues on how to convince the guard.
When it came to the attack helicopter sabotage, I could sneak in to plant an explosive, sabotage the fuel trucks or plant an explosive on the cargo. I chose the latter option and convinced the guard that they had clearance to load the cargo right away.
All the Pieces in Place
I was glad Black Ops 6 provided me with that bit of agency to setup the assault on the base. With everything in place, my crew flew in with the chopper. I convinced the radar operator to run the test so they would not see it until it was too late.
The SAM site blew up thanks to the faulty warheads and the attack chopper barely got airborne before I blew the explosives in the cargo. All that prep allowed me to man the helicopter gun as one of the other crew to mow down the rest of the enemies.
We repelled down to the base and the hunt was on for more info on the Cradle (bioweapon).
The COD Black Ops Grand Finale
The final 2 missions in the Black Ops 6 campaign sort of overlap each other. While interrogating the big bad of the game in the safehouse, enemy soldiers stage an assault. I loved the great back and forth between the two realities.
One minute I’d be inside the traitors head, finding the motivations for why they betrayed their country. I dove through bits of their childhood via otherworldly sites like something you’d see in Control. It was weird to remember this was a Call of Duty game, but a welcome change to the straight action movie usual.
At certain points of the interrogation, I’d jump back to defending the Rook safehouse from the assaulting soldiers. It required me to use almost all the various tools and gadgets I did throughout the game. I’d swap sniper rifles for machine guns and then in the same minute, break out an explosive RC car.
Grenades flew through the air, I setup sentry guns, tossed C4 and more crazy stuff. In the end, we protected the safehouse long enough to get the info from the interrogation. From there it was a chase and fist fight in a helicopter to stop our traitor from escaping.
Although the very end was classic COD stuff, the contrast between defending the house and entering the traitors mind was refreshing. My efforts were rewarded with an ending cutscene that seems like the setup for the next season of a Netflix series.
I’m hooked back into Call of Duty Campaigns and can’t wait for the older ones to hit Game Pass to catch up on everything before the new “season” of Black Ops comes out years from now.