There’s an argument to be made that speed is what makes Call of Duty multiplayer feel so good. As a franchise, the CoD games are great about getting you into the action as quickly as possible. When you shoot opponents, they tend to go down fast; when you die, you can be back in the fight in about a second. With Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Treyarch leans into the speed of the franchise in just about every respect, starting with some meaningful adjustments to movement systems and ending with map designs that make sure you’re never far from your next hail of bullets. Most of the time, those fast and intense battles are a lot of fun–but the design changes also result in Black Ops 6 feeling limited in the kinds of fights you’re likely to face.
The major adjustment Black Ops 6 brings to the series is the Omni-movement system, and at least in terms of how the game feels to play, it’s an excellent one. Omni-movement does away with the pesky natural limitations of a pair of human legs. You can run, sprint, slide, and dive in any direction, regardless of where you’re facing or where your momentum would take you. It’s kind of akin to the freedom a tank turret has from the vehicle beneath it, able to turn in any direction to address threats, but much faster and much cooler.
Omni-movement creates a really high degree of fluidity. The ability to move at full speed in any direction at any time makes it easy to quickly navigate maps and turn to address threats. The game never holds you back when it comes to movement, and paired with how fast you might gun down an enemy if you react quickly enough, or the speed with which they can shut you down, Omni-movement is an excellent improvement to your overall reactivity. This is a game that’s about twitch reactions and sharp aim, and Omni-movement amplifies that twitchiness by giving you more freedom of motion in all cases.