Black Ops 6 Finally Nails a Single-Player Gaming Staple

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 3, 2024 2 Views 7 Min Read
Black Ops 6 Finally Nails a Single-Player Gaming Staple



Call of Duty has set many standards for the military shooter genre over the last two decades. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare‘s online multiplayer, for instance, is often given credit for introducing features that are now staples of the genre, like custom loadouts and killstreaks. But Call of Duty has broken plenty of new ground in the single-player space as well.




While Medal of Honor, Battlefield 1942, and other early military shooters laid strong foundations for the genre, Call of Duty set a new bar for cinematic, blockbuster action campaigns. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 continues to raise this bar, bringing its own set of innovations and improvements with its campaign, including finally nailing a classic single-player mechanic that the franchise has previously struggled with.

Black Ops 6 Zombies

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Finally Delivers Satisfying Bosses

Call of Duty Hasn’t Had The Best Boss Fights

The Call of Duty franchise has had some great antagonists over the years, from Modern Warfare‘s terrifying Ultranationalist Makarov to Black Ops 2‘s Raul Menendez. But while these antagonists have often done a great job of incentivizing the player to hunt them down and put a stop to their nefarious schemes, their final confrontation has frequently left a little to be desired.


In most Call of Duty campaigns, the big bad is either defeated in a cutscene or defeated via a quick-time event, which can often feel like a glorified cutscene. General Shepherd’s original incarnation is taken out with a throwing knife, Makarov is pushed through a glass ceiling and left to hang, and Menendez is shot in the head, all via quick-time events.

Though QTEs were a decent way to add interactivity to a cutscene, they don’t feel nearly as rewarding in this modern age of gaming. Recent Call of Duty campaigns have tried to change with the times, introducing proper boss fights a few years ago. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2‘s Graves tank battle was one of the first true boss fights in CoD campaign history, and while it was a solid start, its challenge felt a tad too artificial.

Call of Duty Zombies
has had a much longer history with boss fights, with Five’s Pentagon Thief opening the floodgates for boss zombies back in 2010.


Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Sets a New Standard for Campaign Boss Fights

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s campaign is littered with engaging boss fights. In many missions, players will be confronted with a strong mini-boss enemy that has a health bar above their head. These shotgunners, juggernauts, and gas mask-wearing mini-bosses all pose a much more significant challenge than the campaign’s regular enemies, and that sudden shift in intensity can be exhilarating.

Black Ops 6‘s campaign is also home to a handful of major boss fights, most of which come during the mission ‘Emergence’. These bosses are essentially copied from Black Ops 6‘s Zombies mode, though the context surrounding their appearance in the campaign makes their respective battles feel suitably tense and engaging. Unlike those that have come before it, Black Ops 6‘s boss fights feel like proper set pieces that successfully blend blockbuster presentation with engaging gameplay.

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