Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 marks the return of developers Treyarch and Raven, a project that has been in development for four years since Black Ops Cold War. In that time, there has been something of a technical upheaval. First, Black Ops 6 moves to the IW9 engine, away from Treyarch's custom engine. This aligns the game's technology with the latest portfolio of Call of Duty titles and, most importantly, the upcoming Warzone component. Using IW9, we will soon see the gameplay systems in Black Ops 6's campaign also be implemented in its Battle Royale mode, including the so-called omni-movement that allows players to run and dive in all directions.
However, for this piece, the focus is on the state of single-player across all consoles, including next-gen hardware. Black Ops 6's campaign is one of the series' most adventurous in years: we've got branching dialogue trees, large, free-roaming open-space levels, and even Hitman-style stealth missions that you can tackle in a variety of ways. We saw glimpses of these freedoms in Cold War, and even part of last year's Modern Warfare 3, but here, they're greatly expanded and pair nicely with Black Ops' bombastic tone. The question is, can 11-year-old consoles handle it?
The current-gen consoles are mostly fine, as you'd expect. With IW9 at its core, we're in familiar territory for Modern Warfare 3. Both PS5 and Series In fact, adjusting on the horizontal axis gives the PS5 and Series That said, the game's visual standard is ambitious and within the sometimes entertaining and varied mission design, there are difficult points. Up close, there are low-resolution textures, blocky shadows, and even a complete lack of shadows from important light sources such as explosions. It's also disappointing to find that there is no support for ray tracing this time after its successful Cold War run in 2020.
On the frame rate front (looking at 60Hz support first), both the PS5 and Series X enjoy a tight 60fps most of the time, although there are still issues. You'll notice checkpoint issues during gameplay: a cluster of dropped frames that always precedes autosave. These stutters affect all consoles to some degree, and while they are much worse on last-gen consoles, they do occasionally interrupt gameplay. The second point relates to actual drops in action below 60fps, which fortunately are few and far between. Again, the PS5 and Series Additionally, like previous Call of Duty titles, Series X tends to appear more regularly in the campaign. In the mission two market shootouts, for example, there are small lurches towards 50 degrees on the Series X, which are mostly resolved on PS5. It's a small and trivial detail if you have a VRR display, but it makes the game a little smoother on PS5 overall.
Jumping to Xbox Series S, engagement is much less compelling at 60fps. From the initial mission in Kuwait to the open stage in Iraq, there is a more variable range of 50 to 60 fps with tearing at the top of the screen. At the lowest points, the most extreme ones cause the performance to drop to 40 degrees. Practically speaking, in battle there is no way to ignore drops, and VRR is the only way to salvage a smooth experience. In terms of resolution, the Series S sticks to a similar target as Modern Warfare 3: a 1440p target, with drops to 1280×1440, halving the horizontal axis again. There are signs that the vertical axis is also affected in rare cases, but despite that, there is simply not enough flexibility in the resolution targets to maintain 60fps. The good thing is that the visual settings are largely intact from the PS5 and Series hallmark of the series.
Moving next to 120Hz mode on each console, it's fascinating to see the peaks and valleys of each machine's performance revealed with no 60fps cap. The resolution settings are the same as 60Hz and all the main visual settings are identical as well. However, the PS5 and Series It's highly variable, but most battles tend to stabilize within the 70-100fps range as you'd expect, along with tearing at the top of the screen. In reality, only those with VRR-compatible displays will benefit, but it's a good option. The readout is too variable for non-VRR displays, where settling for a flat 60fps line may give a softer result in perception. There's also little to break down the PS5 and Series X frame rates in matching comparisons, although the Series S clearly falls short in comparison. We're seeing a 15-30fps deficit on the Series S overall, and again with potential to drop below the 60fps line.
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So if the Series S is facing some challenges, where does that leave the next-gen consoles? Is it still possible to have a decent experience when the developers are doing their best? Well, obviously there are cuts. When comparing the PS4 to the PS5, the older console targets native 1080p, with dynamic settings taking it up to 960×1080 depending on GPU load. Other key settings are removed: most environmental textures are at a lower resolution, as is the quality of the skin shader on the characters' faces. Shadows are also affected, appearing more hesitant and noisy in close-ups. In fact, as an extreme measure to reach 60 fps on PS4, NPC shadow projection is also sometimes disabled. Screen space reflections are also disabled, meaning varnished floors and bodies of water now rely on static cubemaps. And finally, in the open Iraq mission, terrain and shadows appear visibly, much more so than current generation machines. All of these limits apply to all next-gen consoles, from the base Xbox One to the PS4 Pro and Xbox One It changes depending on the terrain. and especially slow loading textures, are a big drawback on all four systems.
Performance is also variable. From the first steps of the first match in Kuwait, PS4 oscillates between 45 and 60 fps. There are stretches at 60fps, often discrete stealth segments or driving between areas. For Call of Duty's signature combat, however, each level places progressively more demands on the 11-year-old system. The market shootout, for example, gets us between 40 and 60 fps with screen tearing, and we get a similar range for any open-world combat. Unfortunately, this adds up to problems, again related to the game's checkpoint save system, but they stick around much longer on PS4 with its slower hard drive write speeds. Worse still, PS4 suffers from major streaming issues at points, especially in the Hunting Season mission, where moving between map segments triggers a period of choppy movement. Bottom line: The combination of GPU crashes, checkpoint issues, and traversal stutters make the PS4 campaign one to avoid this year.
Looking at the PS4 Pro below, the good news is that a lot of this has improved. In terms of resolution there is a target of 1512p, with a drop in the horizontal axis as occurs with other machines. Potentially checkerboard rendering helps here too. Sadly, checkpoint issues frustratingly persist on PS4 Pro, but the typical framerate in action remains at a much better 60fps across the board. There are exceptions such as the market shootout, which takes us to 50 at some points, and also when planting C4 during open field missions. Also, interestingly, PS4 Pro is the only console that enables v-sync, meaning no screen tearing. Of the quartet of next-gen machines, the PS4 Pro is the best of a bad bunch in this regard; It's by no means perfect, fluctuating between 50 and 60 fps in intense combat, but it's capable of delivering a tighter 60 fps experience than most.
Comparatively speaking, Xbox One X performs worse overall. It uses the same 1512p target, but the game often ends up running at a lower frame rate on average than the PS4 Pro. Additionally, in the case of the Xbox One Checkpoint stutters. These range from small glitches to almost a full second of dropped frames, a major distraction for any off-road driving.
Overall, Black Ops 6's next-gen performance makes it clear where the developer's priorities lie (certainly for the campaign) where it's increasingly difficult to recommend next-gen consoles as a valid entry point. The bottom line is that Call of Duty's campaign offerings are disappointingly poor on last-gen right now, perhaps excluding the PS4 Pro. Black Ops 6 is available on Game Pass if you're stuck with your Xbox One or One would like to try it. But it's a pale shadow of the developer's intended experience, which is why the campaign is much better enjoyed on PS5 and Xbox series machines. But that said, Black Ops 6 is clearly demanding on the latest consoles and some might say the idea that they can run on 11-year-old hardware is almost miraculous.