Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Hands-on Preview: We attended CoD Next to test Multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone

Staying at the Watergate Hotel overlooking the Washington Monument, we are picked up in black cars by men in tight suits. Activision is usually based in Los Angeles, so the choice to hold this year's Call of Duty Next on the opposite side of the continent in the US capital is clearly a thematic choice. The fact that the world's press and influencers will be staying at the historic Watergate Hotel is no coincidence either. The whole apparatus is in place; it's Call of Duty Black Ops 6: The Truth Lies, says the buses circling the National Mall.

After the lukewarm reception of Modern Warfare III last year, where Call of Duty in a rare case had to concede first place in the best-selling games of the year, there is no doubt that Activision wants to make its mark with the next title in the series. We've been promised an action-packed and epic single-player campaign, a return to a more classic Zombies package, complete with a continuation of the story, and news and additions to Warzone. And of course, we'll be trying out the new Omnimovement.

When it comes to changes and additions to Call of Duty's core gameplay, it's the Omnimovement that has the potential to be a real innovation and milestone. Sure, there are plenty of small tweaks and additions that come with a new release, but Omnimovement has the potential to change the way you play CoD on a more fundamental level.

In short, the idea is that you should now be able to sprint and jump in all directions instead of just forwards as before. There's no bullettime here, but in the preview footage we're shown before we get to try it ourselves, we see players throwing themselves around and shooting opponents hanging in the air as if they were Max Payne. Of course, a planned and edited presentation is one thing, so the overriding question as we sit down at the screens is, does it work?

We'll get to that in a moment, first let's outline the programme and map out a few promises and news. Next is a live event, so some of you may have been following along, but what we got to play was the regular multiplayer, then Zombies and finally Warzone. The multiplayer is the same beta version that pre-orderers and Game Pass subscribers will have access to on August 30. It consists of five new 6v6 maps, among other things. They all fall within the medium to small size range, and the developers have very consciously turned their back on larger maps in favour of focusing on the popular intense combat that occurs on smaller maps - and that's what you get. The maps are new, but they don't feel new. In fact, I was left with the feeling that I had played them all before and had to ask several times if the one I was playing was new. Visually, they don't stand out much either. Despite being promised solid '90s aesthetics, I wouldn't notice much of a visual difference if they were discreetly tucked into Modern Warfare III's rotation. This isn't so much a criticism of the quality of the maps in terms of gameplay, but just a bit disappointing when the developers themselves have put so much emphasis on Black Ops 6 being set in 1991, and that "you'll feel it".

While it had many vices, there is no doubting that Modern Warfare III felt good to play; because Call of Duty in general feels good to play. The same can be said here, and I think I can safely say that Black Ops 6 will not disappoint on that level. Man, it feels good to play. Nothing suggests a fundamental overhaul of the model we know, but an adjustment and focus on what works. I'm a controller man myself, I hardly ever play with mouse and keyboard, and if a first-person shooter has some mechanical issues, I notice it right away. I clearly remember last year when I sat down with Redfall. It almost felt like you were back in the early Nintendo 64 days when neither the console nor controller were used to this kind of game. But Call of Duty is usually on top of things, and that seems to be the case, if not a bit better, in Black Ops 6, and with that in mind, it's time to get into the so-called Omnimovement. Activision has made a big deal of this feature in their promotions - almost to the point of silliness - but maybe it really is a minor revolution. Or is it?

Well, not quite. My biggest concern about the new feature, however, was thankfully alleviated. I feared that you would see everyone flying and skating around like an amateur gymnastics team, more than you already do, but that's not the case. The change is a lot more subtle, but strong enough to make you wonder why it wasn't always like this. I spoke to a couple of streamers who play with a mouse and keyboard and their experience was that it felt a bit 'janky'. Personally, I think it's more a matter of getting used to it. As I said, I play with a controller myself, and it simply feels great - and above all, fun! I hardly ever play games like Call of Duty for the competition, but to have fun, and my experience of Omnimovement was that it's simply more fun. Throwing yourself in any direction in a desperate attempt to dodge bullets increases the drama, increases the heroic feel, increases the fun factor. When I say that Omnimovement isn't quite what it has been hyped up to be, it's because it feels far more like a quality improvement than a fundamental change, and we'll only see how much it really means when people get their hands on the game in a big way. The most positive thing about Omnimovement, in my eyes, is that it fulfils the virtue that games should give the player tools to feel in control, tools to create a narrative, and Omnimovement is a step towards that, rather than an actual change to the basic gameplay. It won't be long before we see clips of people doing wild stunts using Omnimovement. And now neither I nor you want to read the word "Omnimovement" anymore in this article, so let's move on to the next part: Zombies!

Zombies in Call of Duty quickly went from being a fun addition to an expected and permanent fixture. In Modern Warfare III, the developers tried putting Zombies into a Warfare-like model - with less success, some would say. In Black Ops 6, however, a more traditional experience has been created. It's also clear that a lot of effort and budget has been put into it, and the story - yes, there is a story - continues from the previous games. I overheard a streamer, who mainly focuses on the Zombies part of Call of Duty, trying to explain everything that has happened before. It was harder to understand than the Marvel multiverse, but it doesn't matter. That's what people want, and that's what the developers want to make. Visually and technically, the upcoming Zombies release seems to be impressive.

It's clear that some money has been thrown into it. Unfortunately, it felt like they just took the model from Modern Warfare III and scaled it down. We played on a map called Liberty Falls, a small town in the early '90s USA. Here you have to explore and do quests. You can upgrade your gear, unlock new areas, and as the game progresses in rounds, more and more monsters are added. When you no longer dare to tempt fate, you can choose to escape and keep some of the items you have collected. As I said, it works visually and technically well - despite being a beta version - but after about 10 minutes I was bored. It must be said that we also went straight into the Zombies part after an hour of adrenaline-pumping multiplayer. I need to see more to develop an informed opinion, but as a younger colleague described it afterwards, "it's meant for sitting around talking shit with your mates after school."

The show was rounded off by playing Warzone, an alpha version of a brand new map. Nuketown is one of the most beloved and iconic Call of Duty maps, and Treyarch, in collaboration with Raven, wanted to create Nuketown in Warzone. In the trailer, almost Fallout-like, we see a little cartoon mascot talking about safety and the caveats of radiation exposure, and the developers clearly want to create a story and atmosphere that goes beyond Nuketown.

The map itself is a lot smaller than what we have seen so far in Warzone. Without knowing for sure, I would guess that it is about a quarter of the size of the previous maps. The smaller size has obvious consequences that you quickly realise. In a regular round of Warzone, it's possible to land, collect items and generally settle down before bumping into other players. Not so in Nuketown. Here you can't avoid getting into a fight with your little gun and knife almost immediately. What Nuketown lacks in area, it makes up for in verticality. There are tunnels and bunkers that go underground, and cranes and buildings above. There are therefore far more ways to move around, and firefights often develop in small buildings or corridors. It's a breath of fresh air in Warzone, but you also lose some of the experience that is otherwise so strong in Warzone. Usually by the time you finish a round, you've been through an entire story with multiple turning points. The slower gameplay gives a sense of development and build-up that seems to disappear in Nuketown. Instead, you're constantly switching weapons and fighting with everything you can get your hands on to survive. There's still a lot to tweak from the developers and I'm not sure Nuketown will be a hit, but it's something new and different that could potentially shake up the formula.

Beyond the big points, there are a lot of quality improvements coming with Black Ops 6. Among the most notable is that changes you make to individual weapons will appear in your loadout across all game modes. A perhaps minor, but welcome improvement. My personal favourite, however, is the menus and skin elements. Treyarch has cut down on buttons and information boxes in a big way, leading to a crisp and clean look, unlike what we've been used to.

Activision has given it all it could pull when they organised Call of Duty Next 2024. I dare not guess the cost behind the event. It's undoubtedly an event focused on streamers, and we traditional writers were more on the side-lines - literally. However, if you strip away all the celebration and just look at the current state of Black Ops 6, it's a positive picture I'm left with. It's not going to revolutionise the series, but it seems we can look forward to enough improvements and enough new content to justify the usual price tag on a Call of Duty game more than was the case with Modern Warfare III last year.