When you think of the core pillars of any multiplayer FPS game, movement is right up there as one of the essentials. Call of Duty has tried many things over the years, and its next attempt to find the sweet spot will be with Omnimovement, a new system that lets you sprint, dive, and prone in any direction in the upcoming Black Ops 6. Not everyone’s sold on it yet, though, and for those that are sceptical, we’ve got some bad news for you: you won’t be able to turn it off in any of BO6’s core experiences.
I personally think it looks pretty cool and will make for some epic moments in the FPS game. The backwards diving, sprint strafing, and supine prone shooting you can achieve with Omnimovement will make for some epic, action-movie-style moments (especially in Black Ops 6’s inevitably flashy campaign). However, there are understandably some that are less keen. Some COD traditionalists don’t want to start creeping back towards the mid 2010s era of the series, where advanced movement was such a core focus. On top of that, there are already a few early concerns from more casual fans that the rapid changes of direction in Omnimovement are going to be difficult to counter and will be the next ‘sweaty’ mechanic that players will abuse.
Since its big reveal earlier in the year, these groups of players have questioned whether Black Ops 6 Omnimovement will affect every aspect of the game, and whether it could be turned off. Well, thanks to the first episode of the official ‘CoD Pod’ podcast, we now know that you’ll be locked in to Omnimovement across the campaign, Zombies, and multiplayer.
“Omnimovement is a core foundational mechanic of the game [and] you cannot turn it off,” Stephanie Snowden, Call of Duty’s senior director of studio communications, confirms.
However, there’s another layer to Black Ops 6’s movement that can be turned off, and that’s Intelligent Movement. This is a suite of customizable settings that you can tinker with that will allow you to do things like mantle and sprint without having to press another key. Auto-sprint, auto-mantle, and other similar assists already exist in COD, but Black Ops 6 has reworked them to be more tuneable and work more intelligently with the dynamic Omnimovement system.
We also now know that the multiplayer Black Ops 6 beta dates have been set for late August and early September, so that will give players a first chance to get to grips with Omnimovement. I’m really interested to see how well-received this new mechanic is, and whether it will frustrate less-experienced players and traditionalists or be something that they embrace.
For more excellent shooters you don’t have to wait to play, you’ll find plenty of recommendations in our best multiplayer games and best cross platform games guides.
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