STACK #240 October 2024

GAMING FEATURE

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In early promotion for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 , Activision created a website called The Truth Lies, which included vision of defaced landmarks such as Mount Rushmore amongst fictionalised news clips. It has since been rechristened The Truth Dies, at thetruthdies.com, teasing the Zombies component of the game. THE TRUTH…

This year Call of Duty celebrates its 21st with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 .We had a quick chat with Miles Leslie, associate creative director on the game at developer Treyarch, to learn a little more about what’s in store. Words Amy Flower

well beyond day one. While I can’t reveal too much, I can say that we have some amazing content including new weapons, maps, characters, and events to engage with. Stay tuned for some fun surprises! What would be your personal top tip for any aspiring Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer stars?

Happy 21st birthday to Call of Duty! How do you go about keeping the franchise – and the FPS genre generally – fresh every year? The team enjoys the challenge of maintaining Call of Duty’s best-in-class gameplay and constantly innovating with our weapons, movement, and flow of combat. We ensure these core elements remain intact, while finding creative ways to add new features. For example, omnimovement in Black Ops 6 enhances the core experience by offering players new ways to express their style and skill. Additionally, each game is set in a unique era with distinct stories and characters. While we maintain certain connections, we strive to bring something fresh with each new setting, era, and overall game story. Looking forward to many more years! With the single player campaign set during the early 1990s, Black Ops 6 once again melds fact with fiction. What sort of challenges do you face when including real world people and events? We aim to create a fun, entertaining experience for our fans, not to replicate real life. Black Ops has always blended fact and fiction to ground our game world and make it feel plausible, adding credibility and immersion. The challenge we face each time is ensuring we’re sensitive to the real world while delivering an enjoyable experience. We never set out to make a game that purposely touches on sensitive real-world topics. You’ve changed up the super-popular Zombies this year as the Dark Aether story continues.What’s new as we take on the undead? We’re always looking to push the envelope in Zombies while staying true to the core formula that players have loved since 2008. In Black Ops 6 , we’re delivering plenty of new features and quality-of-life upgrades for the first time in Black

After unlocking all your content through normal progression to Level 55, take the time to really assess your playstyle – how do you have fun playing? Are you a rusher, a slayer, or do you focus on objectives? Black Ops 6 has many ways to build your loadout to match your unique playstyle, from the new Perk

Black Ops 6 has undergone the longest development cycle of any Call of Duty game, taking four years. DYK?

Ops Zombies , including the ability to save and quit in solo matches, apply multiple HUD presets, play in third person perspective, create Zombies

specific weapon builds, share the cost of unlocking doors with teammates, and see new game over outros based on the type of zombie that took you down. We’re also very excited about the debut of Directed Mode, which is something new we’re building to grow the community. Later in the season after a map’s launch, this mode will offer a guided experience through the steps of the main quest, with rounds capped to certain steps and all other Easter eggs disabled. It’s a great way for newcomers to experience the epic story of Zombies and encourage their friends to try the mode for the first time. What surprises do you have in-store for multiplayer fans this year? The team has been working hard to ensure we deliver the biggest possible launch for the return of Black Ops and to keep players excited

Combat Specialty system to new weapons, attachments, Scorestreaks, and even the HUD presets. Explore them all to craft loadouts that enhance how you approach each match and mode. Additionally, I’d recommend spending time learning how to best use omnimovement to fit your playstyle. There are lots of awesome ways to use it to navigate the maps and outsmart enemies, and not all of it has to be diving around every corner (which you can absolutely do if you want!). You can go to the training course to practice if you’re struggling with mastering omnimovement, and try out the new intelligent movement settings to tailor the controls for automatically sprinting, crouching, and mantling to your liking.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is out Oct 25

10 OCTOBER 2024

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