Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the most recent entry in the Call of Duty franchise and is the eighth mainline entry in the series developed by Treyarch and Raven Software. It is a direct sequel to 2020’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and takes many narrative and mechanical cues from that game. One of the major design cues Black Ops 6 attempts to lift from Cold War is implementing the player character, but the results are starkly different.
Spoilers ahead for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
In Cold War, the player takes the role of an agent codenamed Bell. Mechanically, Bell acts as an insert for the player, as they have a customisable name, appearance, gender identity, psychiatric profile, and dialogue. Narratively, Bell also plays a significant role in the story. From the start, Bell is hyped up to be an important tool in tracking down the main antagonist, Perseus.
Over the course of the story, Bell assists in several operations that lead the heroes to discover Perseus’s plan, with Bell themselves being the one to uncover the evidence. During the second act’s low point, it is revealed that Bell was so important because they used to work for Perseus and that the CIA had brainwashed Bell into working for them instead. The player can then choose whether or not to side with the supposed good guys or with Perseus.
Bell’s role is tied directly to the story, and by proxy, so is the player. This strengthens player immersion, which empowers the player with a sense of agency. Since the story relies on Bell, and the player can take on the role, the story then relies on the player. This makes it more meaningful when the player is put into situations in which their choices could have a real impact, such as dialogue trees deciding the fates of certain characters, having to choose between saving two colleagues, and choosing how the story ends.
Then, there’s Case, the player character of Black Ops 6. Case is not customizable, having a set identity and name, William “Case” Calderon. His introduction is built up dramatically, but once you step into the character’s shoes, there’s almost nothing of note. Case is exceptionally skilled at what he does, but that’s not a unique trait. Every Call of Duty protagonist since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has been an extremely skilled warrior. Even the other characters in Black Ops 6 are just as effective, if not more so, as Case.
It would be fine if Case had more going on with his character, but sadly, the depth the writers attempt to give him falls completely flat. About halfway through the campaign, it is revealed that Case has been experimented on with a bio-weapon by the villain faction, the Pantheon. More information is revealed throughout the mission, including the identity of the twist villain. Still, none of these revelations have anything to do with Case, past the fact that he was present during the inciting events and worked in the same squad as the villain.
Case does not express how he feels about his past, nor does he show how it affected him aside from the few instances where he ingests the bio-weapon. As for his relationship with said antagonist, there are only two instances in which they’re on screen together before the revelation, and Case gives no information regarding how he feels outside of a single surface-level interaction at the end of the story.
The worst part about Case is that if he were to be replaced by another character, almost nothing about the story would change. In fact, the story would be improved. For instance, take the deuteragonist, Marshall. He’s by Case’s side the entire story, and is essentially leading the operation as the whole. He takes the initiative to investigate the circumstances behind the disavowing of former agent Russell Adler and, by proxy, the Pantheon’s plans. The most crucial detail, however, is that Marshall was close personal friends with the twist villain.
Playing from Marshall’s perspective would not only have the player taking the most initiative in the story, but it would also give them time to form a connection with the twist villain, making it more impactful when they’re revealed to be behind the Pantheon’s upcoming terror attack, rather than the side note it comes across as in the actual story.
To more directly compare these two characters, Bell from Cold War is integral to the plot. They are introduced as such, and it’s later revealed that the reason Bell is capable of stopping Perseus is that they were essentially his right hand and were brainwashed to join the CIA. Bell then chooses whether or not to save the world from Perseus or get revenge on the ones who brainwashed them.
On the other hand, Case is a highly skilled operative who was experimented on with a bio-weapon and manages to use said weapon to kill the antagonist. Bell not only has a much stronger tie to the story, but a stronger sense of immersion, as their actions dictate the way the story goes. These elements are hardly present in Case, adversely affecting the player character as a whole. Given his implementation, it was clear that the developers were attempting to replicate Bell from the previous game, but they never gave Case what made Bell work so well.
It may seem a bit strange to focus so much on the narrative of a game that, despite its roots, is a mainly multiplayer-focused experience. Call of Duty as a franchise has been gameplay-first for nearly a decade, and that focus led to huge innovations for engaging and realistic gunplay. Not to mention, the last games to have a significant focus on the campaigns were critical failures, but regardless, campaigns being subpar shouldn’t be normalized.
While this franchise has seen success from a gameplay-first development mindset, it’s crucial to think about how iconic previous titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops were, since they managed to strike a balance between good multiplayer and a memorable campaign.
It’s also worth noting that those aforementioned games were standalone titles for the most part. While they were both sequels, they had stories that actively built upon the previous installments with new characters, and engaging narratives and plot threads. If Call of Duty is ever to reach the level of acclaim it once had, then the developers need to take time, or be given the time, to focus on every aspect rather than just on multiplayer, leaving the spectre of character development hanging.
