What you need to know
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 features a new Omnimovement system that allows players to sprint, drive, and move in any direction.
- The new system is designed to make the game feel faster and more fluid.
- Some are hopeful that the introduction of Omnimovement may widen the skill gap in competitive play.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 also has new accessibility features that help with in-game movement.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is only weeks away from launching. The game had the most successful open beta ever, including top marks in total players, hours played, playtime per player, and matches played. Ahead of the launch of Black Ops 6, our Cole Martin spoke with the development team from Treyarch Studios. One of the most intriguing topics discussed was Omnimovement, which will likely mark a major shift in competitive play.
Omnimovement is a key differentiator between Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and other entries from the franchise. Since competitive play in Call of Duty is so popular, people spend hours mastering their craft and finding ways to squeeze optimal movement and maneuvers from games. One exploit that was utilized in previous titles was “slide canceling,” which required players to hit the crouch button to stop a slide. The maneuver resets the tactical sprint feature, effectively giving players the ability to tactically sprint infinitely.
Slide canceling took significant skill to pull off, which created a skill gap in competitive play. “Movement kings” could become almost impossible to hit by stringing together multiple slide cancels. The makers of Call of Duty removed slide canceling in the jump from Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera to Warzone 2.0 but then the exploit returned in Modern Warfare 3.
With the introduction of Omnimovement in Black Ops 6, players no longer need to slide cancel.
“This upcoming entry drops the need to slide cancel by giving players the option to put away their firearms in exchange for a melee weapon and unlimited tac sprint,” explained Martin. “The payoff keeps players feeling like they’re never being forced to slow down, especially when coupled with the new automatic sprint option in the settings, and we see a community waxing poetic about how fluid and fast Black Ops 6 “feels.””
At the Call of Duty: Next event, Martin heard some players hoping that Omnimovement would widen the skill gap, but she had a different perspective of the new system. “I tend to be of a different mentality, however. I think the combination of new accessibility features, an “omnimovement training course,” and the limitations of the movement itself will lend to a smaller skill gap and overall improved player experience,’ said Martin.
She explained that with Omnimovement, “everybody can be a movement king” and that “movement potential is no longer gate-kept by those simply more willing to utilize an exploit.”
