Call of Duty has, historically, had some trouble reinventing its own wheel. While the franchise has seemingly managed to pull itself by its military bootstraps with the reinvented Modern Warfare sub-series, one could've argued that there was still something missing from the equation. Enter Black Ops 6's phenomenally exciting Omnimovement mechanic.

Omnimovement is, interestingly enough, the flashiest a Call of Duty game has ever looked in motion. This includes the wall-running and jetpacking entries too, yes. That's because, instead of going off the deep end with science fiction gadgetry, the goal for Black Ops 6 is to make every step you take in the game smooth, cool, and satisfying. Omnimovement achieves this goal, and then some. Let us explain!

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What is Omnimovement in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6?

First things first, you're going to want to watch the five-minute section on Black Ops 6's Omnimovement system featured above. We've included an appropriate timestamp for your viewing pleasure, too! Go on, check it out. We'll wait.

With that out of the way, the whole thing should be more sensible: Omnimovement is a conglomeration of mobility systems that allow you to move with ultimate freedom. In Black Ops 6, transitioning from dodging to prone firing is smooth as butter, with the ability to sprint, dodge, change stance, and clamber in any direction. Fascinating, right?

Combine this with Black Ops 6's several assistance settings that have been compared to the modern racing games' driving assists and you get what is, in essence, the most user-friendly and satisfying Call of Duty combat loop we've ever had, bar none.

Really, it's difficult to overstate just how good it feels to be able to pull off any action you feel is necessary to win a gunfight at any point in time. Have you just leapt through a window into a group of foes? Fire away at them mid-air. Had to slide under a table to escape an enemy's cone of vision, only to get shot at from behind? Spin around and return fire. The options are limitless, and they are all at your disposal at any point in time, thanks to Omnimovement.

Is Omnimovement optional?

Even though the video featured above does show off some comparisons of how Black Ops 6 plays with and without Omnimovement enabled, it's important to note that it is, in fact, not optional. Omnimovement is going to be a fully integrated system that we interact with in Black Ops 6's campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies modes with no ability to turn it off.

Instead, the footage of Omnimovement being turned off is simply there for illustrative purposes: we get to see how janky and unnatural the game looks when the system isn't enabled, and it's really easy to see why Treyarch would be so insistent on pushing it live.

With Omnimovement enabled, a character's actions flow into one another flawlessly, with minimum breaks in animation and physics. Not only do you get to feel more free and empowered than ever before while playing a Call of Duty game, but any given Multiplayer and co-op match will also look way snazzier and more dynamic. Nice!

The one movement feature excluded from Omnimovement is Tac Sprint: it only really makes sense to be able to Tac Sprint (or super sprint) forward, after all.

Omnimovement vs Intelligent Movement in Black Ops 6

Now, it's important to note that there is a set of optional movement assists in place on top of Omnimovement in Black Ops 6: Intelligent Movement. Intelligent Movement is an all-new term used for the aforementioned mobility assists that Treyarch developers have compared to, say, Forza's auto-shifter, ABS, and cruise control.

Intelligent Movement consists of three different features you'll be able to experiment with to see which ones you want on or off:

The goal for InMovement is to allow players to  fine-tune the specific annoyances they may or may not have about the game's mobility. To that end, Mantle Assist will for example allow you to tweak exactly how Omnimovement's mantling functions: it can be automatic, sideways, backwards, only while pulling off a Tactical Sprint, and more. It can even work as a reload cancel!

Most of these options are fairly self-explanatory, granted. Corner Slicing is the really interesting bit, as it's something we hadn't seen before in a modern Call of Duty game. It's going to be familiar to those who've played Starfield, though: Corner Slicing allows your operator to gradually angle their firearm as they approach the edge of an obstacle. Importantly, this does not cause the operator to lean out more or less: it's a purely cosmetic feature that may or may not help you more properly aim your shots around challenging obstacles.

Is Omnimovement enough to draw us back into Call of Duty: Black Ops 6?

If we're being entirely honest, it's not hard to see that Omnimovement is just the latest in a long line of attempts at modernizing and making Call of Duty's movement more interesting and engaging. Squint a bit, and you'll see signs of Black Ops 3 and Advanced Warfare's own, comparatively limited takes on the same subject.

For what it's worth, we did like what Activision's studios did with movement at the time, though it might've pushed a bit too far into the extreme direction for the sensibilities of the time. Black Ops 6 is, instead, a true spooks-on-the-ground type of thing. Combine the improved animations and gamefeel with the fact that there aren't any jetpacks this time around, and you get something that's bound to be way more popular with players.

We'll have to wait and see what to make of Omnimovement when Black Ops 6 launches, of course. Set and primed to hit the stores on October 25, it's not a long wait now. Stay tuned!

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Call of Duty has, historically, had some trouble reinventing its own wheel. While the franchise has seemingly managed to pull itself by its military bootstraps with the reinvented Modern Warfare sub-series, one could’ve argued that there was still something missing from the equation. Enter Black Ops 6’s phenomenally exciting Omnimovement mechanic. Omnimovement is, interestingly enough, […]