Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 'Omnimovement' is a hit because controller aim assist got a huge nerf this year
It speaks to Call of Duty's sameness year-over-year that one of the most exciting additions to Black Ops 6 is running sideways. That's one selling point of Omnimovement: Activison's branded name for the ability to sprint, slide, and dive in any direction. Players are pouncing on enhanced mobility by doing cool Max Payne dives off second floor balconies (minus bullet time)—good fun that usually gets you killed—and I'm pleased to report the feature has won over this skeptical CoD veteran.
That said, the reason Omnivmovement is working out so well isn't visible on the surface. When Treyarch revealed the feature in June, I was worried more mobility would only further empower the tiresome "movement king" playstyle—bunnyhopping and slide-canceling around every corner—that Modern Warfare 3 (2023) leaned into.
There's a degree of that going on in Black Ops 6 with excessive sliding, but I'm also having an easier time playing around that behavior than last year, and now I know why. As YouTuber TheXclusiveAce recently demonstrated, controller aim assist got a huge nerf in Black Ops 6. Specifically, rotational aim assist (which helps track enemies while you're also moving) is significantly weaker at close range than any modern CoD. It's the sort of change that you can feel, but can't really put your finger on until you see a direct comparison.
Nerfing aim assist at close range is a particularly huge deal for CoD's balance, because historically, that's the distance where the assist does the heaviest lifting. As long as you keep one thumb on the left stick, your camera will consistently keep nearby targets at the center of your view long enough to get a kill. Since not even most mouse players are that good at tracking targets who are only in view for a fraction of a second, there's a perception that controllers have too big of an advantage in the most common CoD scenarios.
Now that advantage has been sliced in half, and it's already showing trickle-down effects. Dialed-down aim assist pairs nicely with Black Ops 6's mobility. Sliding or diving into a fight to throw off the other team's aim is a more viable strategy when AA isn't compensating for movement as much as it used to. TheXclusiveAce's testing is consistent with my experiences against controller players this past week: getting up close and personal isn't as dangerous as it used to be, and the killcams I stick around to watch aren't making me grumble to myself as often. I (a mouse player) have a better shot against controllers in those common "headbutt" encounters where we smack into each other and scramble to shoot first.
The same goes for less flashy tactics too—I'm noticing that shaking up my movement patterns in small ways is allowing me to "dodge" bullets like never before in CoD. When I get lit up for 90% of my HP after running through a doorway, I actually have a decent chance of getting out of danger by throwing my legs into reverse or shuffling around at sprinting speed. Black Ops 6 is faster than Modern Warfare 3, but its movement mechanics are more intentional, and crucially, don't give me the impression that I have to learn cheesy techniques to compete.
The availability of directional change and momentum conservation in Black Ops 6 inches Call of Duty closer to, dare I say, a classic PC arena shooter. Qualms with Treyarch's gun designs aside, this is the best that 6v6 CoD has played on a mouse and keyboard maybe ever. But the upsides of weaker aim assist aren't platform exclusive: All of Call of Duty benefits when fights are scrappier and have more than one possible ending.