Battlefield 2042 Review: Mixed Warfare
Reviewed on PlayStation 5 . Special thanks to EA for providing a review code!
Ten years ago marked my first foray into the Battlefield franchise with the release of Battlefield 3. It was a bombastic revolution for the franchise which brought its squad based, objective focused gameplay to new heights and one I fondly look back on as I remember the countless hours spent on Noshahr Canals TDM progressing through the Colonel ranks.
Fast forward to today and Battlefield has been my go-to multiplayer shooter ever since, all due to its all-out warfare experience like none other brought to life through its tight arcade gunplay, destructible environments, crisp audio design, intense soundtrack, and team-based gameplay. That, and I’ve also been quite good at it (*reminisces on my 2.04 KD in Battlefield 1*).
Fair to say I’m a ‘seasoned vet’ of the franchise at this point, watching as it experienced a turbulent Battlefield 4 launch, a colossal revival with Battlefield 1 and DICE’s bizarre take on WWII with Battlefield V. Regardless of all this, hearing Battlefield would once again go into the (semi)modern military era again, with larger sandbox worlds and a doubled player count of 128 ‘built for next gen’ has had me extremely excited, especially after the success of 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot, even if a portion of the excitement has been pessimistic after this years’ Need for Speed was delayed in favour of it.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve sunk over 50 hours across the various modes Battlefield 2042 has to offer, and while the game has been a ton of fun to play with moments of hilarious and dumb Battlefield fun, it’s also left me feeling quite underwhelmed and concerned about DICE’s approach to making the “next generation” of Battlefield.
All-Out Mehfare
Battlefield 2042 fast-forwards twenty years into the near future, where the world has been ravished by increased climate change and political warfare as governments fight over scarce resources, grounding players in a scarily realistic depiction of modern warfare.
Players will fight across 7 unique maps across the globe, from the dusty dunes of a Qatar cityscape to an ever-melting mining facility in Antarctica, each built specifically with the capability of next-gen hardware in mind - boasting a doubled player count of 128 in extremely large open Battlefield playgrounds.
The world of Battlefield 2042 features some incredible lore and story-telling potential, which sadly isn’t capitalized on in a meaningful way. While loading into maps give a brief albeit forgettable explanation as to why players will be fighting in that location, not much about this world and its new Specialist characters is communicated to players, which is a huge, wasted opportunity to tell such grounded, visceral stories in this brutal future DICE have crafted.
Creating these much larger maps also comes at a cost, primarily in terms of performance but also enjoyment. While ambitious, it never seems to feel like ‘All Out Warfare’, even with 128 players due to the increased number of sectors around a map. Areas will either feel barren with a huge slog to get from one sector to the next, while others will be packed with players filled with fun, action-packed moments. In Conquest at least, it never feels like there’s a solid flow of action no matter where you are, which could be addressed in later maps making slightly smaller maps but with the 128-playercount and smaller POI’s in between areas.
While increasing the scope of maps, DICE have also made some big changes to its long-running series staple – the class system – in favour of ‘Specialists’, operators with unique abilities that can pick from any weapon or gadget freely. While in concept Specialists sound cool, in its current state they completely dismantle the ‘teamplay’ aspect Battlefield is known for. Players can freely run whatever they like, making it harder to distinguish if a player is a medic that can revive or is playing support and can resupply ammo, giving lone wolfers even less of a reason to interact with the team than ever.
Despite all these issues, Battlefield 2042 features some great gunplay which makes it addicting to come back for more, even if aiming needs a lot of work on controller to make gunfights feel solid and reliable. The all-new ‘Plus’ System mechanic is a welcome addition, allowing you to switch out attachments on the fly should you need to convert a weapon from close-range to long-range depending on your engagements, albeit the method for setting up your attachments needs some work. Progression also feels great too, rewarding multiple tiers of mastery for each gun, gadget, and specialist you use in-game, with a player card system to show off your dedication to flex on others.
Highway to the Danger Zone
In the lead up to release, Battlefield 2042’s mysterious ‘Hazard Zone’ mode was one of the game modes I was most intrigued by, with rumours of an Escape from Tarkov style mode in a Battlefield setting sounded extremely promising. Unfortunately, the final product feels not only lacklustre but one that doesn’t feel like it holds any identity.
Players will enter one of the 7 maps from the base game with a squad to hunt down Data drives and escape, all the while fighting against AI enemies and other players. This mode lets the Specialist system shine a little, with players restricted to only picking a specialist once more emphasis is placed on which characters and their abilities will serve best in ensuring your squads survival. Successfully extract with your squad and you’ll earn currency to equip better items for your next game, fail however and you’ll be restricted to cheaper items.
There’s a solid Risk/Reward element placed on this mode, which when in a good squad can feel super intense and thrilling to play, though it doesn’t quite feel the same as highstakes as Escape from Tarkov, Hunt Showdown or something like Need for Speed Heat’s Night mode. Players with high extraction numbers will destroy newer players from the difference in equipment the newer and experienced players will have, making it unenjoyable for new players to want to play.
It doesn’t feel rewarding to play this mode either, with no unique rewards for playing the mode begging the question as to why play it to begin with? Hopefully future updates and seasons sees a big meta change to the mode, but as it stands with an already dwindling playerbase as matches struggle to find players, this mode seems put out to die much quicker than Firestorm.
Portal of Nostalgia
Saving the best for last is Battlefield Portal – a unique Battlefield creator tool that gives the players the tools to craft their own unique experiences, with one of the major selling points to the mode being the wealth of new and remastered content on offer which quite frankly trumps the main modes by a Caspian mile.
Battlefield Portal features not only all the content from the main game, such as maps, weapons, and gadgets, but features a slither of content from fan-favourites such as Battlefield 3, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 1942 – all fully customizable in extremely unique ways to create something truly special. Want to play TDM on the 2042 maps? You can. Want to play as BF3 soldiers with 2042 weapons against WW2 soldiers with BFBC2 weapons? You can. Want to create a Battle Royale style mode on Caspian Border? I mean, you probably could! I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve had being able to relive Noshahr Canals TDM again, or to play through Rush on Arica Harbour, all with the same classic movement as the originals. Its an absolute blast and something that almost justifies buying the game for this aspect alone.
Battlefield Portal has featured playlists that show off some of the communities best custom experiences, as well as a server browser to find anything and everything, alongside a dedicated playlists for each of the three games playing exactly as they did in the past. Its something I sure hope developer Ripple Effect can continue to highlight and bring attention to more unknown yet unique experiences to get people playing, especially with the rise of farming method servers clogging the browser hiding all the hidden gems.
Progression is also available in Battlefield Portal, meaning if you don’t enjoy playing the standard All Out Warfare mode, you can still play in Portal and level up your rank, weapons, gadgets and specialists all the same. However, the one caveat to this is XP gains are limited to a certain amount per day, which is a bizarre method of gatekeeping that essentially forces you to play the main modes despite not wanting to. Its something I really hope the teams can address, as in its current state, I’d much rather play the smaller and more nostalgic modes than the ones the game has been designed for.
Conclusion
Battlefield 2042 is quite the mixed entry in one of my favourite shooter franchises, one I eagerly hoping wouldn’t be the case after such a long cycle between releases, and even more so, the delay of this years Need for Speed game from Criterion in favour of more hands-on deck to ship this game.
Despite all its issues, underneath lies a great game that with a few additional months of polish, could have resulted in a much better game. Its addictive and fun to play, but you can only endure so many loadout resets after a match, revive glitches, unfair hit registration or trekking miles for minutes on end into a zone without combat that it gets too much.
I really hope DICE turn Battlefield 2042 around, which from their current update rollouts I’m sure they will, because when its firing on all cylinders, Battlefield 2042 is an absolute blast, and with enough updates and fixes could eventually go down as one of the best in the series. But its problematic design choices, lack of series-staple features from previous titles and myriad of bugs hinder it from achieving this, which is an extreme let down to fans of the franchise after already enduring a three year wait after another mixed Battlefield title.