By returning to a near-future setting, Battlefield 2042 will please many fans, but aside from the tried and true, EA’s new shooter is not short on new ideas – but they don’t work together 100 percent. In fact, nothing in Battlefield 2042 is working 100 percent right now.
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Battlefield 2042: 3 games in 1
Back in the marketing campaign, EA and developer DICE always referred to the three modes “All-Out Warfare”, “Hazard Zone” and “Portal” as being separate parts of Battlefield 2042. As a matter of fact, these are three very different game experiences, and it’s their connection that leads to problems. Not only do all three modes share a lot of the game’s content, but they also share a progression system.
We were able to test the PC version on a high-end device for the review event, allowing the game to run at maximum graphics settings. This was the build that went live on November 12 for everyone with Early Access account. Nevertheless, all weapons and equipment were already unlocked.
“All-Out Warfare”: The classic Battlefield experience?
In addition to the larger maps and 128 players, one of the most prominent changes, at least on PC and next-gen, is the introduction of specialists. In Battlefield 2042, instead of classes, just like in previous games, there are individual characters that come with a special gadget and a unique trait. In exchange, weapons and other equipment are free to each specialist, so for example, you are not bound to assault rifles as a Medic and sniper rifles as a Sniper.
One of the major themes in Battlefield is, of course, “levolution”, which means small and large events that affect the battlefield. By now it’s more synonymous with map destructibility. For Battlefield 2042, these events are mainly natural disasters and the missile launch on Orbital. Incidentally, you won’t find collapsing skyscrapers in the new Battlefield.
As a matter of fact, the level of destruction is limited to fences and smaller obstacles, and some buildings on a few of the maps. There’s not even a tornado or sandstorm that lead to destruction, they obstruct the view and make your HUD fail.
You can expect the familiar Battlefield experience with “Conquest”, but with more players. Breakthrough mode is also based on a familiar concept, with an attacking team and a defending team. But flag points have to be conquered in the normal way. As a result, there is a large front line where the bulk of the players clash. All of the action makes for a lot of chaos, though.
So the classic Battlefield experience is not what it has become. Certain specialists clearly change how the game feels, and some of them don’t really work in All-Out Warfare. It also might cause problems with role allocation (and fulfillment) within squads. This is a problem that is also related to “Hazard Zone”.
“Hazard Zone”: A fresh idea, but who is it for?
Compared to the gigantic battles of “All-Out Warfare”, “Hazard Zone” is the opposite thesis. On the seven familiar maps, squads fight to salvage hard drives and then catch one of the two evacuation options. In return, you get credits, which you can then invest in weapons and equipment for the next round.
Besides the eight squads (six for PS4 and Xbox One), you also have AI opponents that want to make life difficult for you. But they don’t succeed that well, since they come from the same barracks as the stormtroopers from Star Wars. Nevertheless, there are a few credits for the kills, which you even get to keep, even if you screw up both evacuations.
This mode is quite fun with a squad that can communicate and work together (greetings to Squad 12, objectively the best squad of the review event). The special abilities and gadgets of the individual specialists are particularly effective here. During the fight for the final take-off from the map, your heart rate goes up and excitement and gaming fun arise.
However, long-term motivation could become a problem, since apart from credits there isn’t much to get, and that’s where another problem arises: skilled players will always be supplied with enough credits to have the best equipment. The rest will only have the free standard equipment and against good squads you won’t see any land with the stockless assault rifle.
“Portal: Nostalgic or a game kid?
Battlefield 2042’s bright spot is hidden behind “Portal”, which consists of two new maps from each of the games Battlefield 1942, Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3. Not only do the new maps look great, but the gameplay is also well executed in Battlefield 2042. There are a few sacrifices you have to make, for example the weapon attachments from part 3 and Bad Company 2 are missing, but for veteran fans in particular it will feel like coming home.
Actually, the most important part of “Portal” is the community experiences, all of which you’ll be able to create yourself. Time will tell what the creative minds out there will do with the settings and the visual script tool. However, a bit of a damper is the limitation to Free For All and Team Death Match modes when it comes to creating your own game experiences.
First up in custom creations created by the community were modes for farming experience points, whereupon DICE felt compelled to disable experience points for community experiences. A development that was definitely to be expected.
Graphics and performance
As mentioned, we played Battlefield 2042 on the maximum graphics settings, something we checked several times at the start of the game. Visually, what greeted us on the “All-Out Warfare” maps did not meet our expectations. Overall, everything looks dull and lacking in detail. While almost all textures are wonderfully sharp and there is also a lot of detail to be seen on weapons and vehicles, the maps themselves fall visually short of what the trailers promised.
Some participants complained about performance problems like frame drops or complete crashes at the review event. However, we were spared from all that, so it could be a few specific hardware problems.
Nevertheless, a few days after the Early Access launch, it became clear that there are performance problems on many systems. There are also difficulties on the side of EA and DICE. Connection failures were the order of the day in the first few days (the problem seems to have been largely solved), but there is also “rubberbanding” in the game.
Bugs, bugs and bugs
Right now, Battlefield 2042 is still dealing with significant bugs that have a strong negative impact on the gameplay experience. You often can’t revive team members if they are lying on a staircase and a part of them is too close to an object or a wall. Hovercrafts being able to drive up walls is also not a great technique from 2042, and several high-rise buildings don’t have collision detection and you are ticking your jet back and forth between buildings like a ping-pong ball.
While Battlefield 2042 offers three very different gameplay experiences, which provides a lot of variety, it also causes problems. For example, it is unclear whether “All-Out Warfare” and “Hazard Zone” do not appeal to too different types of players. The problem of the specialists is also related to this. They need to function in both modes and even run the risk of not doing well in either. The future of Portal also depends on the community and whether DICE has given them sufficient tools to create cool experiences in the long run.
“All-Out Warfare”
Battlefield 2042 was expected to be big and spectacular. But the giant maps, 128 players, and a new level of the popular “Levolution” feature are far short of expectations in our opinion. The huge maps simply lead to a lot of empty space, which is not good for anything. After all, why would you permanently stay 500 meters away from the next flag? You have no objective to conquer there and maybe an enemy who wonders what he’s doing here, just like you do.
The many red and blue dots are distributed quite well among the many flags on the map in “Conquest” mode. But if only one point is fought over in the “Breakthrough” mode, there is not only complete chaos, the attackers are often at a complete disadvantage.
When a flag is on a skyscraper, it is protected by 64 enemies. Whether you take the stairs, the elevator or a zipline, you will always be looking into runs of at least two squads and won’t stand a chance. Nevertheless, to defend the airspace, the enemy has enough people.
The grand weather effects are literally just effect thunderstorms. The impact of tornadoes and sandstorms on the gameplay is small. While the disasters do make a visual impact, we would trade them for real and homemade destruction on the map any day.
Battlefield 2042 Gameplay
While the specialists actually appeal to some, it is understandable that fans of the series don’t want a “hero shooter”. However, the abilities and gadgets do provide some variety and you really appreciate the fact that there is no limit to the weapons available to you.
Additionally, the Plus system, which allows to change the attachments during combat, is also quite successful and actually opens up notable customization possibilities to different game situations. That then attachments have identical effects on the weapon’s stats unfortunately makes their unlock redundant.
However, one gameplay decision that we can’t take any positives from is the strong “ADS bloom” on many weapons. This means that when aiming, weapons have a large radius around the crosshairs in which bullets randomly land. Consequently, if you’ve ever wondered how you were unable to hit a standing target even with a precision rifle after half a magazine, this is the answer.
“Hazard Zone”
If you have the right squad, “Hazard Zone” is a lot of fun, although I don’t think that solo and casual players will be interested in it for a long time. First, the lack of in-game voice chat makes it extremely difficult to interact with random squad members, and second, the advantage I see is too great with well-equipped squads.
This mode also has two other problems. While the AI enemies aren’t particularly difficult, they will get in the way if you want to secure hard drives. Some of them attack you already when you start the match. Therefore you have to fight and waste ammunition on the recurring bullet eaters. Once another squad attacks, you have a problem. You may have the spotter with you. If there was a voice chat, he could warn you.
Another problem is the armed vehicles, which are clearly too strong. Your best bet is an M5 missile, which gives you two out of four possible gadgets with the hard drive scanner, provided you can pay for the anti-vehicle weapons. “Hazard Zone” may well find its fans with balancing and a few more features that motivate for a longer time and provide more variety.
“Portal”
The recreations of the maps from the three older games are one of Battlefield 2042’s great strengths, and this is also a big problem. When one of the best things about a game is the included remakes of three predecessors, there’s definitely something wrong with the new game.
Despite a few restrictions, even a soon-to-be 20-year-old map like Battle in the Bulge is unbelievably fun. DICE would make a lot of fans happy, if they continued to expand this section of Portal. The nostalgia factor works quite fantastically. “Portal” will only reveal its full potential in the coming weeks and months, as the community gets everything out of the editor.
Overall conclusion
Battlefield 2042 may have laid a solid foundation in all three gaming experiences, but at this stage it represents an immature game. “All-Out Warfare” in particular is far behind expectations, as well as what the trailers suggested it would be. DICE still has to put a lot of work into its new Battlefield and primarily take care of the many bugs that significantly limit the game.
Additionally, Battflefield has totally lost touch with its own size and it’s this gigantism that holds the game back. Battlefield 2042, for us, just wasn’t quite ready for release this year. Luckily, “Hazard Zone” and “Portal” offer gameplay experiences that are thoroughly enjoyable.
Battlefield 2042 Score
6.5/10
“Battlefield 2042 is in large parts immature and is supported currently by the fresh idea “Hazard Zone” and the nostalgia-fest “Portal”. Bugs and problems with performance prevent any attempt at all to get close to “All-Out Warfare”. At the very least, the potential for a better game is there.”
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