Battlefield 2042 Review

"The Battlefield Expanded"

Multiplayer

December 6, 2021 at 6:51am
By Jason Stettner

This is the largest Battlefield experience that they’ve ever put together. It’s absolutely massive in terms of scale, not only in the bump to 128 players but also in the sense that the maps have never been so big. This particular entry does drop the single player stuff, but I never really cared much for it from this franchise anyways so it’s not a big deal to me.

Past that, I also don’t factor the campaign into the review as it’s not something that’s going to be part of this package and I review as is. The game is therefore split into three multiplayer modes. The first is the traditional combative experience on larger maps than we’ve ever seen prior. That includes Breakthrough where you push through objectives to win and Conquest where you battle to control the overall map.

These feature the full player counts and the seven massive maps to face off on. They’re varied locations, vast in scale and offer tons of replayability. The second portion of this offering is the Hazard Mode where players work in teams to battle against both other squads and the AI to capture areas and eliminate the opposing forces. The final aspect, and perhaps one of the most interesting for veterans is the Portal Mode.

This is an area where players are able to create their own unique setups or dive into the history of the Battlefield franchise. This is smaller in scale offering content from Bad Company 2, 1942 and 3. You can play the traditional modes such as Rush on Bad Company 2 or you can entirely mix it up. I’ve seen intensive hardcore focused modes, there’s been some zombies options and I can only imagine this growing over time as more features are made available to the community.

Gameplay

This really, to me feels like a purist form of Battlefield action. It’s got the right movement, style and design that could make this a top tier experience within this franchise. Maybe even the best one, but it’s been held back by numerous issues. I’ve seen many get patched as I’ve been playing, but it certainly is something to mention.

In the initial pre-week I had fifteen Xbox Series X console crashes and twelve dashboard crashes. The week after I had just two console crashes, and by this current time I haven’t faced any so that seems to be mostly ironed out. Keep in mind that I’ve been livestreaming the game often, so I can get a good time reference for these to be happening in. It does seem that with the recent updates that some maps now have some frame rates issues in spots for minor bits of time, and that is despite the fixes to the rubberbanding that happened in week two. Not the best situation, but looking forward I imagine it will be a smooth experience for those that start playing later on.

I was not happy with the issues needless to say. I do still think that this is quite technically impressive with a dynamic 4k resolution at 60fps with HDR support and then massive maps with large scale player sizes in play here. There’s the addition of random fun tornadoes that roll through and honestly they could have done more with that wild environmental aspect. Past that, the maps do look truly next gen in terms of scope and detail.

Breakaway, which is a map has some simply stunning glacial elements to it alongside massive scale that I’m not sure another game has provided. Then you get the mix that Renewal brings which is partial desert and then green space. The maps are great, I actually quite enjoy them and I think they offer large scale action. If you’re having issues running some distances, call in a vehicle or the robot dog called a Ranger which I do hope eventually gets a petting option.

There are a number of vehicles for you to use, but I do find they get destroyed fast due to the lack of distinct classes and everyone having rockets. There’s an alright selection of weapons, keeping in mind that portal has its share too. I don’t really care much for the Specialists, but they don’t really impact gameplay a whole lot to the point you kind of wonder why they’re even there.

The Conclusion

Battlefield 2042 had the potential to be the best entry in the series, but the numerous issues and poor state of launch severely undercut what can be a really fun time. I do genuinely enjoy playing this game, finding it to be easy going and fun action. This is a very hard review to do, one I wish I had put together earlier almost as I have to look at this as a work in progress almost which isn’t easy.

At the current point in time; which is as of writing this, the game does run fine. The main issues seem to have been ironed out and it’s mostly complaints here or there that one might have towards it. It does run fine, it offers the Battlefield you likely know and love. It’s not perfect by any means, and it’s frustrating as what they have here really does feel like a next gen offering compared to so many other titles that have come across as being held back.

It’s also again just such a weird review to do because the status of the game is constantly shifting. I do feel that long term this will ultimately live up to its potential. I like what they have going here and I just have a fun time playing it. I do wish they would power up the hovercraft again a bit though, they nerfed it rather intensely. There will be debates on class setups, and balancing but from a glance back it runs fine now while offering a range of content to battle in.

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Battlefield 2042 Review on Xbox Series X
Review Code Provided by 47

Rating Overall: 8.0