A Return to Form Driven by Multiplayer Innovation
After much anticipation, Battlefield 6 has finally released.
Let’s start with the campaign. Now I know it’s a Battlefield game and the common joke is no one plays Battlefield for the single player mode, but it is part of the game and well worth talking about.
Fast Pace, Flawed Narrative
And it’s a fairly brief thing to talk about too, as the campaign can be completed in about five hours of normal difficulty. There are nine missions in total, and they bring you to many locales, and put you in the boots of several different soldiers.
This includes fighting through the streets of New York, driving tanks through Egypt, and destroying SAM sites at the foot of a dam. Except for one mission, they are all linear affairs and I actually am grateful for that. There are no shoehorned RPG elements like crafting and having to select dialogues to give an illusion of choice, and instead, the campaign of Battlefield 6 is just good old-fashioned FPS fun.
Unfortunately, the story itself is a bit rushed. There are several missions that try to create an emotional moment, with several named characters dying throughout the campaign. The issue is that none of these characters are given enough screen time to make the player actually care about them. Which is a shame because these emotional scenes are well-crafted. It’s just that the breakneck pace of the story delivery makes them fall short.
The only bugs I encountered during the campaign were some audio sync issues during cutscenes. But again, the story pacing alone made it hard to become invested, and even when the cutscenes had this bug, it ultimately didn’t bother me.
All that said though, based on the achievement unlock percentage, just over a third of players have completed the campaign’s prologue and that percentage drops rapidly looking at following missions. I don’t blame the developers for not dedicating a massive amount of time to a segment that most players won’t even look at, but it’s a shame because there is untapped potential here. In fact, if I was ranking just the campaign of Battlefield 6, it would sit at a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
The Multiplayer Revamp: Returning to Class Warfare
Moving on to the multiplayer, things are quite a bit different.
First off, the class system has been included in the game at launch this time, which is a great sign for older fans of the series. Gone is the divisive specialist system that drew the ire of many players. However, despite this, Battlefield 6 has gone with open weapon loadouts, which means any class can use any weapons. I don’t necessarily mind this but I do wish that some weapons, like snipers, would be restricted to specific classes. This would prevent the risk of any “meta” builds, as well as ensure some weapon diversity in every firefight. After all, Battlefield is built around teamwork and filling different roles, so having some amount of actual specialization is appreciated.
There are class specific perks and certain weapons get bonuses based on the chosen class, so effort has been made to encourage certain play styles. And of course the unique abilities can’t be swapped over. Assault is focused on frontline combat with abilities that improve individual survivability. The Engineer is vehicle centred, complete with heavy explosives to destroy hostile vehicles, and a repair tool to keep friendly vehicles alive. Support is the medic class which offers resupplies and can instantly revive allies with their defibrillator. And lastly Recon works as the sniper class, which has a focus on being able to auto-spot enemies and deploy UAV.
The choice to make weapons open, I think, most unfairly affects the Recon class, and I’d actually prefer it if they had locked off snipers to that specific class. But it hasn’t shown to be a major issue in the games I have played, and there are closed playlist options for Battlefield purists who are looking for a more traditional experience.
Drag. Revive
The overall gameplay though is what one would expect of a Battlefield game, but the addition of one simple mechanic ensures the game is incredibly fun. The drag-n-revive mechanic allows players to grab allies in their squad and drag them as they work to revive them. It feels like the simplest feature but this addition makes combat feel much more cinematic. Dragging your friend away from explosions as bullets fly overhead and tanks roll past is one of the best feelings in any shooter of recent memory.
There is also a deployable ladder perk which allows squads to create new pathways to upper floors. This pairs great with the return of destructive environments. Buildings can be blown apart by heavy explosives and vehicles, and some maps feature destructible objects that slightly modify small zones of the map. Maps are also massive, allowing for all out land and air combat, but they can also be focused down for close quarter combat based on the game mode.
Rush, Escalation, and Breakthrough
Players that participated in the Beta were only shown a few maps and most of those had their scope limited significantly, so it’s great to see that the full game has more of the variety and scale that is expected of a Battlefield game.
Further, the different game modes are also incredibly enjoyable to partake in. Rush is a great option for close quarters combat while teams attack and defend bomb sites, whilst Escalation on the other hand is ripe for massive all-out warfare with constant vehicle spawns and more spread out combat encounters. Breakthrough is a large scale combat mode as well, which has vehicle spawns but not at the same frequency as the Escalation game mode; a good middle-ground of the two.
Server Stability and Portal Builder
And server stability so far has been pretty good. It’s not been perfect, but besides launch day there haven’t been major queues to get into the game. Playing with friends, there have been some minor issues with a single person not queuing into the game with the rest of the group. This leads to them needing to rejoin and then queue to join the active game, which is a bit frustrating, but it’s manageable.
Another new feature is the Battlefield 6 Portal builder, which allows players to create custom experiences. Unfortunately, this needs to be accessed on a separate device like a phone or computer, and new modes can’t be created on console. Modes created by other players can be accessed and hosted on console, but the only way to create them is with a separate device. I do not like when games make you go off platform to access a feature, and I don’t think that’s an uncommon opinion. I’m glad it exists, but I wish the integration for the console was a bit smoother.
Back in the Fight
As a whole, Battlefield 6 is an immensely enjoyable game, especially when playing with friends. Yes, the campaign feels a bit rushed, but the multiplayer more than makes up for it, with superb new mechanics, a good range of maps and modes, and the joy of destructible environments. With a road map promising more content down the line, we hope for some bug fixes and server stability patches to correct the minor issues that are there.
But even if things stay as they are, Battlefield 6 has shown that the franchise still has life in it. Let’s just hope they continue to listen to community feedback and build the momentum.
Important Links
The Next Chapter in the Iconic Saga Arrives – Battlefield 6 – https://www.thexboxhub.com/the-next-chapter-in-the-iconic-saga-arrives-battlefield-6/
Battlefield 6 Unleashes All-Out Warfare This October – New Campaign, Massive Multiplayer, and August Open Beta – https://www.thexboxhub.com/battlefield-6-unleashes-all-out-warfare-this-october-new-campaign-massive-multiplayer-and-august-open-beta/
Free Battlefield Battle Royale? REDSEC Launches Alongside Battlefield 6 Season 1 – https://www.thexboxhub.com/free-battlefield-battle-royale-redsec-launches-alongside-battlefield-6-season-1/
Buy Battlefield 6 from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/battlefield-6/9P2FF14JZLL3/0010
Grab the Phantom Edition – http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/battlefield-6-phantom-edition/9P4BB02MWDZK/0010
