Developer: EA Digital Illusions CE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
Battlefield 2042 – Review
It’s hard to imagine that the Battlefield series has been around since 2002, making the series nearly twenty years old. This franchise has been somewhat of a competitor of the Call of Duty series, even though both franchises have distinct differences in how they present themselves, and more importantly, how they both play. CoD is a bit more arcade and fast-paced, compared to the Battlefield games, which often play out on bigger maps with a lot more people. Not every entry in the franchise has been well-received, and sadly Battlefield 2042 is one of them. That being said, during our review several patches were released, clearly showing that the developers are trying to improve the game (or just do damage control due to bad reviews).
Story
As many have already noticed now that the game has been out for several weeks, Battlefield 2042 does not come with an actual story. You get a few blurbs about how the economy collapsed, and how war is once again a common occurrence in the world, but that’s basically it. EA has some extra material on YouTube and on their site about the story of the game, but there is no single-player mode, and no actual story content to be found when playing matches online.
Graphics
Even though we played the next-gen version of Battlefield 2042 on our PlayStation 5, we were completely underwhelmed with the graphical quality of the game. When playing on certain maps, we felt as if we went back in time more than a decade, as the game suffers from loads of clipping issues, shoddy textures, a lot of visible pixels, and just poor optimization. We noticed that some patches were dropped when we were playing the game, but these have not added that much just yet. We were utterly disappointed with the quality of the game on its graphical front, and we hope that there will be some true next-gen updates for this one.
Sound
The game’s sound design is decently handled. Gunfire sounds as it should, explosions hit close to home if you use proper speakers or headset, and the overall quality is great. You truly find yourself in a warzone when battles become hectic, and this is probably one of the more immersive aspects of the game due to the poor quality of the graphics.
Gameplay
Battlefield 2042 is a multiplayer-only FPS, which means that you’ll have to be connected to the internet at all times. You’ll only be able to play modes that involve other players, and these range from PVP to PVE, with the latter perhaps being a bit more welcoming for newer players. Other than that, the game once again presents the players with huge maps, that can be traversed by foot, or by the vehicles the game has on offer. Many of these vehicles can be piloted by one player, with other players either hitching a ride or manning the guns, offering a welcome change to the traditional run and gun gameplay.
There is little point to dive into the explanation of every different game mode, but rest assured, Battlefield 2042 does have a reasonable amount of content, making sure there is something for every type of player. You can play domination-styled matches on massive maps, but you can also opt to play in smaller squads, extracting information from certain points on the map. The core of the game is solid, and that is also what somewhat saves the game from a failing grade. Currently, the game is still suffering from clipping issues, which might mess up a perfect extraction run, but we also noticed the controls felt a bit floaty. This was mainly noticeable when aiming down the sights with a controller, but even more so when controlling vehicles. We felt the controls to be very unrealistic, and even the slightest bump in the road would almost knock our vehicle in the air as if we were playing with a low gravity mod on.
What further saves the game from an abysmal grade is the fact that there are a lot of customization options present. You can truly customize your loadout to your needs, and there are quite a few specialists to choose from. This is in essence a class system that grants you different perks, but these can of course be further customized to cater to your needs. We even further applaud the inclusion of the Battlefield Portal, which allows fans of the series to play maps and other events from other older Battlefield entries. This Portal is a great way to add new content to the game, even if it’s recycled and/or upscaled content from older titles. This ensures even more replay value, and might even persuade fans of the older titles to try out the original content that Battlefield 2042 has to offer.
Conclusion
Battlefield 2042 is still very much the game we have come to know and love over the years, but this new release feels unpolished, unfinished, and just a huge drop in quality. If you’re purely in it for the gameplay and can overlook the sometimes floaty controls (especially for vehicles), then you’ll find a fairly decent Battlefield experience at the game’s core. If you were hoping for a real next-gen version of the franchise that would blow you out of the water, then we advise you to keep an eye on this one while it keeps getting patches and updates. The game can still be ‘fixed’, but we are quite sad that it was released in its current state.
Battlefield 2042 - Review,
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