Battlefield 6: A Return to the Top
Battlefield games have always fallen into the category of loving from a distance for me. I can be very competitive in spirit but am let down by skills, I mean lag, and time that I can put into the multiplayer. To that end I have always leaned heavily towards a story driven campaign often completely forgoing the much hyped and contested multiplayer elements.
Now I know playing Battlefield for its solo campaign is much akin to leaving a movie after only watching the opening, so I have been getting completely destroyed in game to bring you a quick peak behind the multiplayer curtain.
Battlefield 6’s multiplayer looks to be a return to what worked in earlier iterations and continues to set it apart from others in the FPS category. If you enjoyed the large, layered battles of Battlefield 3 or 4, there's a lot here to love: satisfying, tactical gunplay; large-scale maps that allow different styles of play; and a robust unlock system that rewards investment. You can easily forget that the vast areas of the map are destructible meaning hiding is never an option for too long as the enemy will bring the building down on top of you. While the destruction is much improved and opens up new ways to attack an area once an obstacle is removed it can be a little inconsistent in what you can destroy or how long it takes to destroy it.
Large scale maps are back and offer a mix of terrain and obstacles allowing for a variety of different combat styles, vehicles will always play a big part on these maps along with snipers providing overwatch while the grunts get in close and personal with the enemy. Offsetting these large overbearing matches are compact maps designed with dense urban warfare in mind, the winners being the ones who organise into teams and clear out the tight corridors and alleyways.
Multiplayer is by no means flawless; map edges are hard to get used to in the beginning and not easily determined making you more reliant on the mini-map and skill-based match making this early on is still trying to work out where you sit resulting in some very lop-sided rounds. Balancing will be a work in progress as new guns are unlocked by the community and the devs watch what works and what needs a tweak. For the time being, Battlefield 6’s multiplayer feels like the kind of multiplayer fans of the series have been yearning for.
The single player story acts as not only a more subdued time away from the atrocities that come out of my mouth during multiplayer but as a training mission dressed up in a geopolitical thriller. Told through a series of flashbacks you recount several missions recounting the withdrawal of NATO soldiers as they are overrun by the PAX Armata, a private military group taking previously held strategic bases from NATO.
The story, while strong, is pretty standard in relation to previous titles. A lot of it feels like you’ve been here before or maybe it is the similarities it seems to hold to the current climate that ultimately add a feeling of lived realism. The film-like production of the set pieces compensates well and help to build you into a story that leaves you aching to experience the next chapter.
You work your way through the story utalising each of the playable specialisations available in the multiplayer giving you a feel for how each works. Each character will also question what it is they are doing and if blindly following the orders given is the right thing to do. Sowing seeds of doubt the entire way through the campaign forcing you to question your own take on its direction.
The technical aspects on show are what alleviate this current entry above Battlefields of the past. With a focus on variety each mission opens you up to multiple options for how to approach each scenario. Maps are large enough that you are able to make multiple approaches to flush out an enemy, that is before you decide to bring down a building which is much more fun.
Battlefield 6 is a return to what works best for the franchise, large scale battles, destructible scenery and the cutting edge of warfare technology on show. Its campaign shines despite some sluggish areas but at the end of the day this is all a pre-show for the multiplayer. The longer form rounds can be a bit much for some especially when your team is getting over run, but Battlefield 6 feels accessible to players of all skill levels and its different classes allows you to play to your preferred style.
Battlefield 6 is available now on everything.
Post a Comment