Battlefield 2042 review: Great ideas with much work to be done

Battlefield 2042 Hazard Zone Source: Electronic Arts

When Electronic Arts and DICE stressed that Battleground 2042 would middle around the engaging and various sandbox fun that defined the series, I was ecstatic. Later all, the fact that Battleground V promoted twitchy run-and-gun gameplay was a huge bummer — I've always felt that Battleground is at its best when its cadre gameplay encourages strategy, squad play, and clever usage of its many weapons, gadgets, and vehicles. This was amplified by 128-player matches and the new Battleground Portal way assuasive players to create custom experiences by mixing elements from previous games. It was a game that promised a return to Battlefield'south roots — for me, a dream come true.

I've now poured hours into the game following its Nov. 12 release, and in some ways, it checks the boxes. Battlefield Portal met expectations every bit this year's show-stealer, and the vehicle sandbox is nothing short of phenomenal. The game's maps are excellent across the lath, too, and new features like the 'Plus System' and vehicle call-ins also give players actress opportunities to get creative with their arsenal. This all leads to memorable moments of ingenuity unique to Battlefield.

Unfortunately, these positives are assorted by Battlefield 2042'due south poorly balanced Specialists, the game's small number of weapons, its mediocre Hazard Zone mode, and its numerous bugs and performance issues. Overall, there's potential for a fantastic game hither, but more work needs to be done before information technology's reached.

Battlefield 2042

Bottom line: Battlefield 2042 has a strong core and has the potential to exist one of the best games in the serial. However, balancing quirks, performance bug, and some fundamental design decisions are belongings it back from truthful greatness.

The Expert

Portal steals the show
Vehicle play is superb
Excellent maps
Plus arrangement and vehicle call-ins
Great presentation

The Bad

Specialist balancing
Gunplay feels a little off
Very few weapons
Adventure Zone isn't special
Bugs and performance issues

Disclaimer: This review was fabricated possible by a re-create of the Battleground 2042 Gold Edition for PC purchased by Windows Primal.

Battlefield 2042: What you lot'll similar

Battlefield 2042 Source: Windows Central

Battlefield Portal is everything I was hoping it would be.

Ironically, the best role of Battlefield 2042 is Battleground Portal. It's a mode that allows players to create custom experiences with remade maps and assets from older Battlefield games like Battlefield 1942, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3 (as well as everything from Battlefield 2042). Yous can host these on a public server to play every bit you wish, and it all works very smoothly in my testing.

The options bachelor in the Portal cosmos tool are mind-extraordinary; yous can enable or disable pretty much every single weapon, weapon attachment, gadget, or vehicle from each of the four games. Yous tin can adjust values for damage, health, motility, and more than too. You tin can even strength factions from one game to fight on maps from another game; one of the coolest Portal experiences I've see so far is "1942 in 2042," which brings World War Two-era combat to Battleground 2042's massive nearly-future maps. Portal is everything I was hoping it would exist, and I can't wait to run across what the Battlefield community does with it.

Battlefield 2042 Source: Windows Cardinal

Category	Battlefield 2042
Title	Battlefield 2042
Developer	DICE, Ripple Effect
Publisher	Electronic Arts
Genre	Shooter
Minimum Requirements	Windows 10, Intel i5-6600K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600, NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti or AMD RX 560, 8GB RAM, 4GB VRAM, DirectX 12
Game Size	47.46GB
Players	Multiplayer
Launch Price	$sixty

In terms of the main Battlefield 2042 "all-out warfare" experience, which includes the returning Conquest mode, vehicle play is absolutely stellar. Tanks feel amazing to drive and even better to shoot, and their main cannons are deadlier than ever. Watch vehicles balance high top speed with a solid anti-personnel minigun, making them perfect for harassing enemy troops or taking your ain to of import locations. Attack helicopters can rain destruction downwards with their smart rockets and 30mm gun, though information technology'southward clear that Die has carefully designed them to be less oppressive than they were in Battlefield 4 (this goes for mobile anti-aircraft besides).

The developers even managed to make transport helicopters skillful, which is a get-go for Battlefield. In 2042, they're armored like a tank and come up with multiple grenade launcher and minigun gunner positions, giving them the durability and firepower necessary to human action as a mobile spawn signal for teammates to use near objectives.

Battlefield 2042's maps are also splendid across the board, with the sole exception being Orbital due to its overly-flat terrain and sparse layout. The game's six other maps were designed with carefully-placed sightlines and spawn zones, and each map features a distinct theme and overall design management. For example, the sprawling glaciers and ice sheets of Breakaway are open and encourage lots of heavy vehicle play, while the claustrophobic mazes of aircraft containers on Manifest are best conquered with lots of infantry. Renewal features several dense chokepoints where defensive tactics shine, while the sandstorms of Hourglass restrict visibility and corral players into close-quarters combat. Each map in 2042 has its own grapheme and charm, and I capeesh that variety.

Battlefield 2042 Source: Electronic Arts

I also beloved Battlefield 2042's Plus System and vehicle phone call-ins, both of which are new for the franchise. The former allows you to swap between your weapon attachments on the fly, while the latter provides on-demand ground vehicles airdropped to your location. I've had a blast chop-chop switching between attachments to adapt to the enemy and spawning tanks in places they're non supposed to be (I've shot down several helicopters by spawning them on buildings).

Lastly, the game'southward presentation is peachy overall, which is typical of DICE and its in-house Frostbite engine. Audio and graphics are as snazzy and impressive every bit ever, peculiarly with ray tracing enabled. With visuals similar these, watching the chaos of 128-role player matches unfold in front end of your eyes is spectacular.

Battlefield 2042: What you won't like

Specialist Irish is great for locking down important chokepoints.

The Specialist system is absurd in theory, simply DICE'southward execution is flawed.

The biggest problem I take with Battleground 2042 is the Specialist system, which has replaced Battlefield's traditional classes with private characters that come with unique abilities and traits. The idea is cool and theory, and the ability of Specialist abilities can lead to some large plays. Even so, the current iteration of the system is pretty flawed. Some Battlefield 2042 Specialists feel like they're significantly more useful than other characters, leading to situations where you feel like you're at a disadvantage by not using them. These include the wingsuit-equipped Sundance and Mackay with his Grappling Claw, both of which take a huge impact on central gameplay.

All Specialists tin can also equip weapons and gadgets that take traditionally been restricted by class option. Snipers are no longer tied to the Recon grade, while all players tin now utilize rocket launchers and C4. Traditionally, classes with these gadgets were balanced with limitations, such as the inability to use assail rifles equally the Engineer in exchange for the ability to equip rocket launchers. In 2042, those limitations are gone, meaning anybody on the battleground is a jack of all trades. Grade limitations are ane of the core things that encouraged players to play as a team, which makes the implementation of Specialists peculiarly disappointing.

Battlefield 2042 Source: Windows Central

There's also something nigh Battlefield 2042'southward gunplay that feels "off" to me, at least on PC using mouse and keyboard. Information technology's not bad, but it'southward definitely not equally polish equally previous games such equally Battlefield 4. I've tried messing with my sensitivity, and while it helped somewhat, in that location'due south withal something almost it that feels a scrap clunky.

Speaking of gunplay, don't expect much variety from Battleground 2042 in that department. There are currently only 22 weapons in the game at launch, dwarfed by by games like Battlefield 3 and 4. Earning new guns as you rank up remains one of the best parts about Battlefield progression, which only highlights the express weapon variety.

Source: Windows Central

Notably, Battlefield 2042's Chance Zone isn't anything special. In information technology, you and your squadmates demand to hunt down AI soldiers, steal their information drives, and then extract earlier enemy squads take you out (yous can also chase other players for additional drives). Extracting will net y'all some in-game currency that yous can apply to buy weapons and gadgets in follow-upwards matches. The fashion is fine, just there's way likewise much infinite between your spawn and about points of interest, which usually results in a painful amount of sprinting and not much action. Gunfights are exciting one time you really go into i, but overall, I only found myself wanting to become back to Conquest. At that place also isn't vox chat in Battlefield 2042 at launch, making information technology very hard to actually communicate with your squadmates. DICE has confirmed voice chat is coming, simply it's still another step back from by games.

Finally, Battlefield 2042 has a ton of bugs and functioning problems, both big and pocket-sized. I've encountered everything from broken buttons in the UI to hard crashes in the center of gunfights, and while I've been able to improve stability by lowering the in-game settings, it's not upward to modern standards. The listing of known issues isn't small, including a problems that prevents some players from earning XP or unlocks at launch.

Battlefield 2042: Should you lot play it?

Battlefield 2042 Source: Windows Central

Battlefield Portal, 2042'southward vehicle play and maps, and the new plus and vehicle call-in systems are all fantastic — and graphics and audio likewise exceed expectations. Withal, the unbalanced Specialist system, tweaks to gunplay, flawed Hazard Zone style, and numerous underlying performance issues leave quite a lot to be desired.

Electronic Arts and Dice have created a great foundation with Battlefield 2042, just for the game to succeed in the long term, improvements need to exist made. I have high hopes that its latest will somewhen blossom into one of the best PC games available, and perchance the Battlefield game of my dreams, but the launch offering leaves a lot to be desired.

Battlefield 2042

Bottom line: At that place'southward a lot to love about Battleground 2042, and the game is a stride in the correct direction overall. Yet, issues with bugs, balancing, and fundamental gameplay design choices may leave you lot frustrated at launch.

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