Battlefield 6 Review

Battlefield 6

Intro: The Titans of the Past

In the world of competitive first person shooters, we have hit a bit of a boiling point. Many of the games that lead the genre back in the early 2000’s have ended up as nothing more than names on a tombstone or worse. Looking back, the games that fueled my love for the genre such as Medal of Honor and the SOCOM series are all but dead and gone. Battlefield has been a series that has seen it’s fair share of trials and tribulations over the past decade. Some of the titles I enjoyed most such as Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5 were recurved by the community to a certain level of disdain. Sure they had the Battlefield name, but some argued that The Great War setting should have stayed in the past. And 2042, well. We all know how that went. Series killing? No. But damn close if the community’s thoughts are any indication. Yet like a valley of rolling hills, the journey has seemingly found its way back up the peak. Welcome to Battlefield 6.

Story: Falters in its Execution

It’s no secret that the Battlefield series has had a metric ton of entertaining and cinematic campaigns over the past two decades. From the goofy, heartfelt adventures of the Bad Company squad to the traumatizing tales of heroism in the face of insurmountable odds that we got to experience in entries like Battlefield 1, it’s no secret that there is a huge sample size to choose from. Battlefield 6 unfortunately doesn’t aspire to the same level of greatness as it’s older siblings in regards to the campaign. Following a relatively boring and safe premise, you play as multiple characters in the year 2027 as NATO and a new private military company, named Pax Armata, go to war over proprietary software that has world changing power. Sound familiar?

Well, to be frank it is and not only has it been done a hundred times, but it has been executed by other titles in a way more unique way. The story mainly centers itself around the members of the marine raiders squad named Dagger1-3 as they attempt to stop Pax Armata in a world spanning slog that will take you around 3-4 hours to complete. The tropes that you’d expect in this genre are here as you make your way towards the end, and I admit I had to force myself to complete as it really dragged on more than any Battlefield campaign I’ve ever played. It’s simplistic and forgettable, and the token set pieces you’d expect from the series, such as an air combat mission are completely absent. Overall, most of us aren’t here for the single-player experience, but it’s still disappointing to have a story that can’t even compete with the mess Call of Duty has become in recent years.

The Multiplayer: We’re So Back

Now for the main attraction – the multiplayer. Now I go out and wholeheartedly say that the multiplayer for Battlefield 6 is in every sense of the word, a return to form. Is it perfect? Not even close. But the thing is, it does feel like a true return to form. The multiplayer feels as if they went back to the drawing board and looked at what made them successful in the first place. Long gone are the stereotypical tattooed special forces members and specialists who excelled at certain aspects.

What they decided to do instead is return to the class based system that Battlefield was always known for. You have your standard Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon classes at your disposal that each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Assaults are good at clearing areas with raw firepower, Engineers are specialized against vehicles, and so on. It gives the multiplayer a very ‘Battlefield’ feel to it, and I have to admit it made me extremely happy to see the series return to its roots back when the beta was released a few months ago.

Once we get past the main menu’s awful UI, which holy 2042, and actually get into a match the token Battlefield moments we are so used to seeing, make themselves known almost immediately. Every match from the moment it starts plays out like a Michael Bay movie, and anyone who loved the Battlefield 3 era of the series will feel right at home here. Dozens of infantry players on both sides storming a point, tanks and other vehicles pounding away at each other, and jets dueling for superiority of the skies overhead are what you can expect in every conquest game no matter what map you find yourself on. The experience is one that will keep you entertained for hours on end and I can’t see a world where most fans of the original like myself are unhappy. But I will admit there are a few things that stand out as more than anything, growing pains.

The first thing is perhaps the most egregious and game breaking of all – the absence of a standard server browser on PC. Now when I say standard server browser, I mean for the standard multiplayer experience. The server browser is instead unique to the Portal system, a sandbox mode where the community can create a server with modified rules, and even map designs.

This in theory sounds like a good thing, but the general consensus from the community is that it isn’t fostering the same level of comradery that the series has had in the past. Certain aspects such as the Portal Server Browser not saving your server preferences, the servers themselves running at 30 ticks instead of 60 and how hidden the Portal Server Browser is in the awful UI feel like simplistic fixes that should have been ironed out before release. These issues may not seem like much to the console base, but on PC a server browser has always been a part of the series and it’s absence at release is if anything, confusing. It just feels like EA is forcing people into the Portal Server system, as opposed to having it be another option on top of the normal systems.

The second minor issue that I have from the multiplayer side is the overall progression system and how the game functions once you join a server. The progression system for most of the weapons feels, in simplest terms, weird. You need some insane amounts of weapon XP to unlock some of the simplest attachments. I’m all for a little bit of a grind, and honestly your weapons do level up fairly quickly, but hiding simplistic aspects like a suppressor behind 40 levels feels a little strange.

Besides the progression system, each weapon comes off as feeling unique and I truly think there is a weapon for every type of situation. Assault rifles pack the right amount of punch and versatility, SMGs sacrifice power for rate of fire and close quarters dominance, and Sniper Rifles and LMGs feel like the perfect weapons to rain down supportive fire from a distance. And the best part of all of this is the simplicity to switch between classes on the fly. Need a breacher? Assault is right up your alley. Too many tanks on the enemy team? Engineer will numb the pain. The flow of the gameplay loop is nearly perfect, and while you might feel annoyed at having to grind out weapons parts and attachments for hours on end, at the end of the day the game is extremely fun and looks amazing to boot.

Other than these minor complaints, I do think the multiplayer we have here in Battlefield 6 is a step towards the right direction. There are a few other minor issues that I think will eventually be fixed such as the map rotations and the horrible desync, but overall it’s a solid Battlefield experience that I am almost 30 hours into and loving every second. If it looks like a Battlefield, feels like a Battlefield and sounds like a Battlefield, dare I say we’re back. Let’s just hope they stay the course.

Ending Thoughts: The Series Returns to Form

Battlefield 6 will no doubt resonate with fans of the originals as truly does feel like a return to form. The story might miss a few beats, but the multiplayer more than makes up for it once the bullets start flying. The overall presentation is one that seeks to blow your socks off and seeing it in motion is an experience that you’ll dive into for hours at a time. Chaos is a ladder meant to be climbed – and Battlefield 6 throws you straight to the top of it. Massive explosions, shifting fronts, and pure adrenaline from the first shot to the last.