Battlefield 2042

Sadly, the amount of content, weapons and modes are not enough here. To add fuel to the fire, the game is also riddled with game-breaking bugs and glitches, and surprisingly, empty servers! You cannot get a game without enabling cross-platform and even then, the game simply doesn’t offer any way to switch servers or change maps. You could be dropped in a game with 140 ping or a game with 44 ping. It’s a matter of luck. EA also decided to boot the story mode from 2042, making the introduction to this Battlefield game a closed veterans-only affair. There are Specialists now that come with a passive trait and an active item. Aside from that, you can pretty much swap out every weapon and equipment there is, which makes the Specialist, not so special but gives a bunch of flexibility to how you want to play. It’s not too bold nor is it too safe, it’s just in the centre to beg the question, why?

The game also locks weapons and weapon mods and only unlocks them as you progress. So you need to keep playing with the same weapon till you unlock a couple of upgrades for it. It’s a nice touch to keep players chasing for something but we wish it was a bit more organised with some daily challenges to keep things fresh and interesting. The weapon selection in the start is ridiculously small for a game that is about first-person shooting! New vehicles and equipment also unlock as you keep playing. There’s no good way to track your weapons and items unlock progress. Battlefield 2042 borderline drops everything to celebrate its 128 player battles. Chipping away from the smaller yet important bits. Maps have been stretched to accommodate the 128 player battles but these maps are way too big and you mostly spend your time running around looking for an enemy that is habitually camping at capture points. The purpose has been the same for quite some years but the larger maps make the whole process of reaching objectives a lot tedious. These maps also lack interesting features. Too often spread across open land. It’s realistically a marvel to look at but in a sense of online gaming, it lacks that creative kick. Call of Duty: Warzone and other battle royale games have been known to put a ton of details and care into their big maps. Battlefield’s maps pale in comparison which likes to stay in the veterans-only era for scenery. It’s the Battlefield identity but the game doesn’t reinvent itself to keep up with the new trends and needs of the players.

There is a dynamic weather system that, according to the trailer, should introduce tank-flinging-building-vapourising-combat-changing storms and tornadoes. In reality, it’s like a regular Mumbai monsoon shower. The storm also comes at the near end of the game which makes the timing a bit too lame and often poses no threat to campers, tank warriors and the server’s inhabitants in general. Hazard zone forsakes the 128 team rush for more boots on the ground squad approach. You can join a squad of four to retrieve data disks from the various points on the map and extract them. Capturing and holding data disks builds up the tension till you extract the data disks from an extraction zone. It’s very similar to the Dark Zone from Ubisoft’s The Division game. You often need to coordinate and balance your squad with proper items and equipment, and Specialists.

Graphically the game is still demanding and probably as gorgeous as they come. Armed with Ray Tracing and DLSS chops, the performance to wow factor is very well balanced. Every muddy puddle, bullet spray and vehicle is met with Nvidia’s Global Illumination and some tempered Ray Tracing chops. It’s not in your face like the previous Battlefield titles but subtle enough if you stop to look between heated firefights. Rarely does our Zotac Nvidia RTX 3080 slip in terms of performance but since the game is a bit buggy, EA needs to fix a couple of issues before we can get a higher frame rate. The 128 Conquest battles make the game very demanding, graphically and with your network bandwidth.

Of all the things Battlefield, the only mode that really matters to the series was not given enough care and attention. Conquest and Breakthrough that consist of 128 player lobbies needs a lot of bug fixes, missing UI features and just general care and attention to the maps. Portal is a great way to pass time and faff around in Battlefield but the drop rate is getting higher than we thought. You can create your own fun spin on Battlefield’s playground by tweaking every little thing. The tools are there but the players are missing. Even Hazard Zone has a minimum of 15mins waiting period to play a single game. It’s very clear that the players have refunded their cash to wait it out and some of us who have the game and are enjoying it somewhat bug-free are forced to wait for longer to get a match. Battlefield 2042 isn’t necessarily a bad game but it’s unfinished and half baked. Cyberpunk 2077 was broken at launch and so is Battlefield. Wait for the fixes to follow and features to come but that is if and when that happens before gamers find the next best multiplayer shooter.