Battlefield 6 Review – A Grounded Step in the Right Direction

Battlefield 6 Review
It’s been 4 long years since the last Battlefield graced the screens of gamers. The last entry in the beloved franchise was the poorly received Battlefield 2042. Here at COGconnected, we gave Battlefield 2042 a generous 90/100. Despite that, the lacking of a single player campaign, a heavier focus on futuristic technology, and forced crossplay between console & PC players – at least initially – were just some of the reasons fans turned away. To their credit, the developers never gave up on Battlefield 2042, and continued to improve the overall game and provide content updates ever since. All of which brings us to now and the release of Battlefield 6. The era is a less futuristic 2027, the game features a 9 level single-player campaign, and it launched with the ability to turn crossplay between console & PC players off! To say the developers listened to fans would be an understatement.

Is this the Battlefield fans have been longing for?

Call of Duty-Lite
The Battlefield 6 campaign is not much of a Battlefield campaign at all. In fact, it’s more Call of Duty-Lite than Battlefield, and that’s quite the disappointment. We already have annual Call of Duty releases, Battlefield was supposed to be something different. When gamers think of Battlefield, they think of epic battles spanning huge sprawling areas. They think of vehicular combat, destructible environments, and minimal limitations. The Battlefield 6 campaign is not this.

The campaign takes place in 2027, in an alternate reality, where the NATO Alliance is threatened by a private military corporation, Pax Armata. The first campaign level starts off with a relatively straightforward, but emotionally jarring experience. It’s definitely a brilliant way for Battlefield 6 to dig its hooks into the player. After the initial level, we’re brought to the world a year later and introduced Dagger 13, a team of American NATO soldiers who invade a woman’s house, and spend the remainder of the game bullying her for intel. These post-level moments are all cinematic cutscenes and are designed to set up the next Dagger 13 flashback level, essentially giving the player pieces of the puzzle to what’s transpired in the preceding year.

Despite efforts to make these cinematic cutscenes seem clever and vague, they usually drop a pretty significant spoiler for what will happen in the following level. In fact, some of the most monumental moments are so poorly telegraphed by these cinematics, that the overall impact of the actual in-game moments are almost laughable. In short, the story is hindered by some terrible design choices and writing.

Squad Up
As mentioned, each subsequent level follows Dagger 13 during these flashback moments. Essentially you’re re-living the events that transpired from the first level until the present day. Different levels will have you controlling different members of Dagger 13. This gives the player some variety in both weapons and abilities. Most levels will also have you with other squad mates, which you’ll be able to provide minor squad commands, such as attacking nearby enemies or deploying their specialty, like smoke or explosives. Well, except for one level, which is kind of just thrown in there so you can awkwardly drive a tank around – it’s still about fighting the Pax Armata, just from a different NATO Alliance ally perspective. I won’t spoil any of the story here, just don’t go in expecting anything unique or interesting.

Beautiful Battles
The level areas look amazing. Make no mistake, one of the highlights to Battlefield 6 campaign is the impressive visuals and sprawling views. The problem is you can only experience a narrow window of these levels. If you deviate from the expected path in even the slightest way, you’ll be hit with a “leaving level” prompt. If you proceed too quickly, you’ll be told to return to the battlefield. In fact, there were buildings you would be moving through and some rooms won’t even let you explore the entire room without prompting you to get back into the fight.

There was one moment late in the campaign where I was using a drone to tag enemies. I got too close to the enemies and instead of the drone just dying, I got a warning that I left the battlefield and given a countdown to return. Even though I returned the drone right above my character, the countdown didn’t stop and I failed that sequence, having to restart the checkpoint. Another similar issue is when you’re trying to advance from area to area. If you move too fast, you’ll end up in the enemy spawn points. There were countless times in my time with the campaign where enemies would spawn all around me, out of thin air, because I moved into an area too quickly.

Back to the Battlefield
Despite a poorly executed campaign, the multiplayer is where Battlefield really shines. Here you’ll have an assortment of different multiplayer modes to choose from. Multiplayer includes a variety of different modes, such as Conquest, Breakthrough, Rush, Team Deathmatch, Domination, King of the Hill, and the new Escalation mode.

Despite the expansive offerings, I kept coming back to the iconic Conquest mode. Engaging in epic battles trying to capture and hold objectives spanning the map can be exhilarating. The one thing that makes Battlefield so special is the overall atmosphere, with battles raging all around you. And the tense feeling as you are trying to capture an objective, just hoping an enemy doesn’t engage.

Crossplay OFF
Of course, multiplayer is not without its issues. While they thankfully included the option to disable crossplay between PC and console players, for some reason, they did not provide an option to have console-only crossplay. So, Xbox players can only play with Xbox players if they turn crossplay off. This is a missed opportunity and they should have allowed both Xbox and PlayStation players play together.

Another interesting change in Battlefield 6 is the ability for different classes to utilize every weapon. I personally think this is a good thing, particularly because I enjoy completing challenges, and if my daily challenge includes a specific class and a specific weapon, I can work on both at the same time.

Unfortunately, the one downside to Battlefield 6 is the lack of Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM). SBMM has been a staple of Call of Duty for years now, and it’s designed to maintain a level of balance between players in a match. Gone are the days of complete blowout matches. With SBMM, you’ll be matched up with other players that are similar skill levels. Battlefield hasn’t gone down this route – so it’s not uncommon for matches to end with a very lopsided score. It appears Call of Duty might be ditching SBMM for Black Ops 7, so both shooters will be plagued with some wonky matchmaking moving forward.

Battlegrounds
Multiplayer battles will take place over 9 different maps at launch, included Operation Firestorm which returns from Battlefield 3. Some of the maps take place in city settings while others are much more expansive. There is definitely a lot of care and attention that went into building these multiplayer maps, with plenty of opportunities to navigate maps on foot or in vehicles. In classic Battlefield tradition, you’ll have to keep your head on a swivel though, you can get killed from anywhere.

The multiplayer experience can be heightened or hindered by the players you play with. I do wish there was a way we could “rate” other players. Give props to players who actually engage objectives, tag enemies, and support teammates with ammo drops and revives. Those that are rated as being team players would be more likely matched up together.

We can report players we suspect of cheating, but it remains to be seen how big of impact cheating will have on the overall experience. I did find when I turned crossplay off, my multiplayer experience became substantially better.

Improvements
Battlefield 6 is an improvement over its predecessor in many ways. The single player campaign has some impressive visuals, but the gameplay and story leaves much to be desired. The multiplayer is where Battlefield 6 shines, and should keep players engaged for the foreseeable future. I do wish the devs would have given us a console-only crossplay so Xbox and PlayStation gamers could game together. All in all, I imagine I’ll be jumping into Battlefield 6 for more often than I did Battlefield 2042. Granted, that wouldn’t take much. Battlefield 6 is a step in the right direction. But for future single player campaigns, maybe consider bringing back Battlefield: Hardline or Battlefield: Bad Company.

***Battlefield 6 key provided by the publisher for review.***

The Good

The single player campaign looks amazing
Includes crossplay options
More flexibility with classes
Nice variety of multiplayer maps

82

The Bad

The single player campaign is poorly written and designed
Needs a console-only crossplay option
No SBMM means some lopsided mulitplayer matches