Battlefield obviously has its diehard devotees, but for almost the entirety of its lifespan, it felt like it was playing second fiddle to Call of Duty. Now though, it feels like the winds are shifting. The supposed “CoD Fatigue” finally seems to be hitting, mostly due to Call of Duty turning into Fortnite-lite, and people are yearning for a return to something more grounded. Battlefield 6 is EA and DICE’s opportunity to strike at supremacy. Sales-wise, they’ve already succeeded, but is the game itself worthy of that success?
For the most part, yeah, but the majority of that is down to the game’s multiplayer. The gunplay on offer here is some of the franchise’s best, and the more grounded movement feels like a welcome change of pace from twitchy movement shooters. BF6 is an FPS game that knows when to be realistic and unrealistic. Constantly replenishable parachutes? Of course. Bunny hopping 360 no scopers? The new Call of Duty comes out next month, and they’d be delighted to have you.
But BF6 also marks the return of a single player campaign after it was omitted from 2042. If you’re looking for a new single-player campaign to play, Battlefield 6 should be low on your list of priorities, though BF has never been the series to pick for campaign offerings. Set in the very near future, the story sees a new paramilitary company called Pax Armata sowing discord into the world, fracturing NATO and inciting war across the world. As the marine squad Dagger, you’ll travel across the world putting out Pax’s fires and figuring out where the hell Pax emerged from.
On the whole, BF6’s campaign feels fine, albeit rushed together. The plot, or what little there is of it, seems to just build threats and events out of nowhere and expect the player to know or care about what’s happening. There’s a whole thing about NXC missiles that isn’t explained; they just appear out of nowhere like it was always part of Pax’s end goal. The voice acting is fine enough, with Tony Curran channelling his earlier work as Pete Twamley in Ultimate Force when playing the villain Kincaid.
As for the levels themselves, they’re okay, if just a bit bland. There’s nothing on offer here that hasn’t been done before in another military shooter of some kind, and perhaps the most disappointing part of it all is that none of the levels really help sell the destruction that Battlefield is known for. Sometimes, a corner of a building in New York or a bridge will explode, or there’s some occasional moments where you can blow a hole through one specific wall to go on a flank, but there’s nothing much else.
Another missed opportunity is that the campaign doesn’t effectively train you on how to play the multiplayer, specifically with regards to the armoured vehicles, which Battlefield 1 and 5 were much better at. Two levels have players controlling a tank, which is good, but there’s no love given to flying vehicles like jets and helicopters, which are an important part of map control in multiplayer. Giving players time with those mechanics as part of the campaign might have helped ensure there’s less unintentional kamikaze pilots in your online games.
As it stands now, you either have to just load up some kind of Portal experience catered to flight training, or risk flying in a public lobby then getting called out in match chat when you inevitably crash and burn. Most casual players are going to opt for the latter when they could have been given their training without knowing it. In the grand scheme of things, it seems like a minor point of criticism compared to others about the generic, bog standard campaign. But when other BF campaigns have been good about letting players loose with the game’s mechanics even when the story is mediocre, BF6’s feels worse as a result.
But that’s enough about the campaign, the real main event of this package is the multiplayer. For the most part, it’s a wonderful return to form for a series that lost its way during Battlefield 2042. The return of the class-based system, instead of operators with their own abilities, is a welcome one. No one ever had a problem with the class system of Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon as a whole, just some disagreements on how certain classes were balanced, and you could make that case here too.
At the minute, it feels like Support is doing too much by offering healing, ammo and revives, while it would also be nice for other classes to have some kind of gadget or tool to combat vehicles. Obviously, I’m not saying those classes should have tools to the same extent as the Engineer, but Support and Assault are basically useless when a tank rolls up beyond dropping supply crates so the Engineers can do their job, or acting as live bait to distract the gun turret while the Engineers do their job. At least the Recon class gets C4 and a laser designator to help out. Let me just do minor damage with my Assault grenade launcher, DICE. Make me at least feel helpful.
Running 250m across a map only to get atomized by a tank is definitely a frustrating experience if you’re a one-class-only kind of player, but Battlefield has always thrived on players being the change they want to see in the world. Too many tanks? Switch to Engineer and make some scrap metal. Your team is bleeding tickets? Switch to a Support and use your defibs to try and stem that flow. You feel like being utterly useless all game? There’s your Recon class, buddy. Either way, having distinct classes return is a good thing, and while open weapon versus closed weapon classes is a debate within the community, BF6 at least gives players options for both styles of play.
There’s a good range of maps and modes on offer at launch, though you might get differing opinions on which maps are good or bad depending on who you ask. Map-wise, there’s a good mix of infantry-focused CQB fighting, open range sniping and large scale vehicular warfare, though perhaps the maps lack the same massive scale that older maps had. Some maps you’ll be happy to return to, others not so much, but your mileage may vary depending on what you prefer to do. If you’re a sniper or vehicle lover, Empire State is going to be bad for you.
Moving back to the modes, Conquest and its goal of capturing the majority of points is still the GOAT Battlefield mode, as it’s huge in scale and the battle is constantly and evolving. That being said, Escalation is a great alternative, with the controlling team losing an objective after a certain period of time, forcing them to overextend and create a tug of war dynamic with the other team. Sometimes, it’s roll or be rolled, but it’s the one mode I’ve seen that has the biggest potential for dramatic comebacks, so it’s always exciting.
Regrettably, Breakthrough and BF-mainstay Rush feel like the odd-modes-out here. Both are attack/defend modes, with Breakthrough having Conquest style objectives while Rush relies on planting/defusing bombs, and while Rush was incredible to play during the Bad Company days, it and Breakthrough don’t feel the same here. Perhaps that’s because the maps are zoned in such a way where everyone is on top of each other always. Attackers and defenders on certain maps spawn what feels like nose to nose, making it feel incredibly hectic and hard to get a groove going at times.
As for the progression, you unlock new tools for your classes by ranking up, and you can also level up your weapons and vehicles through continued use, though it does feel like ranking up is fairly slow in BF6. If you’re not willing to sink some decent hours into this game, you’re gonna miss out on a lot of weapons and gadgets. Cynically, I reckon part of that grind will be addressed when Season 1 launches, and the Battle Pass ends up filled with XP boosters so players can shoot up the ranks faster, but we’ll see. Credit to EA and DICE though, as they have addressed XP being a bit grindy and are upping the rates.
It might sound like I’m down on Battlefield 6, but trying to review a game like Battlefield based on what it offers on paper is the wrong approach. The magic is found when playing it, and that’s always been the case. The tagline “Only In Battlefield” during BF4’s hype wasn’t just a clever slogan — it was an accurate summation of its gameplay. Only In Battlefield could you consistently find incredible stories of exploits that you’d share with your friends, or in clips you’d upload online, and BF6 is no stranger to that.
Only In Battlefield 6 could I watch my editor draw the ire of an entire team so they explode the building he’s standing on. Only In Battlefield 6 could I parachute down from a helicopter onto a building someone is camping on and smack the crap out of them with a sledgehammer. Only In Battlefield 6 could I get sniped by someone hiding out on an oil platform, only to get resurrected by a teammate, man a nearby guided missile launcher and play counter sniper with targeted explosive ordinance.
Yeah, the campaign might be a bit rubbish, some of the classes will need to be balanced, not all the modes are created equal, and the progression could use some help, but if you have just one friend and a mode you like, there’s nothing else like Battlefield 6. Stick on a Conquest or Escalation playlist and we’d happily play this for hours, honestly. Hopefully, the upcoming new seasons capitalise on BF6’s overwhelming momentum, instead of kneecapping it early in its potential lifespan.
Xbox Series key provided by PR for the purposes of this review
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