Battlefield 2042 review
Our Verdict
Battlefield 2042 occasionally captures the epic scale and multiplayer madness the series is known for. But the game oft stumbles due to poor pattern decisions and technical issues.
For
- Graphically impressive
- Portal is nostalgic fun
- Hazard Zone feels intense
Confronting
- Unsatisfying shooting
- Oversized maps
- Cluttered UI
Tom's Guide Verdict
Battlefield 2042 occasionally captures the epic scale and multiplayer madness the series is known for. Only the game often stumbles due to poor design decisions and technical issues.
Pros
- +
Graphically impressive
- +
Portal is nostalgic fun
- +
Hazard Zone feels intense
Cons
- -
Unsatisfying shooting
- -
Oversized maps
- -
Chaotic UI
Battlefield 2042 review: Specs
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5 (reviewed), Xbox One, Xbox Series X/Southward
Price: $60 ($70 on PS5/XSX)
Release Engagement: November 19, 2021
Genre: FPS
Battleground 2042 transports the long-running shooter franchise into the near future, after a ii-game stint in the historical settings of World War I and World State of war II. Unfortunately, Battlefield 2042's more advanced form of warfare was not worth the wait.
The game takes several seismic leaps frontward, but for each new innovation, there'southward a central gameplay mechanic that the developers accept mishandled or outright neglected. The team at Dice deserves plaudits for tweaking the franchise's established formula. But the excellent new additions, Run a risk Zone and Battlefield Portal, cannot make up for how often actually playing the game feels like a chore. Read on for our total Battlefield 2042 review.
Battlefield 2042 review: Gameplay
Battlefield 2042 is an online-merely multiplayer shooter that drops upwardly to 128-players (limited to 64 on PS4/Xbox Ane) on an assortment of massive maps, and allows them to run wild. The Battleground series has always provided an unrivaled sense of scale, and 2042 regularly delivers on this forepart.
At the beginning of a game, y'all tin interruption and watch a battalion of tanks speeding over sandy desert dunes, or a swarm of set on helicopters buzzing overhead. During these moments, it's hard not to be impressed by the sheer calibration of 2042.
The game'south problems become apparent the second you pick up your controller and brainstorm to really play, though. While Battleground 2042 has plenty of faults, the nearly unforgivable ane is that the cadre shooting doesn't experience satisfying.
Automatic guns accept a loftier degree of bullet spray, which makes accurate aiming far more difficult than information technology should be. Long-range weapons, such as sniper rifles, fare a little better, but even these weapons don't feel especially good to wield. It likewise takes an overly long fourth dimension to kill enemy soldiers, which compounds these issues. Ultimately, shooting shouldn't feel this frustrating in a shooter.
Of course, the lackluster shooting is but a problem if you can really notice everyone to aim at. In Battleground 2042, that'southward often easier said than done. While y'all tin play with up to 128 players on PC and adjacent-gen consoles, the developers have besides fabricated the maps much bigger.
This leads to warzones that feel vast, but empty. Prepare yourself for plenty of treks across barren wastelands every bit y'all desperately search for someone or something to aim your gun at. A well-placed sniper round can prematurely end these marches beyond the battlefield, adding to the tedium. At least spawning a vehicle to get around rapidly is a simple enough job.
The seven maps available at launch are an underwhelming agglomeration. There's a pleasing level of aesthetic diversity between them, but nearly are simply too vast for their own skillful. They all lack asphyxiate points where opposing forces will naturally meet. Kaleidoscope, with its towering skyscrapers and Renewal, which is neatly split into ii singled-out halves, are the best of the bunch. Simply even these pale in comparison to fan-favorite maps from previous installments.
The biggest alter that Battlefield 2042 makes to the core formula is the removal of team classes in favor of a new Specialists system. These named soldiers each take a unique ability, merely whatever of them can wield the full array of weapons and gadgets that y'all've unlocked. They represent a clear attempt to morph Battlefield into something that resembles pop hero shooters, such as Overwatch or Apex Legends.
Shooting shouldn't feel this frustrating in a shooter.
The removal of classes pivots Battlefield away from its roots equally a team-focused multiplayer shooter. Most Specialists encourage a lone-wolf playstyle, fifty-fifty though some of the 10 characters available at launch have abilities that focus on reviving or buffing your squadmates. It all serves to brand playing Battlefield 2042 feel oddly lone.
Battlefield 2042: All-Out Warfare and Hazard Zone
Battlefield 2042 splits neatly into three pillars. All-Out Warfare offers the almost traditional Battlefield experience. Here you can play either Conquest, which should be instantly familiar to veterans, and Breakthrough, which is a new spin on Bad Company 2'southward Rush way.
Conquest is the nigh traditional Battlefield way. You spawn on a gigantic map, littered with capture points, and vie for control of sectors against an enemy team. Information technology's a classic game blazon for a reason. Only Conquest exacerbates the aforementioned barren maps and lack of incentives to work as a team.
Quantum, which casts one team equally the attackers and the other equally defenders, works a piffling ameliorate. The problems with the core gameplay are still present, but at to the lowest degree in this way, you'll e'er know where to find a firefight.
Take chances Zone is an entirely new mode for the franchise. It places you in a squad of four, and drops you on a map to salvage randomly spawning data drives. All the while, you'll compete against other teams aiming to do the same. These drives are worth points, which you can apply to unlock new weapons, gadgets, and perks.
The twist is that when your team wipes, you're eliminated and lose all your collected data drives. To bank your boodle, yous must reach an extraction point before time runs out. The mode offers the same loftier-stakes risk/reward balance that has made the boxing royale genre so popular. Matches are extremely tense, and extracting at the terminal second with a pocket full of drives is exhilarating.
This mode is too where the Specialist system works best. No team can accept duplicate Specialists, and then it'south important to pick a well-rounded squad with abilities that complement each other. Hazard Zone is highly focused on teamwork, then squads with voice chat will have a serious advantage.
Hazard Zone does take its own bug though. Its unlock organization is highly dependent on successfully acquiring drives, and so it'southward entirely possible to get matched up against experienced squads with significantly better gear than you. As such, the way suffers from balance issues.
Battleground 2042 review: Battlefield Portal
The other core colonnade of Battlefield 2042 is Battlefield Portal. This "dearest letter" to the franchise brings together content from Battlefield 1942, Battleground Bad Company 2 and Battlefield iii. Yous tin mix and match elements from the three classic games to create nostalgia-fueled mashups.
If you'd rather but play a traditional match of 1942, Bad Company 2 or Battlefield 3 remade in 2042'south engine, you can. But the bizarre community creations are far more fun. I played a match where one squad was in tanks from 1942, while the other was equipped with rocket launchers from Battlefield 3. This setup was extremely unbalanced, but information technology was a neat laugh all the same.
Battlefield Portal volition likely be the feature toward which longtime fans gravitate. Peradventure the biggest compliment I tin can give the Portal mode is that it makes the 2042 portion of the package look less impressive in comparison. The shooting in Portal more often than not feels more precise, the maps are significantly improve and the grade-based system encourages coordinated team play.
However, Portal offers only 2 maps from each of the previous games, then don't mistakenly believe that Battlefield 2042 comes with consummate remakes of 3 classic Battleground titles. Portal is a pretty fun lark, but it does feel a tad gimmicky. It also might not have much staying power, unless the developers add more than content in the future.
Battlefield 2042: Visuals and technical issues
Under the correct conditions, Battlefield 2042 is definitely a looker. The much-marketed extreme weather effects don't have a significant gameplay bear on, but watching a sandstorm scroll in or a tornado send vehicles flying across the map definitely grabs your attention.
It'south a shame that 2042'due south visual splendor runs afoul of one of the worst UIs I've e'er seen in a multiplayer shooter. The interface is overly chaotic, oddly proportioned and never presents the information you want, where you want it. This design approach applies to the game's loadout selection screen and chief menus every bit well. Mostly, everything takes 2 more than clicks than it should.
Battlefield 2042 as well suffers from an abundance of technical issues. I played on PS5, and mercifully didn't experience the hard crashes that players accept reported on Xbox Series X. I did encounter a litany of bugs and glitches, though. These ranged from somewhat amusing ragdoll physics to downright frustrating clipping and rubber-banding issues.
Watching a sandstorm coil in or a tornado transport vehicles flight beyond the map definitely grabs your attention.
The game's online servers too announced to be struggling at launch. During 1 play session, I was completely unable to play Breakthrough. The game refused to even search for an bachelor match. I too experienced a round of Chance Zone crashing at the last minute, just when my team had extracted, carrying packs bursting with boodle. I'yard still not quite over that 1.
Battleground 2042 review: Verdict
2021 has been a strong year for multiplayer shooters. The likes of Phone call of Duty: Vanguard and Halo Infinite (whose multiplayer component came out just days before 2042) have prepare a high bar for Battlefield 2042 to meet. Unfortunately, the game comes up well brusque.
At that place are fleeting moments when everything comes together in Battlefield 2042. Both Gamble Zone and Portal offer something new, which defended players will likely come to appreciate in the coming months. Withal, the core experience is frustrating far more than often than it'south really fun.
At launch, Battleground 2042 feels more similar a patchwork foundation than a finished product. This year, developers have delayed many games until 2022, and I tin't milk shake the feeling that Battlefield 2042 probably should have been among them. This flawed shooter has potential, but could have done with some actress evolution time.
Later on such a rocky reception, a contempo written report suggests that EA is considering making Battlefield 2042 free to play in an endeavour to boost its quickly dwindling thespian base of operations.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/battlefield-2042
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