Anticlimactic

Battlefield 2042

Battlefield 2042
Rating: 3.5/5
Developer: EA DICE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, XBS
Price: PC: Rs 2,999; PS4, XBO: Rs 3,999; PS5, XBS: Rs 4,499

Battlefield 2042 paints a grim view of the future that is ravaged by climate change, and the scarcity of resources has pushed us to war. A futuristic setting also means futuristic weapons. After playing Vanguard, I can tell you that I prefer having a modern weapon any day. Unpredictable weather patterns are also supposed to change the tide of the battle and offer another element of game play.

The new Battlefield game has some significant changes over previous games. For one, there is no solo mode or campaign and you cannot play this game offline with AI bots. The latter probably has to do with the scale of the battle with 128 players on next-gen consoles and PC. While I didn't miss the poorly written stories, it did rob me of the chance to get familiar with the weaponry and controls. Instead, I had to learn the basics live in an online battle thrown in the middle of chaos.

The vast maps of Battlefield while, is a great selling point, in practice, it is too cumbersome. The 128 people limit is not enough for the size of these maps and sometimes spawn points can be far away resulting in your character walking, or driving if you are lucky to find a vehicle, for miles before getting into the thick of it. Once there, however, some of the battles and the chaos makes you feel like you are on a real battlefield with bullets flying everywhere as fighter jets and helicopters attack from above. It is thrilling until the point where you inevitably get killed, and you have to traverse again for miles to get back to the combat zone. Sometimes you can spawn closer to the action, but when you can't, it can be very annoying to play.

Even the warrior classes don't have much meaning because everyone can heal, repair and supply depending on the load out. This, in turn, had an impact on strategy and the whole game is just an unorganised mess. You can't effectively communicate with your team and the whole thing ends up going from one territory to the next, especially in all-out warfare.

Hazard zone, on the other hand, is a little more interesting. You are part of a four-person squad and the object is to recover data units from various locations on the map. There is a maximum of 32 players on the map. Each person can carry a maximum of three data drives. You can load out to carry more at the beginning of the game if you have credits. The drives then have to be taken to an extraction point. All players on the map receive the coordinates for extraction and usually, there is a lot of combat at these points. You also get one life in the game, though your teammates can get you respawned under certain conditions. Overall, Hazard zone is a lot of fun to play. If you have a squad of friends, coordination is a lot easier and more fun.

The weather element that was also touted in the game is a little bit of a letdown. Instead of dramatically changing the tide of the battle, it is little more than an inconvenience. I think Just Cause used the weather thing a lot more effectively than this game.

Since I played this game on an Xbox series S, I was restricted to a controller and that is not adequate for a game that requires quick reflexes. The game currently doesn't support a keyboard and mouse on consoles. There is a petition out asking EA to support keyboard mouse for Battlefield 2042 so hopefully, it will happen in the future.

Battlefield 2042 is large scale, chaotic and it feels like you are in the midst of war. The scale also means there is little to no strategy at play here. To push the boundaries of scale Battlefield has sacrificed some of its core strengths. Even with so many players, the maps seem empty and lifeless till you reach the action. Playing on a console is also not advised, at least till there is no keyboard mouse support. The scale and the chaos require the player to have faster reflexes which are just not possible with a controller. I would wait for the game to reach a lower price to pick it up for a wholesome experience.

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