Creeping from cover to cover, slowly advancing through rubble covered New York avenues, I’ve finally flanked the enemy forces to capture an unoccupied Control Point. With a painfully slow counter moving at near glacial speed, I’m praying not to catch the eye of the nearby encamped sniper. Slowly breathing a sigh of relief, I’ve taken the point, praying for this to be the pivotal moment that turns the tide of battle. All before a helicopter explodes overhead, showering the area in flaming steel, walls start smashing down, troops appearing from every direction, bullets whining off of the sides of the tank that has just crashed through the shopfront.
Firing in a blind panic as I realise I’m hugely overwhelmed, cries for medics ringing in my ears, I go down in a hail of fire from the mounted jeep that’s just screeched around the corner. The C4 strapped to the front detonates, launching grunts in all directions, bodies strewn like discarded mannequins. I can’t wait to respawn and do it all again in a moment. Oh yeah, this is the return of Battlefield.
During my time with multiplayer, I’ve had the opportunity to try out all maps and game modes. For the uninitiated, Battlefield’s classic game mode is Conquest, two armies all vying to capture and hold points on the map whilst whittling the opposing force’s reinforcements to zero. Beyond this, there are variants of attack and defend such as Rush, where you’ll be planting bombs on control points as the enemy attempt to defend, or Breakthrough, a push through enemy lines whilst your dwindling numbers force ever more desperate attacks. Add to this classics such as King of the Hill, Team Deathmatch and more, you’ve got a mode to suit every mood.
One consistent truth is that you will always have a better time playing with a squad of friends, each taking on the role of one of four archetypes to best cover all bases. Whilst playing the game with a bunch of strangers can (and will) work, the general lack of communication makes for a less involved experience than good old fashioned teamwork with your mates.
Battlefield 6 multiplayer
Moment to moment, Battlefield 6 feels really responsive with traversal feeling smooth as you mantle and climb around each map. Gunplay feels solid, if admittedly a little lighter than I might like, with the shotgun being as overpowered as ever, one-shotting at close range and still deadly even at a distance. Part of me wants a rebalance, the other part wants to run into crowds of enemies, screaming as buckshot flies everywhere, racking up those kills.
The time to kill (TTK) feels like a divisive choice. Faster than older games in the series, yet not as quick as Call of Duty, it makes for a strange midground that I’ve gotten used to but I can certainly see the Reddit posts complaining already. With TTK being better suited to the close-quarters, infantry only maps, it can feel a little unfair when you’re swiftly taken down from across the map by an assault rifle on the more open, large scale maps.
The awards you’ll gain during battle for completing various tasks such as multi-kills, vehicle usage, or resupplying squad members used to be a neat little touch whilst playing, letting you know that you were doing well. Whilst still in Battlefield 6, this information is displayed much less prominently than previous entries which is a shame and I think will be missed by many, relegated to the bottom left of your HUD and a blur of information post game.
The sound of war is just mind-blowing. Simply amazing. On more than one occasion I’ve found myself ducking as massive explosions catch me off guard, a thunderclap that sets your pulse racing. Heavy armour rolling over rubble, pained death cries, explosive shotgun blasts and the rattle of machine gun fire all sound fantastic. It’s as close as I want to come to being in the middle of an active war zone. Do yourself a favour and set the audio option to War Tapes.
All of the war-torn fields of battle look pretty darn great, if that can be said about half collapsed apartment blocks, barns missing roofs, or flaming oil refineries. There’s a grit and realism to textures from crumbling brick work and oozing muddy trenches to the shiny assault rifle casings and battle scarred abandoned vehicles that feels just right for a game that strives to put you in the thick of realistic feeling conflict. Combine that with the total destruction of buildings and fortifications as munitions slam into them and it makes for some truly memorable moments with dust and gravel flying everywhere.
I’ve never been a big vehicle user in Battlefield other than to quickly race across the map on a quad but having tried out the array of jets, tanks, helicopters and jeeps in this latest instalment, I can see myself becoming a convert. Tanks feel beefy, crashing through walls and infantry alike and there’s something so satisfying about blasting apart that building a pesky sniper has been harassing your team from for the past five minutes. Helicopters and jets are harder to get to grips with (it’s probably my age) and I have the utmost respect for players who make manoeuvring them around the map look easy.
Battlefield 6 campaign
Additional input on the campaign from Chris White.
The campaign not only acts a a perfect tutorial to the star attraction, but also offers fantastic story featuring some superb set pieces and intense action. The story centres on the private military company of Pax Armata and its dominion over the world as a fractured NATO begins to crumble. Treaties and partnerships in place since World War 2 are over. Pax is a dangerous threat that needs to be stopped. As members of a group of Marine Raiders known as Dagger 13, it’s your job to restore under and uncover the secretive happenings going on behind the scenes.
The story follows a single narrative that begins to unravel in a house in Virginia. Dagger 13 are questioning CIA agent Mills as she starts to uncover twists and betrayals that cut to the very heart of your unit. After cutscenes where you talk to Mills, each mission takes place across various locations such as Gibraltar, USA, and Egypt. The intensity of its gunplay remains consistent throughout, but the way you utilise each member’s skillset allows different approaches to the missions.
You’ll end up playing as most of the members of Dagger 13. Some of these characters have great abilities and you’ll get a taste for piloting a drone as Gecko or utilising a grenade launcher as Murphy lets you see just how affective it’s going to be in multiplayer. Your squad can also be ordered to carry out quick and effective tasks alongside you in battle. By pressing the left shoulder button and issuing a command, enemy locations can be revealed and grenades can be launched when you need it the most.
Despite the severity of war, the locations are intricately detailed and almost lifelike. Moving through the dense neighbourhoods of Brooklyn and nearby Prospect Park; driving a tank with the pyramids of Egypt in the background; or parachuting into a sun-drenched Gibraltar makes for some breath-taking moments. The set pieces are stunning. Not only are the locations gorgeous, but Battlefield 6 has some incredible moments that stick with you for a while.
It never gets boring either. No two missions feel the same, and the culmination of the Dagger 13 world tour ends in one of the most frantic and grand all-out wars I’ve ever witnessed in a Battlefield campaign. It does have those familiar tropes such as almost reaching Exfil only to see your vehicle blown up for the hundredth time, or seeing a character’s death a mile off thanks to some obvious exposition. Still, it does little to shake the fact this is an impressive campaign.
With the promise of post-launch content, Battlefield 6 looks to be a game that keeps on giving. Portal mode is back, allowing players to craft their own game modes with custom rules and content that spans the entirety of the series. It’s going to be interesting to see what creative minds come up with within the wider Battlefield community, hopefully not just XP farms to grind out levels. I’m very pleased to say that a server browser is also available, an option to finely tune your ideal choice of map, mode and gameplay style. I know that this will be a welcome feature for many players, allowing you to play Battlefield on your own terms, be it favourite maps or just searching for lower ping servers.
A solid and enjoyable entry in this long running franchise, Battlefield 6 is a return to its roots in many ways: an explosive warfare experience that puts you bang in the middle of the action with unique opportunities every moment and a seemingly never ending amount of customisation. However, by not committing to the frantic pacing of some modern shooters or the more methodical pacing of earlier series entries, there’s a risk that neither fanbase will be fully satisfied by what’s been offered. Only time will tell, but that’s a tour of duty that I’m more than willing to sign up for.
