Battlefield 6 Review – A Grounded Step in the Right Direction

Battlefield 6 Review

It's been 4 long years since the last Battlefield graced gamers' screens. The latest entry in the beloved franchise was the poorly received Battlefield 2042. Here at COGconnected we gave away Battlefield 2042 generous 90/100. Despite this, the lack of a single-player campaign, increased focus on futuristic technology, and forced cross-play between console and PC players – at least initially – were just some of the reasons fans were turned off. To its credit, the developers never gave up on Battlefield 2042 and have since continued to improve the game overall and provide content updates. This all 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 launched with the option to disable cross-play between console and PC players! To say that the developers listened to the fans would be an understatement.

Is this what Battlefield fans have been waiting for?

Call of Duty-Lite

The Battlefield 6 campaign doesn't feel like a Battlefield campaign at all. In fact, it's more Call of Duty-Lite than Battlefield, and that's very disappointing. We already have annual Call of Duty releases, Battlefield needed to be something different. When gamers think of Battlefield, they imagine epic battles spanning vast areas. They think about vehicle combat, destructible environments and minimal restrictions. Battlefield 6's campaign isn't like that.

The campaign takes place in 2027 in an alternate reality where the NATO Alliance is threatened by the private military corporation Pax Armata. The first level of the campaign begins with a relatively simple but emotionally distressing experience. This is definitely a brilliant way for Battlefield 6 to hook players. A year later, after the opening level, we enter the world and are introduced to Dagger 13, a team of American NATO soldiers who invade a woman's home and spend the rest of the game intimidating her for information. All of these post-level moments are cinematic cutscenes and are meant to set up the next flashback level of Dagger 13, essentially giving the player puzzle pieces of what happened in the previous year.

Despite attempts to make these cinematics clever and vague, they usually contain a pretty significant spoiler for what will happen in the next level. In fact, some of the most monumental moments are captured so poorly in these videos that the overall impact of the actual game moments is almost laughable. In short, the storytelling is hampered by terrible design decisions and writing.

Team composition

As mentioned, each subsequent level follows Dagger 13 into these flashback moments. Essentially, you are reliving the events that happened from the first level to the present day. At different levels you will control different members of Dagger 13. This gives the player some variety in both weapons and abilities. In most levels, you'll also encounter other squadmates to whom you can issue minor squad commands, such as attacking nearby enemies or using their abilities such as smoke or explosives. Well, except for one level that's sort of thrown in there so you can clumsily control a tank – it's still fighting the Pax Armata, just from a different NATO ally's perspective. I won't spoil the story, just don't expect anything unique or interesting.

Beautiful battles

Flat areas look amazing. Make no mistake: one of the features of Battlefield 6's campaign is its impressive graphics and expansive vistas. The problem is that you can only experience a narrow window of these levels. If you deviate even the slightest from the expected path, you will see a prompt to “leave the level.” If you act too quickly, you will be prompted to return to the battlefield. In fact, there were buildings you could walk through, and some rooms wouldn't even allow you to explore the entire room without prompting you to return to the fight.

There was one point late in the campaign where I used a drone to tag enemies. I got too close to the enemies and instead of the drone just dying, I received a warning that I had left the battlefield and was given a countdown to return. Even though I returned the drone directly above my character, the countdown didn't stop and I failed the sequence and had to restart the checkpoint. Another similar problem occurs when you try to move from area to area. If you move too fast, you will end up at enemy spawn points. There were countless times throughout my campaign where enemies appeared all around me, out of thin air, because I moved too quickly to a certain area.

Back to the battlefield

Despite the poorly executed campaign, Battlefield really shines in its multiplayer mode. Here you will be given a choice of different multiplayer modes. Multiplayer features many different modes such as Conquest, Breach, Charge, Team Deathmatch, Domination, King of the Hill and the new Escalation mode.

Despite the extensive offerings, I kept returning to the iconic Conquest mode. Taking part in epic battles trying to capture and hold objectives on the map can be exciting. The one thing that makes Battlefield so special is the overall atmosphere with battles raging all over the place. And the feeling of tension as you try to capture an objective, just hoping the enemy doesn't engage.

Crossplay OFF

Of course, multiplayer has its problems. While they thankfully included the option to disable cross-play between PC and console players, for some reason they didn't provide the option for cross-play on console only. So, Xbox players can only play with Xbox players if they have cross-play disabled. This is a missed opportunity and they should have allowed Xbox and PlayStation players to play together.

Another interesting change in Battlefield 6 is the ability for different classes to use each weapon. Personally, I think this is good, especially because I enjoy completing quests, and if my daily quest involves a certain class and a certain weapon, I can work on both at the same time.

Unfortunately, the only downside to Battlefield 6 is the lack of a skill-based matchmaking system (SBMM). SBMM has been a Call of Duty staple for many years and is designed to maintain a level of balance between players in a match. The days of full-fledged matches are over. In SBMM you will be compared to other players of roughly the same skill level. Battlefield hasn't gone this route, so it's not uncommon for matches to end with very lopsided scores. It looks like Call of Duty may be ditching SBMM in favor of Black Ops 7, so both shooters will suffer from some shaky matchmaking mechanics in the future.

Battlefields

Multiplayer battles at launch will take place across 9 different maps, including Operation Firestorm, which returns from Battlefield 3. Some maps take place in urban environments, while others are much more expansive. There's definitely a lot of thought and thought put into creating these multiplayer maps, with plenty of options to navigate the maps on foot or in vehicles. In classic Battlefield tradition, you'll have to keep your head on the line because you can get killed from anywhere.

The players you play with can make or break your multiplayer experience. I would really like it if we had the ability to “rate” other players. Give props to players who actually complete objectives, tag enemies, and support teammates by dropping ammo and reviving them. Those who are considered team players are more likely to be matched together.

We may report players we suspect are cheating, but it remains to be seen how much cheating will impact the overall experience. I found that when I turned off cross-play, my multiplayer experience improved significantly.

Improvements

Battlefield 6 is an improvement on its predecessor in many ways. The single-player campaign has impressive graphics, but the gameplay and story leave much to be desired. Multiplayer is where Battlefield 6 shines and should keep players interested for the foreseeable future. I would really like the developers to give us console-only cross-play so that Xbox and PlayStation gamers can play together. Overall, I think I'll be playing Battlefield 6 more often than Battlefield 2042. It certainly won't take long. Battlefield 6 is a step in the right direction. But for future single-player campaigns, it might be worth considering bringing back Battlefield: Hardline or Battlefield: Bad Company.

***The key to Battlefield 6 was submitted for review by the publisher.***