Battlefield 2042 - Community and Portal are not enough | PS5 review

You were the Chosen One! It was written that you destroy the competition, not that you join them! You had to bring balance to the FPS, not leave them in the dark!

Obi-Wan Kenobi after playing Battlefield 2042

If there is one thing we can be sure of when we talk about Battlefield is that the series, in its entirety, has always tried to deliver multiplayer moments not found in other games. Shoot down a Jet with a rocket launcher, destroy very tall buildings, jump off a parachute from a collapsing skyscraper: alongside the entries demolitions and revelry, in the dictionary there is always written Battlefield and DICE. And each new iteration of the Shooter almost always brings that extra bit of recklessness with it. Almost…

The latest installment of the series - which this year sees the collaboration of Ripple Effect Studios, Criterion Games and EA Gothenburg - promised revolutions both from the point of view of Gameplay, offering for the first time in the history of the Franchise only the Multiplayer mode, and of “Destructibility” with its great Tornades and random climatic alterations. Mission accomplished? Meh ...

Bullets for everyone

We were left with a big question mark at the end of our preview Playtest: spectacular graphics, blood and sand, dynamic weather and a few too many hitches. Having been able to play Battlefield 2042 to its full potential - so with full servers, and not just populated by a handful of reporters and bots - I have to admit to having mixed feelings.

The new chapter of the DICE FPS series is a Cerberus. Like the hell hound, BF2042 also has three heads: Hazard Zone, Portal e All-Out Warfare which includes the "classic" modes of the series: Conquest e Breakthrough.

The latter remains one of my favorites because it actually gives meaning to war. The idea of ​​having to repel the assaults of the enemies, or on the contrary having to overcome the defensive trenches, in order to advance the map and claim areas leaves that taste of dirty war that all users look for in a war fps. Furthermore, there is always the feeling of having a clear goal despite the chaos of gunfights raging in the background; it really feels part of a team, and if played with headphones and a microphone - obviously via Discord and the like, as DICE has declared that in-game chat is outdated - the sense of camaraderie that comes with it is sky-high.

I am not convinced by the Conquest mode instead. In this case the map is "free" from the start of the game and has areas to capture to ensure victory.
The games played in this mode have always turned out to be so much, too chaotic, without a minimum of team understanding since in essence the type of challenge offered by Conquista results in a "get to the area first, make it yours, kill whatever you walk in the vicinity ". In Beta it might have looked nice because the servers were sparsely populated, but now up 128 players there are 256 tanks in game and it becomes exhausting to bear. Respawn in game and boom, a missile arrives that hits you in full.

Live, shoot, die, relive, repeat.

The situation is different if you have a team behind you - or if you simply play with friends - and you have found a way to get rid of the Chariots. There things can get more interesting, even if this, for me, is the Battlefield 2042 mode to play with the classic notebook in hand to set easily achievable goals. You have to make your way through the throng of 128 players - and trust me, it's not easy on your own - otherwise the game turns out easily boring and overwhelming.

The analysis of the modality is varied Hazard zone, in which 32 players divided into teams of 4 each compete to extract as many data units as possible from a war zone, having only two extraction windows available. Here there is a distinction to be made: the modality is beautiful, satisfying and leaves a lot of freedom of action to the platoon, but - reconnecting us to the Cerberus at the beginning - it is also a dog chasing its own tail.

Completing the data extraction, and therefore being able to use one of the two windows made available, allows you to collect credits useful for improving the starting equipment of each game. And so far there we are. Not taking advantage of the exit windows results in a searing defeat and zero credits in the pocket. It goes without saying that without upgrading, winning games is increasingly difficult - since firefights with other teams and with the AI ​​are often in the game - and this can lead to a sudden abandonment of the servers for this mode.

Play, collect the data, lose the extraction window. Repeat.

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Then, there is Battlefield Portal, il vero Game Changer. The mode that carries the whole cabin forward. Since its announcement it has been the mode that I thought had the most potential: Modes, maps, weapons and specialist skins from past Battlefields can all be mixed in one game - imagine playing with the heroes of Battlefield Bad Company on the map "Manifest: Caju Operation"Of BF3. Well you can do it!

And if you want to try your hand at something you can define your, the Community Build HUB is open to anyone with an EA Account. A simple browser login and the DICE world will be yours. Navigating through the menus is easy and intuitive, and the editor allows you to choose all possible parameters in order to create the best Battlefield Portal map in existence. From the special rules, to the number of players, to the map rotation: you decide.

The good and the bad weather

Unfortunately not all problems can be solved by the commitment of the Community, and one above all concerns the game maps.
Spectacular glance, destructibility at very high levels as per tradition, the dynamic weather feature that can turn the tide of an entire game if you don't pay attention to it but, there is a gigantic but. Often and happily there are not enough cover and this results in an All-Out Warfare - just like the title of the mode - which lasts a few seconds.

Alas the new ones Gargantuesche maps of Battlefield 2042 seem not to be designed to fit all game modes. On the one hand it is easy to find yourself in the Conquest mode having to run from one control point to another without the possibility of taking cover except behind small - but small - rocks, thus becoming prey of any sniper or group of enemies; same speech if you use the means, always many and instantly deployable with a simple pressure of the back buttons of the pad: you go faster, yes, but you are always prey to coordinated assaults.

On the other hand, as written a few lines above, the glance is phenomenal. I was delighted with how the map "Drift"Allows you to exploit the ice and oil tanks to your advantage to damage enemy tanks and set off permanent fires, as well as playing on"Hourglass”We pass from the sands of the Doha desert - and its tornadoes of sand - to the city full of skyscrapers. If the game goes well, all of this returns not only a beautiful dynamic landscape, but also an exciting battle.
The point is that, in any case, more coverage would be needed. Something to hide behind and group to make a circle and organize a game strategy, otherwise the story is always the same: live, shoot, die, relive, repeat.

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Even the specialists, the different character classes of the game, they differ only on paper. In some modes it seems completely indifferent which character you or anyone on your team brings into battle. Aside from looks, the only thing that makes them "unique" is a single ability: the Mackay's grappling hook, Casper's reconnaissance drone, Boris with his sentry turret and Falck's syringe gun. The rest of the equipment is up to the player. So here is that if you feel like an attacker but you want the security of being able to withstand multiple enemy shots, you can easily opt for Falck as a specialist in order to take advantage of his healing gun and equip it fully to face tanks.

Unlike previous Battlefields there are no restrictions on the type of weapon and equipment for each character, so even the definition of "Specialist" leaves the time it finds and it leads back to a simple Skin.

On the PlayStation 5, on a purely visual level, the game is played with a resolution equal to 1260p con frame rate tecnicamente a 60 fps. I say technically because some drops in frame rate are not rare that also affect the aiming system which, as in the Beta, would need a refresh since the weapon always tends to compensate for the dispersion of the shots with an unpredictable recoil. and little controlled.

Last, in order of time, the criticism to be made is al collision system.

Large, destructible maps require time and attention to detail, and probably not everyone at DICE has been very alert. An annoying when unusual glitch allows, in fact, to enter the textures of some buildings and hide inside so as to have a view on the outside world and be able to shoot freely at other unsuspecting players. No bueno.

Final considerations

I had high hopes for Battlefield 2042.
I was hoping it could bring a breath of fresh air into the world of FPS now heading towards Battle Royale modes - See CoD Vanguard which still falls into the cauldron of Warzone - but, at the moment, it is not. Spectacular graphics and dynamic weather cannot be enough to save a product that has to rely on Portal mode and the community to give its best. The bugs and glitches that plagued the Open Beta have not been completely solved and, in a very honest way, I have to say that perhaps it was better to delay the release of the game still to be able to present to the whole world something complete and spectacular like it was expected.
Battlefield 2042 is not to be thrown away, mind you, but it does need time.
It is like a young player who must gain experience before reaching the first team; it all lies in understanding whether the public will want to wait for it to blossom.