Battlefield 2042 Feels Unfinished

For the last week I have been playing Battlefield 2042 quite a bit thanks to early access and managed to get a strong feel for it. Battlefield 2042 has drawn a lot of attention since being released earlier this year thanks to its near future setting and its modern day look and feel. It is what almost every Battlefield player wants, a modern game that provides a fun multiplayer experience. But is this what Battlefield 2042 actually gives to the players?

Straight off the bat, it’s not the most stable experience and that is putting it lightly. The game is riddled with bugs and glitches that make the game very hard to play. So, that is what I am going to start with in this review.

Riddled with bugs

This game has a lot of problems in early access and it looks like they are going to be persistent even into the full launch on the 19th. There are some glitches that will test your patience and others that will test your temper and a lot in between. And I will get into the specifics. First is that there have been quite a few server problems, including slow loading times, long matchmaking times and regular connection problems, and no one likes those. Another is the bullet deviation, and it is an absolute pain to deal with. The number of gunfights you’ll lose because of this issue is simply frustrating. And then there are a few issues that are just a nuisance, like button prompts not going away and stuff like that and it makes the game a bit of struggle to play at points.

If not for the issues I am sure that this game would be great. But none of us enjoy waiting 10 minutes for a game and then being done over by bullet deviation and a huge range of glitches. So, this is a big let-down off the start of the game. I am certain that these issues will be resolved quite quickly, but it isn’t feeling too great right now.

A Familiar Game Loop

With the main problem now out of the way, I want to move onto the core gameplay and game modes. Almost all of the game modes that you know and love are right here and combined with the massive maps and occasional environmental hazards make for an entertaining gameplay experience. The storms and tornadoes are all exciting additions that add a bit more chaos to the game, but once you have got a good feel for the game, you come to realise it is just the same gameplay experience from previous games with a modern theme and a bit of flair to it. It all feels the same as before.

But the one game mode I want to talk about specifically is Portal. This is the new game mode introduced with Battlefield 2042 where you can make your own custom games and rules in the maps that have been released from different Battlefield games over the years. There are different maps from Battlefield 3, Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. And I really like this concept and once users are used to the controls, I think this has a lot of great potential gameplay wise, but it just needs a little bit of time to be the best it can be. And this is definitely the best part of the game in my opinion as it adds a new experience that gives the player full control.

No Story to Tell

I imagine some people aren’t going to be very happy over the lack of a story mode, and this is a point I want to quickly mention. I think the decision to not make a story mode was a good one, the stories normally told through Battlefield games aren’t very good and the vast majority of the player base only case about the multiplayer. So it only makes sense to take it out.

The Essentials

The last point I am going to talk about is the essentials of your gameplay, and I will start off with the weapons. And I am very mixed in this area. As a whole there are 22 weapons that you can use. I don’t even have to explain what is bad about this. The few weapons are a big let-down as it restricts variety and is very limited especially when you compare to previous games. And when combined with the terrible bullet deviation it just makes for an incredibly basic and somewhat frustrating weapon experience. In terms of balancing, all of the weapons feel fine. I think snipers should have some magnification improvements just to make them a bit more viable considering map size. But I definitely think there should be more. 

And then onto vehicles. The vehicles didn’t do anything to amaze me being completely honest. Aircraft can at sometimes be a bit difficult to control and even when you do manage to get the grips of the controls, the aircraft feel somewhat basic. Tanks and normal vehicles are pretty much the same as previous entries, I wasn’t particularly amazed by them but they can be useful in some situations. Obviously with the maps being so large they are incredibly useful at going to different zones or traversing terrain, but it is all what you expect from a Battlefield game.

Specialists are essentially the classes in this game and provide different abilities and tools you can use throughout the game. Some of these feel quite good to use and can be useful in many situations, but overall, they lack in terms of originality. You have a specialist that can place down cover for you and your team mates, a specialist with a grappling hook that you can use to get to higher locations, you’ve got the medic you get with all Battlefield games, a specialist who can place a sentry gun, and more. Though I do think some of these are good, I just do not think they are very original and very much stick to the Battlefield formula.

The Verdict

There are all the points that I think are worth bringing up, and now it is time to give a judgement. Battlefield 2042 has had a very rocky start and behind the glitches and bugs that are plaguing the game off launch, is the same formula you expect with every Battlefield game. You’ve got wide open maps and massive game modes to compliment them. In terms of changes, I think they are very hit and miss, I think the Portal mode is brilliant and has a lot of potential, but other major additions like new specialists aren’t that mind blowing. But given the removal of a campaign, I definitely think there should be more in terms of gameplay. 

Overall, I am going to give the game a 5.5/10. The bugs off the start massively effect this game and make it a bit difficult to endure at points, giving it a very unfinished feel. But these are issues that can be resolved in the short term. My main complaint boils down to the incredibly familiar gameplay loop, and a lack of gameplay variety at that. Though I can see the entertainment in what is available, I am not very fond of it. But for those who enjoy Battlefield, I am sure you will enjoy it quite a bit. But that just about sums it up for this review, if you want to add your own thoughts then feel free to leave a comment below.