I’ve played Battlefield 6 for 8 hours and it’s easily some of the most fun I have had with a game this year. I am a massive Battlefield fan. When I got my Xbox One in November 2013, my mom only let me get one game. I chose Battlefield 4 so I could finally enjoy 64-player matches and it was almost all I played for a full year. I was extremely high on this game and was subsequently disappointed when it was followed up by games like Battlefield: Hardline. Still, I put lots of hours into the follow-ups as well because they still scratched an itch I had for large scale warfare, something not really found in other games.
With that said, Battlefield 6 left me with a lot to chew on and I think fans will be really impressed with it once they get their hands on it. With that said, here are ten of my biggest takeaways from my time with the game.
10) Battlefield 6 Feels Like Classic Battlefield
First and foremost, Battlefield 6 feels like the successor to Battlefield 4 that I have waited over a decade for. The fights are intense, the destruction is immense, and all-out warfare has never felt more prominent. Despite going back to 64-players, after 2042‘s 128-player matches Battlefield 6‘s scope and scale is tremendous. It feels gritty, grounded, and like the casual modern day military shooter that has been largely absent for years.
9) The Class System Is Back
Battlefield 2042 messed up a lot of essential pieces that make up a Battlefield game. One of the biggest screw ups was radically changing how classes work with things like Specialists, hero characters that had special abilities like grappling hooks. It felt like the class you played as didn’t really matter as much anymore and it hindered squad play. Battlefield 6 has brought back the old class system which emphasizes the role you play in-game.
While there have been some tweaks, everyone’s role is defined and immediately apparent. Assault leads the charge by blowing up defenses with explosive launchers and using ARs to quickly and efficiently take enemies down. Engineer repairs and destroys vehicles using tools and launchers. Support lays down suppressing fire with an LMG and keeps everyone supplied and alive with health/ammo packs. Additionally, they serve as a medic who can revive players using defibrillators. Finally, Recon tactically moves around the map to call out enemy positions while sniping them from afar.
Battlefield 6 will allow players to use any weapon in any class if they choose, but there are playlists that limit classes to the weapons that are signature to them (like sniper rifles for Recon). Battlefield Studios focused on fleshing out gadgets for the classes have rather than specific weapons, which allows roles to have more clarity. It’s a much better change than just building the classes around their guns, as now it encourages you to think about how you can help your team on the battlefield.
8) Drag and Revive Mechanic Is a Game Changer
New mechanics like the ability to drag and revive someone sing in harmony with classic Battlefield staples like destruction, creating really cinematic moments as buildings fall apart around you while lugging someone to safety. Not only does it deepen the immersion, but it allows you to safely revive someone who is in the heat of battle. Ideally, it will also encourage players to help each other more now that there’s more control over how you revive someone. Regardless of your class, you can revive anyone in your squad this way. However, Supports are the actual medics who can revive the entire team and revive everyone much faster both through defibrillators and standard revive.
7) Battlefield 6 Has Great Maps
Battlefield 2042 had some really bad maps. The main issue is they were all way too big and you would run for two minutes without seeing anyone before being sniped. There was a lack of cover and the maps failed to funnel players toward the action. Battlefield 6‘s maps are a massive improvement and are designed to constantly keep you in the action. If you’re not actively in a fight, you’ll never be far from one as all of the objectives are appropriately spaced out to make it so you can feasibly move from one to another before it gets fully captured by an enemy. It’s refreshing to have maps that are this well-paced and of course, also easy to leave in ruin thanks to the destruction.
6) Destruction Returns in a Big Way
This series is known for its destruction, but some games have done it better than others. The golden age of Battlefield (Bad Company – Battlefield 4) really nailed it and Battlefield 1 did a good job of simulating a gritty war-torn city or region, but things fell off with Battlefield 2042. Battlefield 6 really ups the ante as you decimate city blocks with grenades, bullets, and tank shells. Numerous buildings can be completely leveled, you can blow up floors to bring people down to the bottom floor and eliminate vantage points, and walls can be blasted apart to create new entrances. This is by far and away the best destruction in any Battlefield to date. It’s detailed, chaotic, and epic. It’s a promising comeback after 2042 failed so miserably in this department.
5) Vehicles Are The Best They’ve Been in Years
One thing that separates Battlefield from its competition is the vehicles. Jets, helicopters, cars, and tanks all help fill out Battlefield’s extensive arsenal of weapons and tools to win the war. Air vehicles are fun and somewhat easy to fly (it takes a few times if you’re not familiar), but they require a lot of skill to master and to avoid being taken out by anti-air weapons. Tanks are a blast and is where I spent the most of my time when commandeering vehicles.
There’s also an infantry tank that has a 12-round cannon that allows you to rapidly fire on enemies. A direct hit is an instant kill, but it has a powerful blast radius that allows you to flush people out of cover. It’s a devastating piece of equipment that can quickly bottleneck flank routes that enemies may be using. It also has a guided rocket system to fight against vehicles and destroy buildings and a secondary machine gun that can be used by another player.
4) Punchy Gunplay and Snappy Movement Makes This One of the Best Playing Battlefield Games to Date
Battlefield 6‘s gunplay is incredibly satisfying. Every gun feels extremely powerful and while some could use some balancing (like shotguns), they are all viable weapons for taking down enemies. Battlefield Studios has found the perfect balance when it comes to time-to-kill that allows you to take down enemies quickly and efficiently, but also provide enough time for you to fight back so long as your reaction time is there.
The movement is also surprisingly deep as players can slide, dive, and roll around on the ground to ensure they have full control over how their player moves. It gets rid of a lot of jank that was present in some of the older Battlefield titles. However, none of this is as arcade-y as something like Call of Duty. These things feel grounded and not like you’re in a John Woo movie, so don’t expect the pacing to be massively accelerated
3) A Surprising Lack of Bugs
While I ran into some issues during my time with Battlefield 6 such as matches freezing up, they were things I would expect in a pre-release build. 2042 was filled with lots of bugs and strange issues, such as hovercrafts being able to climb buildings and fly through the map. I didn’t see anything like that in Battlefield 6. It was a fairly polished experience and helped ease some concerns about a bumpy launch. While it’s still possible more bugs will pop up in the final release and upcoming beta, it definitely doesn’t seem to be as egregious as some past launches.
2) Server Browsers Are Back
I didn’t get to utilize this myself during my time, but we were told that server browsers will be returning in Battlefield 6. This will be via the game’s Portal mode, mostly used for custom games. However, there’s nothing really stopping anyone from just making a standard playlist and making their own map rotation. Players will be able to earn regular XP and progress as normal in this mode, so it can serve as a way to curate the kind of Battlefield experience they want without compromising their ability to level up and earn items.
1) Battlefield Studios Is Really Listening
It was evident that the team at Battlefield Studios is really listening. They want to know how to make the game better and even assured those at the preview event that some of their concerns have already been fixed in future builds of the game. Provided there aren’t egregious networking issues at launch like with 2042 and Battlefield 4, this has the potential to be the Battlefield game we’ve all wanted and that is partially due to the fans being heard.
Battlefield 6 will release on October 10th for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC.
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