Battlefield 6 enjoyed one hell of a beta before launch, and the sentiment going into the full release was one of a true COD contender once more. Having now beaten the campaign and spent some time dying repeatedly in online matches, I’m personally not convinced I like it more than last years Black Ops 6, but it has won me over more than any previous Battlefield has.
I’ve spent the majority of my time with the campaign in Battlefield 6. Running about 7 hours long, it’s an exercise in spectacle with the caveat that the surrounding story is about as forgettable as they come. We play as gruff military dudes and dudettes 1 through 4 as we alternate timelines and locations around the globe shooting anything that moves – and some stuff that doesn’t.
The story is told as a series of flashbacks during the Pax Armada rise – a militant group of peacekeepers turned hostile enemy – as our squad interrogates their old mission commander. And, to be honest, that’s about as much as I remember or really paid attention to after the opener. It’s all HooRah and Shooty Shooty Bad Guy, and is about as generic and bland as that implies, story-wise. As far as military campaigns go, this one will not last long in the memory for its story for sure.
Thankfully, the actual gameplay makes up for the weak tale by being both brutal and engaging at almost all turns. DICE certainly know how to make a gun feel good to use in a game, and the arsenal on offer here is put to good use. Shots feel weighty, grenades explode with a screen-shuddering force, and – weak melee combat aside – each fight is a thrilling example of how to do the shooties in a game.
Destruction of the environments has been Battlefield’s calling card for a long time, and DICE doesn’t miss an opportunity to let us wreck the place. Farm barns collapse in on themselves under heavy grenade fire, while one mission sees us sledgehammering through walls of a New York’s apartment block to get the drop on the foe, and later still huge buildings are collapsed in front of our eyes as all out war goes on around it.
The digital recreation of conflict can be thrilling, with the bluster and spectacle of some of the best Hollywood movies.. Seeing enemies pour out of hiding as the world falls apart, tanks rolling in, and rockets being launched, is constantly exciting, even a little overwhelming at times. Without spoiling too much, the final assault on a particular area is a cacophony of noise and destruction, and is easily the most spectacular part of the campaign. It can feel at times like we’re being encouraged to go all out assault though, only to be hamstrung by an invisible barrier or spawning enemies that appear behind us because we’ve moved too fast forward. But these moments are few and far between.
In fact, the only real downer in terms of the gameplay in the campaign is one level where we begin in a tank. I did not enjoy this part at all thanks to the awkward tank controls and enemies that took too much damage while seemingly easily rinsing my health. I was glad when I was finally able to get out of the tank, and get back to the on foot action.
So it’s all spectacle with some solid gunplay and encounters despite an uninspiring narrative wrapper to go with it. But it’s clear that this is just a taster for the real main event – the multiplayer.
As I said up top, I’ve not spent as much time playing this mode as the campaign, but I’ve put in a good handful of rounds and discovered two things; firstly, I suck at Battlefield 6. And secondly, the scale, carnage, and more freeform conflicts that emerge in Battlefield 6 are worlds apart from the more arena-like levels in COD, and it’s something I can see myself coming back to on the regular.
One Conquest match I joined was already partly underway, and as soon as I jumped in I was met with a wall of noise as jets and choppers were battling in the sky, distant shots were ringing out between two adjacent buildings as players were chipping away at each other, and others still were occasionally even playing the objective!
As the first real time I’ve tried to get into Battlefield proper, I’m frankly in awe of the scale of the fights and how much more interesting it is than the usual fare. Again, I’ve barely got my feet wet here, but already I can see the potential for some great game nights with friends as we slink our way around the huge maps to capture a point or get the jump on the enemy team.
There is of course the usual loadouts to build and spec up, and different classes to contend with, and each time we load into a game we’re assigned a random squad that (in theory) will stick together and help each other out. This is naturally going to work best when playing with friends as opposed to randoms, although I have had a little luck with some of my pairings so far.
Conclusion
All in all, Battlefield 6 feels very much like a game of two parts; the campaign is an exhilarating spectacle that lacks any narrative interest whatsoever, while the multiplayer is just all out chaos is the best way. It will have its learning curve for new players, but DICE certainly has a very good online shooter contender this time around, and it’s something that will keep drawing me back for some time as I attempt to get even remotely passable at it. Hopefully before the next game…
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
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