Ahead of its upcoming beta, Screen Rant was invited to play three hours of Battlefield 2042. It’s perhaps one of the most chaotic games of 2021, but largely in the best way possible. The massive tornadoes, exploding rocket ships, and 128 players all battling for supremacy on a map results in a relentless, dynamic experience that is consistently fun. Battlefield 2042 feels like the culmination of many of the franchise’s best pieces, creating a fiery cocktail of epic spectacle.
The play session featured all of the content in the upcoming Battlefield 2042 beta, which runs from October 6 – October 10. All of the action took place on Orbital, a rocket launch facility on an island in South America. 128 players collide in a game of Conquest, a fight to gain control of various facilities across the island. Players enter the battle sporting a number of near-future vehicles, gadgets, and guns. It’s the tactical return to modern warfare fans have been craving, with some new flair.
The new specialists in Battlefield 2042 are a subtle addition to the game. Each specialist in Battlefield 2042 has a unique gadget, such as a syrette gun that heals at long range, or a turret to place down. While there are more specialists that have yet to be revealed, none of these characters radically change the game for the worse.
Things like the new grappling hook have a cooldown and a certain range, so players can’t swing around with it like Spider-Man. That said, it’s a great way to traverse the map and an even better tactical tool. Players have a harder time controlling vertical vantage points, such as rooftops, as they can’t just guard some elevators or stairs. On top of the risk of an air vehicle dropping off players, someone with a grappling hook could stealthily sneak up on the side of the building and wipe out the enemy. It’s just one of many ways the specialists in Battlefield 2042 help push the gameplay forward.
Beyond the grappling hook, the movement has other new features like sliding, seemingly taking a page out of the Apex Legends book. Players can slide wherever they please, whether it be to avoid danger or to quickly and efficiently get down a hill. These may seem like obvious things to include in a 2021 shooter, but it’s the first time this series has utilized this, and it’s a small addition that makes a notable impact on gameplay.
Another big gameplay innovation is the dynamic weather. Heavy rain sees droplets trickle down the sides of the gun, some subdued rays of sunshine press through the clouds to create pockets of light on the battlefield, and lightning instills a feeling of danger as it furiously strikes the ground around the player. It’s the kind of atmosphere that no other shooter has been able to replicate at this scale to this point, and it’s only cemented by the big selling point: tornadoes.
The tornadoes in Battlefield 2042 are ridiculous. As storms brew on the map, a tornado will sometimes come in at random. The twister will pick up and destroy virtually everything in its path, including players and their vehicles. Should players get sucked up in the tornado, they’ll fly with it until they manage to untether themselves from it and parachute away. If they’re in a car, they’ll usually get flung across the map and smash into the ground.
Some of the “Levolution” effects in Battlefield 4 were a bit anti-climactic if the player was actually caught in the midst of it. For instance, the player would usually just fall over and die as the camera glitched out when the building fell in Siege of Shanghai. This isn’t the case with the tornadoes in Battlefield 2042. As players get near the tornado, the HUD begins to glitch and the actual act of getting picked up is rather intense. The character flails their arms and begins to scream as the screen gets dark and they get thrown into the sky. It’s fun, and there’s even the chance this could be used strategically if the player uses it to parachute to a key point on the map or escape a firefight.
Is this just a gimmick? It’s possible, but it seems like the game will get a lot of usage out of it before players tire it out. The tornado’s path in Battlefield 2042 is different in each match – if it even spawns – so it has a real chance of interfering with players. If there’s a fight for an objective, the tornado could come in and throw things around or completely remove players from the equation. It’s not like players can just completely avoid it each game because they know it’s coming, as there’s a high chance they’ll end up in its path of destruction simply due to the fact it’s not predictable.
Aside from the tornado, the moment-to-moment destruction of Battlefield 2042 may not be what some would’ve hoped for, however. Since Battlefield 2042 is a cross-gen game, it seems there have been some compromises. The actual act of blowing out walls and plowing through buildings isn’t too dissimilar from the last few games. It feels less like dynamic and truly reactive destruction and more like canned animations. Anyone expecting to freely level entire buildings will likely want to temper their expectations, as there’s nothing significantly pushing the destruction forward in this game.
The map itself is massive, possibly to a detriment, as there is a lot of empty space between the many objectives. Even though Battlefield 2042 has 128 players on current-gen and PC, DICE may have scaled the maps to be a bit bigger than they need to be. These open areas between the chaos are filled with all kinds of trees and foliage, but outside of some lone snipers, it’s likely players won’t find any engagement out here. Instead, players are encouraged to take vehicles to and from the various hot spots on the map. Thankfully, there’s a tablet that can call in vehicles at any time, so no one has to stay stranded or sprint for several minutes to the different points on the map.
Generally speaking, the vehicles in Battlefield 2042 are versatile in combat. For instance, the brand-new MV38-Condor (a VTOL-esque transport vehicle) has a grenade launcher on the bottom, which can be used to outwit unsuspecting enemies while unloading troops onto an objective.
That said, DICE has radically changed the controls for piloting air vehicles and made them cumbersome to use. They feel too floaty and disorienting, leading to a lack of satisfying or tight controls. It’s easy to look up and see other players comically spiraling into buildings as they try to figure out how to fly. Perhaps this will be a non-issue as players learn how to use them, but the feeling of flying was largely perfected in Battlefield 3 and 4, making it strange to try and reinvent it for this new entry.
Although there are some imperfections, Battlefield 2042 is a remarkable comeback and could be the shot of adrenaline the series needs. The grand scale and small yet noteworthy innovations help advance the series while paying tribute to its prior best moments. DICE still has lots to show off in the form of other maps and modes, such as the incredibly mysterious Hazard Zone, but what’s here already is promising. So long as the game sticks the landing, Battlefield 2042 could be one of the best shooters of 2021.
Battlefield 2042 releases on November 19, 2021 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC.
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