Battlefield 6 Review

The world has been craving a decent Battlefield game. I’d say the series has stood toe-to-toe with the likes of Call of Duty as a deep, rich alternative to the run-and-gun experience from Activision. In recent years, though, the Battlefield series has had a rocky road.

Battlefield 2042, in my opinion, massively missed the mark and dented the confidence of the hardcore community. This time around with Battlefield 6, we are promised a return to form. With extensive testing conducted through Battlefield Labs and the open beta, we are now in the launch phase for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. The question is, though, have the teams at DICE, Motive, Criterion and EA ticked off their promise?

Campaign Is A Short But Decent Spectacle

The campaign is short at around five hours of playtime, but I feel grateful that they have included one this time around. The only memorable campaigns I can recall were from the Battlefield Bad Company titles. In this story, you’ll be stepping into the boots of Dagger 13 across nine missions. With magnificent cutscenes and cinematics, it’s a great spectacle to get stuck into. I won’t spoil the story here, but ultimately it does feel like you’re following a fairly solid experience through some of the mapwork you’ll see later in multiplayer. Essentially, it is like playing against AI bots in similar-scale battles to what you’ll witness during the rest of the game.

Classic Multiplayer Modes With A Sprinkle Of New

Battlefield 6 launches with eight different multiplayer modes, with the portal being a custom suite with tailor-made modes from players and the developers. Below, I’ll go through the core multiplayer modes we have at launch.

Conquest – Conquest is back to basics with several capture points per map instead of sectors on 2042. Each side must fight to gain control of points and hold them as long as possible. Enemy tickets drain by holding points and gaining kills.

Breakthrough –  Breakthrough has been around for a little while now, with attackers and defenders contesting over sectors. Defenders must stand firm and prevent the attackers from pushing you back.

Domination – This mode will be very familiar, especially if you have played Call of Duty. This is close-quarters play on smaller maps with three capture points. Perfect if you want short blasts of gameplay and to level up those shotguns and SMGs.

King of the Hill –  King of the Hill is also on smaller maps with a rotating capture point, forcing all players to tackle one area at the same time, leading to intense firefights at close range.

Rush – Anyone who is a fan of Battlefield will know what Rush is. If you don’t, then it is a simple premise. Defenders must protect and guard a series of M-COM stations, whereas attackers must plant bombs on them in an attempt to destroy them. Once destroyed, the map will open up, and a few more stations will spawn. Attackers gain the victory by destroying all stations; defenders must deplete the enemy tickets to win.

Escalation – This is a new mode to Battlefield, which is a spin on the Conquest mode. Each team must try and capture and control points to raise a bar to gain a point. Once a point is gained, a capture point is removed, which makes the endgame an intense battle. The first team to three points wins the match.

Squad Deathmatch – In Squad Deathmatch, squads of four battle it out on smaller maps to gain the most kills. The squad with the most kills becomes victorious.

Team Deathmatch – Two teams of 32 will fight to gain the most kills.

Battlefield Portal Is Promising

In Battlefield 2042, things started strong with the promise of older maps being remade along with some of the previous weapons. However, due to the ongoing issues with the game, it didn’t gain much support beyond its launch. Here in Battlefield 6, however, it’s started really strong. Players are already creating their own modes in-game or via the Battlefield website.

The developers have put some great modes at the forefront of the Portal, including Hardcore Conquest. Want to be a jet pilot and just dogfight with other jets and not worry about ground combat, you can absolutely do that. I’d imagine that as time progresses and the community makes popular played modes, then DICE will push them forward to gain popularity and momentum. Plus, if, like me, you liked playing Shipment on Call of Duty, then someone has already recreated this. You can use search filters to find exactly what you want to play.

Battlefield 6 Is A Visual Masterpiece

Battlefield 6 is a visual masterpiece, especially on a high-end 4k TV or monitor. Immediately, I noticed how each map has been meticulously crafted similarly to the Battlefield 3/4 era. In the first few sessions, I couldn’t help but stop and admire how much better the game looked, even compared to the Beta build. Dynamic lighting is gorgeous with the rays of sunshine beaming through the windows and even through the plumes of smoke billowing out of destroyed buildings and the aftermath of explosions.

Destruction is a strong feature this time around and is a million times improved on BF2042. No two games ever really felt the same when it comes to how structures break into pieces. You always feel truly immersed, and I had this feeling when sniping from the top floor of a window, only for a tank to spot me and blow out the foundations of the building to send me crashing through the ceiling into the rubble below. There are a lot of WTF moments, and I love the spontaneous nature of debris tumbling down in the surrounding environments and the leaves flying off trees as helicopters and jets fly over you.

Weaponry, Vehicles & Progression

Battlefield 6 has a good arsenal of weaponry to start us off with 45 weapons spread across the game. Assault rifles, carbines, submachine guns, LMGs, marksman rifles, sniper rifles and shotguns galore. Alongside the sidearms throughout the game, there is also a plethora of attachments that you can customise weapons with. The game adopts a 100-point system, which allows you to kit out your gun with sights, grips, different mag sizes and more.

As with any Battlefield game, vehicles are a key component of the game. Tanks, ground transport, helicopters and jets all feature on the majority of maps. Progression is deep, with XP being earned and levelling for pretty much everything. Your overall rank unlocks more weapons and challenges as you progress. Each weapon has its own ranking system, which appears to be slower than I’d like. I found that sticking with a favourite weapon this early in the game will allow you to unlock all the attachments rather than swapping and changing.

Working through the challenges, earning dog tags, and weapon mastery will allow you to gain cosmetics for soldiers, weapons and vehicles. This really encourages you to surge into hundreds of hours and infinite gameplay if you really want it.

Every Echo, Every Subtle Footstep, Every Impact

The audio design in Battlefield 6 complements the fantastic visual work in almost every single way. Instantly, I heard the improvements in enemy footsteps, something that was a bit of a concern during the Beta. This game really needs to be played with a decent-quality headset with Dolby Atmos to fully experience every nuance of immersion. Hearing enemy gunfire rattle and crack in the distance, and the snap of a sniper firing at you, is just superb. If you don’t have the best of headsets or are using the audio on TV, the audio design is still impressive.

The soundtrack features licensed music from artists such as Limp Bizkit, Snoop Dogg, and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. It reminds me of back in the day, playing Battlefield Vietnam on the PC, where you could play custom tracks inside of vehicles.

Final Thoughts

Battlefield is so back! The development teams have delivered on the promise to bring the series back to its best. Whilst everything isn’t perfect, it isn’t far from being perfection across the board. Whilst the campaign isn’t the most memorable experience, it is worth playing through its five-hour-long adventure.

Where Battlefield 6 really shines is in the multiplayer modes, with impressive cinematics, destruction, and that 64-player classic gameplay we all know and love. I’d say this is a potential game of the year contender, which doesn’t just deliver gunfire and explosions, it catapults you into the immersion of modern warfare, where every single moment feels intense as it does unforgettable.