While the Battlefield community is still clearly figuring out all the ins and outs of Portal, I've already seen a number of cool modes since launch. Some game modes from these titles even make a return, which is great to see, since many of these games in question are hard to play on modern platforms. It also includes a number of different weapons, maps, and other callbacks to the larger Battlefield series, specifically with Battlefield 1942, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3. This is basically Battlefield's own version of Forge from the Halo series, as it allows players to create their own custom game types that are vastly different from the main modes. The last big element of Battlefield 2042, and the thing that I have had the most fun with in the game, is Portal. Getting killed by someone who has access to better gear while you're still rocking the most basic loadout imaginable got on my nerves a handful of times, and eventually wore down my desire to even play Hazard Zone. In theory, it makes sense to reward players in this manner if they achieve their tasks in Hazard Zone, but it also makes the mode feel a bit unbalanced. This currency can be obtained by playing and succeeding in matches of Hazard Zone, which means that the more often you complete the objective, the better your loadout will be in future runs. Rather than allowing you to choose virtually any loadout that you would prefer for a Hazard Zone match, Battlefield 2042 only gives you access to the most standard weapons and gear, unless you have currency to spend. It's basically Battlefield 2042's response to the battle royale genre, but rather than needing to be the last team standing, you simply have to retrieve certain items called "Data Drives" that are scattered across the map before then exfiltrating after a set period of time.Īfter initially enjoying how Hazard Zone matches were playing out, the thing that started to rub me the wrong way with this game mode came with how weapons and gear are doled out.
This is a game type that is more aimed at survival rather than large-scale, all-out war. Outside of the main 128-player fiesta that Battlefield 2042 offers, the game's other major offering is Hazard Zone. While I understand that adding Specialists to a game like Battlefield 2042 surely must be done carefully so that the experience as a whole remains balanced, I struggle to see why DICE wanted to go down this route in the first place if this is the end result. The times where I would use these "Gadgets," as the abilities are formally called, to help shift the tide of a certain battle were essentially nonexistent. Most of the Specialists contain abilities that I often didn't find myself using because they just weren't that handy. In a general sense, I think the idea of Specialists is fine here in Battlefield 2042, but it's the way they've been implemented that I don't love.
Each of these characters has their own class association that has been seen in other Battlefield games (Assault, Engineer, Support, Recon) to go along with their own unique abilities to set them apart. Rather than giving you a generic soldier to play as, the game offers up 10 different Specialists that you can select from. One of the other big changes that Battlefield 2042 has made comes with the addition of Specialists. This choice was seemingly done to make matches even more chaotic and outlandish than ever before, but instead, the opposite rings true.
Rather than featuring 64 total players in a match like we have seen in previous Battlefield titles, Battlefield 2042 doubles that number to 128. Likely the most notable thing that DICE got wrong with Battlefield 2042 came with the decision to scale up. Some of these problems have continued to linger since then, but the game has become a bit more stable in my own experience following a handful of new updates.Įven outside of the launch window problems that Battlefield 2042 has featured, it's everything else in the game that I'm greatly disappointed by. It was difficult for me to get into matches, and even when I would find a game, I was constantly met with stuttering or drastic slowdown that made it feel as if I was moving through molasses. When it launched via early access, I practically found the game unplayable in my first few days with it. To get this out of the way up front, the process of playing Battlefield 2042 in recent weeks has been a slog.