On the surface, the battlefield experience resembles most other modern shooters. It is often summarised into soldiers who cause serious physical harm to their enemies in creative ways. The problem is that if you ask 10 battlefield veterans what their battlefield experience is, they are likely to get 10 different answers. So, how do you take it and create something that everyone is happy with?
I recently had the opportunity to play two large maps Battlefield 6 At launch and new escalation game modes. These all-out-vehicle playgrounds are not being held by anyone else. If Battlefield Studios wants to set up a 2042 record straight, that’s right.
Milack Valley and the best-favorite Operation Fire Storm of all time were the two biggest combination arm maps of Battlefield 6 at launch, and playing them felt like setting off in old, bullet-filled, burnt pants. It was comfortable in the way I felt hopeful and was enough view to excite me.
Loading into Miraku Valley, I find a lot of rocky terrain, some built areas in the center, and a lot of space in between. It is easy to see that this lack of cover can be dangerous to human shape. So you’re riding a nearby tank and heading towards the least billed point. I met a roar of jets flying over my head, a sporadic gunshot in the distance, and a jeep that retreated my ride and constantly squealing at the corner. i’m back.
A game of decline and flow of conquest. This is a mode that rewards aggressive plays, and if you get glory, victory can escape. So I’m looking for some action. This time on foot, we will slowly sprint through two under-constructed buildings that serve as central presences in Miraku Valley.
I’m not welcome on construction sites – I’m currently full of players from the opposing team – and soon I’ve returned to the respawn screen. I have a Medic nearby, but even if that’s what I’m doing, I won’t blame them for not risking their lives trying to save my life. People play differently, and that’s kind of a point.
The rest of the round is in front and back, with the two central buildings with hot spots, and are also heavily contested by soldiers and vehicles. The destruction is prominent, but it does not affect the readability of the landscape. There are no Revolution level events here, but it’s a bit off the spectacle, but the game works well for that.
As we saw in the beta version, destroying your environment has a real impact on how you interact with it. Removing the facade of a building creates covers for yourself and your team, exposing residents. It also creates some real obstacles of heavy armor that otherwise destroys you in an instant. Small destruction advances have a greater impact on second to second gameplay than you think. If you do, evolution, not evolution, not levolution.
You can hide inside the tiled ble of a currently flattened building and juke attack helicopters. It provides a way to get away by mistake, but I don’t think I can pull that trick again. A friendly fighter came to my rescue when I was hiding and running out of places and I’m grateful – they’ll be playing heroes.
These combined arm maps are beautiful in a way. It is a complete group of strangers working towards a common goal. You can feel like the cat is trying to get your team to play purpose, but it often comes together, and when it is, it’s nothing more than the sparkle of the film.
The second map I played is one that should be very used to by battlefield veterans. Operation Firestorm is back and looks beautiful. I played two rounds of escalation. This is the latest addition to the BF6 game mode roster. It is very similar to other conquest games, with a team of 32 each capable of fighting 5 points. The difference is that if you hold more points than the opposition, the meter will chop and award your side when it is filled.
Each time a team scores, the control point closest to the spawn disappears, adding more vehicles to the mix. What begins as a standard conquest experience increases into a chaotic battle over a handful of control points, with armor and aviation support piercing the landscape with an explosion.
The first round was very close and the chemical container in the center of the map became a no-go area for us without bulletproof skin. I used the increased vehicle reserves to command anti-aircraft tanks and did my best to support those who plunged into that point.
I was only indirectly in combat, but I defeated the attacking helicopter and the deterrent jet and opened a short window to control it. It was a nail biting finish, but it sold me in escalation mode more than any explanation, so I didn’t even have to get my hands dirty.
The map itself looks exactly how I remember it from bf3 days. Conversely, it is proof of how much work has been done to keep Operation Firestorm up to date. Players’ expectations were higher than ever, and since the bars on the battlefield map have increased ten times since 2011, it was fun to see familiar locations function perfectly well by today’s standards. We also led multiplayer producer Jeremy Chubb and design director Shashank Uchir to talk about the process and direction behind this scale’s remake.
I’ve always preferred meat grinder confusion. There are intense battles in intense spaces, gaining ground every meter and generally more focused breakthroughs. Escalation offers a little more structure for what can sometimes become a round of aimless conquests, and we look forward to how it unfolds in the rest of the map roster. Reduction of vehicle ramps and critical areas is calculated to set up the grandstand finish. It works.
Playing Battlefield illuminated how Battlefield is played, due to be coming on October 10th, when the BF6 release date is rolled. We’ve seen a fierce quarterly massacre, and now we’ve tasted a massive war, so it looks good. Battlefield 6 appears to be improving and expanding what has become the standard in the first place. It’s a coordinated effort to wash the bad taste of 2042 from our collective mouths. It’s a return to someone you’re familiar with, only on scales and level of detail that have not been seen yet.
