I have long since been a fan of the Battlefield franchise. In fact, the very first Battlefield game I played was Battlefield 1943, which was an arcade version released on Xbox all the way back in 2010.
It was soon after that that I discovered Battlefield Bad Company 2, and was sucked into the world. I was hooked on the large maps and vehicles. Explosions. Adrenaline pumping moments. It was great.
Battlefield 3 continued that trend for me, as well as into Battlefield 4. Both were amazing games that I put countless hours into on the Xbox 360. It seemed like with every addition, things were getting better and better.
Then…Hardline happened. I bought it, but couldn’t get into it. It just wasn’t the same. So, like most others, I went back to ol’ reliable BF4, and waited for the next title.
The next title turned out to be Battlefield 1; World War I. The trailer sparked a huge cheering from fans, as it looked intense and amazing. I was certainly part of the hype, and through the Beta loved it.
The release was…shaky. Soon, people began to realize that WWI wasn’t all they hoped it would be. The game was still fun, at least for me, and I put in a casual 100 hours. However…it just didn’t seem to live up to the hype back in the BF3/4 days. That being said, it was better than Hardline by tenfold.
Here we are. Present day. Battlefield V. World War II.
Before Release
If you’ve even remotely been around gaming news lately, you will know that BFV had one of the worst marketing campaigns imaginable. Between historical inaccuracy, which gets people really riled up, and a flop of a release trailer, things went south in a hurry.
I tried to see through most of the bad. I mean, this is a franchise I thoroughly have stuck behind for years now. Just attempting to play a Call of Duty game makes me feel like I’ve made the right choice. However, I’m not going to follow blindly.
The trailer was…not good. It was like a Michael Bay movie; trying too hard. Which even the most hardened Battlefield veterans, who had played a closed version at this point, even admitted.
Oh well, it’s just a trailer. Meh.
The beta came out. I was excited and downloaded it. However…I only played a single match, and didn’t really think anything of it. Before I could convince myself to put in more hours, the beta was over; opportunity gone.
So…was I going to buy the game? I really didn’t know. But, as it turns out, you can pay $5 for Origin Access and be able to play for 10 hours. So, a few days after release, that’s exactly what I did.
I figured I had to give it a shot, right?
My Experience
I’m going to break this down into a few sub-categories, just to keep things nice and neat.
Overall
Looking at the game as a whole, I think it’s alright. I’m really saddened to see that the entire game wasn’t even ready on release (War Stories, Bootcamp, Vehicles Customizations, etc.). To me, it really feels like an incomplete game. You hear that a lot nowadays, but this was the first time I’ve actually thought it myself.
Despite being “incomplete”, for lack of a better term, I still greatly enjoy the multiplayer matches, and singleplayer seems like it’s going to be cool. Despite some obvious bugs in the multiplayer system, I think everything runs well.
I just can’t help but keep coming back to the word “incomplete”. I mean, there are some simple things in the game that I feel like could of easily been fixed. Plane balancing, for instance. How could they have not learned their lesson from BF1? When BF1 launched, planes were ridiculously OP. With the launch of BFV, planes are ridiculously OP. Why do we have to wait for a patch for something so simple? Another example would be, I don’t know, making sure the bombs actually spawn in Frontlines so players can finish the game instead of waiting forever for the time to run out.
If I had to give a number, I’d say 7/10. That may be me biased to the franchise, but the game feels amazing and is really awesome. It’s just random things that take you out of it. The weird issue where it seems like you get one-shotted by a machine gun. The absurdly loud women’s screams. A bomber getting over 200 kills because no one can take him out and he just carpets the map over and over again.
Singleplayer
I only have very limited time in the singleplayer campaign. Is it still called a campaign?…I don’t know, whatever you want to call the first story “Under No Flag”.
So far, it’s okay. It seems like a normal campaign to me. I like the character building that they are doing, as Dice is always nice at telling stories. The cut scenes are cool, when they don’t lag. For some reason, mine was really laggy sometimes.
The AI seems a little weird to me. I’m only on medium, so maybe it’s that, but when I blast three people’s faces in a completely silent camp, and a person only a little bit away doesn’t react, it’s kind of weird. The AI really seems…dumb. They just kind of run at you, or do weird, running to cover animations.
One thing I did think was cool was that the AI has medics, and they will attempt to revive a down teammate. Though…again, they are dumb. Bullets are flying and the AI ran out into the middle of the road to revive. Easiest headshot ever. Well, maybe that was the commander dude that was just frozen…
All in all, the singleplayer is…alright?
I’m not a big singleplayer person when it comes to FPS games.
Multiplayer
In a Battlefield game, 95% of my time will be in multiplayer. Luckily, this time I get to play with a squad! Yay, friends.
The multiplayer scene can be intense, crazy, and downright frustrating. As you may of heard, Dice completely changed the marking system. Now the only way an enemy shows up on the minimap is through suppression or a recon’s scope. So, as you can imagine, it’s difficult to keep track of enemies.
Of course, it’s a lot easier when you aren’t dumb. It’s absurd how many people playing online are just oblivious to what is happening around them. I can’t tell you how many times an enemy has ran straight past a teammate to murder me while I’m reviving or something. It’s crazy really.
The action part of the game really comes back to feeling like a true Battlefield game. The explosions, gunfire, and overall dying going on around you is immersive. It feels like a battlefield, which is the point. Not to mention, this game handles really well. I really like the mechanics behind the player movements.
The downside is just the bugs in the game. As mentioned earlier, there is a current issue where you feel like you are getting one-shotted, when really it’s a bunch of bullets, hitting you at once (apparently?). There seems to be a lot more cases of “dying around corners”, at least for me. Spawning seems a bit weird too, sometimes I have to click on an objective and click back to my squadmate to be able to spawn on them.
Little things. Little things that add up. Hopefully, most of these things are addressed in the upcoming patch…which has been delayed.
I try my best to look past the shortcomings and focus on the positives. I really enjoy the game. Yeah, it’s frustrating, but there is always an epic moment waiting around the corner. If I can put over 200 hours into something as broken as PUBG, BFV will be a breeze.
Oh, last thing. For the love of everything fix the squad system. That’s one thing that should not be difficult. Why does our squad disband every time we quit out of the map rotation to choose a different game mode?!
C’mon man.
Dice, you’re better than that! Stop letting EA bully you.
Conclusion
That seemed like a lot of complaining for a game I said I feel like is a 7/10. Oh well. Maybe I am a little blind. It’s just the little things that are tearing this game apart. Despite the bad marketing rep, it’s really a good game.
After my ten hours, I bought it. Of course, I was a little salty that the PC download is $20 more than the console versions right now, but whatever. I want this game to succeed. I want Battlefield to get back to the glory days.
Please Battlefield, focus on fixing the little things. Fix things. Keep it up, don’t go the money way like PUBG.
…Oh, and, if you’re a medic…REVIVE!
Thanks for listening to my babbling nonsense.