Table of Contents
Battlefield 2042 was released today, November 19th, with high expectations from the public and the franchise's crazed fans. We had the opportunity to test the game during Early Access, which took place between the 12th and 19th, and we will be doing a full review of the game.
no campaign single player, the game bets all its chips on multiplayer, focusing on large-scale modes, which reach up to 128 players in the same game simultaneously.
As the name of the game implies, it is set in 2042, the near future. Everyone is used to a game of futuristic war, but this time the feeling is a little more realistic than other games.
However, the full potential of the wonderful futuristic maps and the details created by DICE, the game's developer, were not used. That's because we don't have a story mode and the game will develop lore via seasons and battle pass trailers — format used in games like Fortnite e Warzone.
All-Out-Warfare
Let's start by talking about the Battlefield experience, everything you've come to expect from the game: epic battles. One of the great differentials of the franchise has always been the variety of large-scale modes, with huge maps, many players and vehicles around, generating the feeling of a real war zone.
Here in Battlefield 2042, that's exactly what we have in mind. All-Out-Warfare. The mode was one of the 3 main marketing and selling points of the new franchise entry. It has two game types, Conquest e RUPTURE, which take place on gigantic and graphically beautiful maps. There are 6 maps released along with the game and they take place in different scenarios, from glacial glaciers to futuristic cities with giant buildings.
All-Out-Warfare matches are 128 players at all times, 64 on each side facing each other. In addition to maps and futuristic scenery, every match has natural catastrophe events, such as hurricanes, storms, and sandstorms.
Conquest
The mode that strongly carries the spirit of the Battlefield franchise is Conquest. Here, players are split into two teams of 64 players and the map is divided into several neutral zones. On each side of the maps are the bases, where you and your team will start playing.
From that moment on, you and your army must advance and dominate the neutral zones defeating the opposing team. To win a match, you need to use up the rival team's respawns. In addition to eliminating opponents, dominating zones causes your team to gain more respawns and the other team to lose.
Despite being the most traditional in the franchise, this was the game mode that disappointed me the most. He's the definition of 8 or 80: sometimes you find yourself in frantic battles — even too much — with tanks, helicopters, and a sea of people. And at other times, you get stuck in a sector with no vehicles and spend 5 minutes walking around the map without encountering any opponents, just enjoying the design.
This feeling is frustrating. The mode wanted to rely on 128 players, but it still doesn't seem to have found the perfect balance between number of players and map size.
RUPTURE
Now it is also important to congratulate DICE on the RUPTURE. The mode is what hooked me the most during early access week. In it, we have the same range of 6 gigantic maps. However, the teams this time are divided into: an army with the function of attacking and another with the function of resisting. The sectors in this mode are reduced and the map is much smaller, ending the aforementioned problems.
The attacking team must dominate one sector at a time until it reaches the enemy army base to win. The defense intends to exhaust the offensive forces. For this, the attack has a limited number of respawns and the defense has no limit, being able to adopt more aggressive strategies.
Rupture makes the 128 players focused on a single objective, a single sector. Another big problem with Conquest is that we don't have a team leader and coordinating a team of 64 players via text chat isn't great.
Knowing that your entire team is focused on dominating the same sector centers the objective and eliminates all the structural problems I experienced in Conquest mode. During the evaluation period I constantly wanted to return to Breakthrough mode to experience the true Battlefield experience, with a massive battle in a single sector, with no room for the contrast between chaotic moments and total peace.
Hazard zone
EA, who publishes and distributes the game, focused much of Battlefield 2042's marketing on the franchise's new mode: Hazard zone. During the development period, there were several rumors that surrounded the mode, from speculation that it would be a Battle Royale to the expectation that it would be the mode free-to-play of the game.
Hazard Zone has been announced and it is indeed a kind of Battle Royale, with many differentiating points that make it interesting. Even so, I can say that the mode hasn't reached 100% of its potential — at least for now.
In this mode you assemble a team of 4 people who will be taken to one of the 6 large scale maps in the game to collect HDs and extract to sell hard drives on the black market.
There are 32 players per match divided into 8 teams that land in different places on the map. Because there are so few players on gigantic maps, the mode also has hostile NPCs that defend some zones that contain HDs to be collected.
The dynamics of the mode are simple: start a game, find HDs and try to extract. There are two possible extractions, in the middle of the game and at the end. As in other Battle Royales, the experience is very similar, but the difference is in the post-game and also in the existence of hostile NPCs.
Successful extracting earns you money to customize your gear for the next match, buying better weapons, utilities, gear, and even more space to carry more hard drives.
The secret of the mode is just that, you only have a chance. If you spend all your money on equipment and in the match you can't extract it: you've lost everything. All equipment purchased only lasts for one game, so to have any kind of advantage, you need money.
The mode has a lot of potential and really gives you a reason to keep coming back to it. Plus, it puts even more weight on every match you buy gear.
Even so, all that potential falls to the ground. Without having friends to play with, it's very difficult to find a team and a full lobby. If you're lucky enough to find it, it's likely to be quite difficult to coordinate a rotation during the game.
The last negative point of the mode is the amount of players. Despite PvPvE, it's normal for only two teams to make the final extraction, and you can spend an entire fall without encountering real enemies — until they show up behind your back and send you back to the lobby again. If this sounds familiar, remember the first-person shooter. Escape from Tarkov.
As much as it has so much potential, the problem with Hazard Zone is the dynamics, and it's a kind of Battle Royale, only it's paid. It has become so common for competitive games to include free modes that even Halo Infinite has free multiplayer.
Therefore, Hazard Zone must be forgotten with time, as well as the Blackout, the first Battle Royale in the Call of Duty franchise, which was paid. In this current market, it has become clear that people are not going to pay to play this game mode.
Portal
The last marketing point from EA and DICE for Battlefield 2042 was the Portal, in which players could create their own games and game modes from resources of the game itself and other old games in the franchise.
And, look, that's exactly what they delivered. Unlike the other modes, Portal delivers exactly what it promises and is the highlight of the game. In addition to the 6 new maps in the game, you can play in 6 old maps.
In addition to maps, you also have access to resources, weapons, and classes from the old games. The games available to be revisited on the Portal are: Battlefield 3, Battlefield 1942 e Battlefield Bad Company 2.
In addition to being able to play classic modes on old maps with the new engine, the highlight is that anyone can create a match with their own rules and map and gameplay customization.
The depth of customization is huge and anyone from the mod world will love the mode. Plus, you don't even need to know how to customize, because even in the early access week you could find amazing modes on the community's public servers.
Gameplay
The biggest change the game introduces to the franchise is the end of the old class system. In Battlefield 2042 we have experts, characters divided into the old classes of the franchise, but each one with a special ability and without the obligation to use the class's equipment.
It is now possible to choose a Medic specialist and assemble them to play as an Assault. The special abilities themselves are the highlights and are quite varied, such as being able to glide in a Wingsuit or using a pistol to heal friends from a distance.
The big problem with the expert system is that it doesn't work well in Conquest and Breakthrough modes. In these, the system is almost cosmetic, no team coordination is required, and as anyone can equip maintenance, ammo, and healing kits, the only difference is which skill you prefer.
In Hazard Zone, your team can only have one specialist of each class, which forces each player to choose a more definitive role on the team and works much – much – better.
Verdict
Overall, the game seems to have foregone a traditional campaign to devote the time to developing a semi-Battle Royale that would boost the franchise's popularity. So it looks like the entire game was built around the Hazard Zone — a mode that still has many defects.
Battlefield 2042, at this point, is not a good buy. The game continues to perform poorly on PCs. Despite the very beautiful graphics, not even the powerful machines were able to escape the visual bugs and absurd performance drop with Ray Tracing.
Much of why the game performs so poorly is due to the massive scale of the main modes. Playing on maps with natural catastrophe events and 128 players is too heavy for the optimization done so far. Reinforcing the feeling that the game was made for the Hazard Zone, it is precisely in this mode that the game runs smoothly at the highest qualities.
To close, Battlefield's biggest mistake was choosing not to bet on the futuristic setting and exploring in a campaign mode the whole story that they will tell in trailers and videos of seasons and battle passes.
Battlefield 2042 was officially released on November 19th for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One and PC.
Battlefield 2042
Battlefield 2042 7 10 0 1 7/10 Total Score- All-Out-Warfare 6/10 Normal The main game mode can get tiring and frustrating when playing Conquest, but it shines in Ruptura
- Hazard Zone 7/10 Good Despite the huge potential, it's still difficult to play populated games and the mode is paid.
- Portal 8/10 Great The high point of the game. It is for the nostalgic and for everyone who wants complete, fun and different experiences from traditional multiplayer.
- Gameplay 6/10 Normal Natural disasters are very interesting but don't deliver anything special; weapons are few and customization is not as relevant, as is the expert system.
Pros
- Hazard Zone to become Free-to-play will be a great flagship of the franchise.
- Rupture is an extremely fun mode
- Portal is a complete experience and meets everything a fan of the franchise needs
Cons
- Poor PC performance
- Too calm moments in Conquista
- Hazard Zone can become monotonous with just 32 players
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