Battlefield 6 Review –  Finally, A Battlefield Worth Fighting Over

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The *Battlefield* series has faced some challenges recently, especially with *Battlefield 2042* receiving poor reviews and disappointing fans. In response, EA invested heavily in the newest installment, *Battlefield 6*, with a reported budget of around $400 million – making it one of the most costly games ever created, and raising questions about its development. Thankfully, the final game is a significant improvement in almost every way.

At its core, this game is all about fast-paced, team-based multiplayer action. It delivers everything you’d expect from a classic *Battlefield* title – environments you can destroy, intense firefights, and maps designed for strategic teamwork. *Battlefield 6* offers a good amount of content with several maps and eight different game modes to explore.

Classic game modes like Conquest, Breakthrough, Domination, and King of the Hill are back and better than ever. Conquest and Breakthrough offer large-scale battles on massive maps featuring tanks, helicopters, and more, usually lasting 20 to 40 minutes. These modes support 32 players per team, meaning you’ll encounter enemies frequently despite the map size. For faster-paced action, Squad and Team Deathmatch take place on smaller maps with 16 players, focusing solely on racking up kills without vehicles or objectives beyond eliminating the opposing team.

Escalation is a new game mode that combines the large-scale battles of Conquest with the shrinking play area of battle royale. Two teams of 32 players compete to capture seven control points, but as points are captured, they disappear, forcing players into a smaller and smaller space. I appreciate that once a point is captured, it’s permanently secured, unlike in Conquest where you constantly have to defend captured areas. In Escalation, securing a zone adds to your team’s score and removes it from the game, pushing everyone towards the remaining contested areas. I’m actually enjoying Escalation more than classic modes like Conquest and Breakthrough – it’s a great improvement to an already solid formula, so the development team deserves praise.

Each class is roughly as effective as any other, and they all offer a good amount of customization options.

Rush mode is different from other Battlefield games. Instead of capturing points, you destroy them, which fits the series’ history of damaging environments. However, with two teams of 12 players each, the large maps often feel empty and don’t get fully used. This can make the gameplay feel slow because there aren’t enough players actively fighting.

We’ve made some improvements to address the differences in speed and team/map size. For instance, we’ve moved the starting points closer together, so players don’t spend too much time running to the objective. Most of the fighting already happens around the objective, which keeps things focused. However, players generally feel the mode would be even better with a larger number of players, similar to what made previous versions so successful.

We’ve been discussing different game modes, but let’s first talk about how the game actually plays. Before you start playing matches, you’ll need to get familiar with the four character classes through some training and preparation.

Historically, *Battlefield* games have been good at making every class feel valuable, and *Battlefield 6* continues that trend. What really stands out in this installment is how each class has its own unique role and tools, which adds a lot to the gameplay.

Assault troops are best in close combat, and they can carry two main weapons, giving them flexibility to either aggressively charge in with a shotgun or handle enemies from a distance. Support players focus on keeping their team alive by providing supplies and reviving fallen teammates, just like traditional medics. Engineers specialize in vehicles and powerful weapons, with access to rocket launchers and tools for repairing them. Recon soldiers excel at long-range combat, providing sniper fire and spotting enemies for their team.

Each class feels good to play, offering a rewarding experience and plenty of ways to customize your gear. They’re all fairly balanced in terms of usefulness, and none restrict you when it comes to building your preferred style of play.

On top of everything else, each character class has two distinct ways to improve, with unique passive perks and active skills. The game feels nicely balanced – every match helps you progress, and you get a real sense of growing stronger as you play and become more familiar with your chosen class. Plus, whether you prefer experimenting with different weapon combinations or a more focused, traditional *Battlefieldstyle experience where mastering your class is key, there’s an option for you. It’s great to have both styles available, but it remains to be seen if balance issues in one system will affect the other.

Customizing weapons feels clunky because of the user interface. It takes too many steps to check out different upgrades – you can’t quickly switch between parts to see how they look. Having to examine each component individually is slow and frustrating, and it’s annoying not knowing when new attachments are available. Plus, the blurry animation when you open the weapon customization menu is disorienting and bothersome.

I want to be able to quickly and clearly see weapons in the loadout menu. The current animations are distracting and make it hard to examine them. The weapon backgrounds are also poor quality, with glitchy lighting that obscures details. Plus, the flickering animation when a weapon loads is really unpleasant to watch.

I appreciate being able to immediately try out unlocked weapons at the shooting range. It’s strange, though, that gadgets, missile launchers, and grenades aren’t included for testing. I also couldn’t access the Portal, which meant I missed out on practicing maps without the pressure of opponents. Given how large and daunting many of the maps are, a free, no-opponent training mode to simply explore would have been really helpful.

Okay, so putting everything else aside, *Battlefield 6*’s multiplayer maps are honestly a blast. They really cover all the bases – you’ve got those super intense, close-up fights, huge maps where vehicles are key, and a good mix of everything in between. While each map itself is pretty different, I did start to feel like there weren’t *enough* different places to fight. The five main environments can get a little repetitive, especially since the single-player campaign uses the exact same locations. But honestly, when it’s good, it’s *really* good.

Honestly, my biggest frustration with the game right now is the minimap. It doesn’t show you which direction to go, and while I understand that’s supposed to make you use the compass, it’s just annoying. The compass itself can be super hard to see, especially when things get chaotic during a fight – it really blends in with the background!

Liberation Peak is a great map for vehicle-based combat, offering a large, fair playing field where tanks and jets can really shine, and infantry can fight for key locations. Personally, though, I prefer maps that encourage closer-range battles. Saint’s Quarter in Gibraltar is a standout – its vibrant streets and tight alleys, combined with different levels for both rooftop sniping and close-quarters fighting, make it especially fun.

I particularly love the intense, fast-paced battles that break out in the dry riverbed under the bridge. It’s a really unpredictable area with lots of interesting places to hide. Fighting your way up from the riverbed to the bridge feels exciting and energetic. The area strikes a great balance between places to take cover, different levels to fight on, interesting buildings to explore, and beautiful scenery.

The main drawback is the minimap. It doesn’t show you which direction to go, so you have to use the compass instead. While this is intentional, the compass can be difficult to see, especially during battles, as it often blends in with the background. It’s a minor issue, but it makes getting around more frustrating than it needs to be.

Vehicles are a bit of a mixed bag in the game’s level design. There’s a good variety to choose from, and they feel fairly balanced overall, though the way they handle isn’t perfect. Tanks can be very powerful with team support, but are vulnerable to focused fire. Jeeps, however, are mostly just for getting around quickly and don’t offer much protection. Tank controls are intuitive, and you can choose between a more modern directional system or traditional controls that follow the camera.

I really didn’t enjoy flying the vehicles. The jets feel slow and clunky, making it hard to turn quickly or dodge attacks. While turning on the control assist helps with hovering, even then, it feels less like flying a nimble aircraft and more like driving a tank in the air, especially compared to the planes in older *Battlefield* games.

Okay, let’s talk about the weapons, because honestly, they’re fantastic. The way they *feel* when you use them is just spot-on, and controlling them is really smooth. There’s a huge selection too – 45 guns spread across eight different types! They’ve pretty much covered everything, though I wouldn’t mind seeing a few more melee weapons beyond the knife and hammer. The automatic rifles kick just like you’d expect, and you can even change the fire rate, which is cool. Everything feels powerful – the shotgun blasts are intense, the SMGs spray wildly, and even taking a sniper shot has a satisfying recoil. I’m not a weapons expert by any means, but the sounds all feel really authentic to me. It’s all just punchy, realistic, and really adds to the experience without being over the top.

“In terms of graphics, Battlefield 6 is an impressive showcase.”

The game feels much smoother and faster-paced than previous *Battlefield* titles, thanks to several improvements to movement. You can sprint faster and now slide while sprinting, which is great for quickly getting to cover. Leaning around corners and against walls feels natural and doesn’t disrupt the flow of combat. Plus, you can still mount your weapon on ledges and cover, letting you create quick, temporary turrets.

Okay, so graphically, *Battlefield 6* really delivers. It’s not the absolute prettiest game I’ve ever played, but it’s a seriously good-looking FPS. The lighting is a standout – especially during matches and in the campaign, when you’ve got those dramatic beams of light cutting through the darkness. The destruction isn’t a huge leap forward from past *Battlefield* games, but it still looks great and adds to the overall chaos, which is what I expect. I was playing on PS5 and saw a few frame drops here and there, but it mostly ran really solid, which is impressive considering how much is happening on screen at once.

The sound design is fantastic. I haven’t experienced such clear and precise directional audio in a game before. You can easily pinpoint the location of sounds like footsteps and gunshots, and even tell how someone is moving – whether they’re running, walking, or crouching. The tinnitus effect occurs a little frequently, but thankfully it can be disabled in the game’s settings, so it’s not a major issue.

The game’s progression system is similar to other online shooters, but stands out for being straightforward and consistently rewarding. You earn experience at a good pace, and completing challenges during matches speeds things up. I consistently unlocked new items – usually weapon attachments, and sometimes even entire guns – after each battle. Importantly, even supporting your team by doing things like repairing vehicles or spotting enemies gives you valuable experience, making every playstyle feel useful and appreciated.

As a huge fan, I’m really excited for the 2025 release, but honestly, the loading times are killing me! It takes almost two full minutes just to start a mission, and you’re just staring at a black screen the whole time with no clue if anything’s even happening. That’s just not good enough for a big release like this.

Most weapon skins and charms require a significant amount of playtime to unlock – you’ll need to reach Mastery Level 10, which takes many hours. Other customization options, like emblems and stickers, become available much more quickly.

Finally, the campaign is here, and it’s the most in-depth single-player experience the series has offered since *Battlefield 4*. It’s a complete, movie-like story with nine missions and four levels of difficulty to choose from.

The game has some significant problems, most notably its incredibly long loading times. It takes almost two full minutes to start a mission, and you’re just faced with a black screen during the wait – there’s no progress bar or indicator of any kind. This is especially disappointing for a big release planned for 2025. On the plus side, once you’re in a mission, the game does a good job of saving your progress with checkpoints that usually place you near where you failed.

The game missions follow a pretty straightforward path. You won’t find many opportunities to explore or tackle combat in different ways; instead, you’ll mostly move through pre-designed areas with occasional fights. The story, pacing, and level design all feel familiar, and even players new to first-person shooter campaigns will likely notice a lack of innovation. However, it’s still a solid game with varied missions and a good amount of content.

Honestly, I’m really loving how they switch up the characters throughout the campaign. One minute I’m behind the wheel, taking out enemy vehicles, and the next I’m a sneaky sniper or rushing into battle as an assault trooper. It’s awesome! This constant change of pace keeps things exciting, even when the story feels a little slow. It really prevents the gameplay from getting stale.

Like with any online shooting game, there’s still room for improvement. It’s too early to say if the new Portal features and battle royale mode will be a success.

The story in *Battlefield 6* is unfortunately quite weak. It starts with a very predictable plot and quickly falls into clichés, especially during the first mission’s over-the-top finale. Despite all the action and explosions, the game takes itself too seriously. The campaign also relies heavily on flashbacks, but these feel disconnected and don’t add emotional weight because of a lack of clear context. This constant jumping between the past and present makes it hard to connect with the characters or care about what’s happening. However, some missions *are* enjoyable from a gameplay standpoint and offer a few genuinely fun moments.

While not perfect, *Battlefield 6’s* campaign is surprisingly good, offering a solid amount of content, well-designed missions, and enough variety to keep players engaged. Despite its issues, this *Battlefield* feels like the most complete game in the series for a long time, with a campaign that feels substantial overall. The game smartly balances its class system, offering fresh ideas while staying true to what fans enjoy. Progressing through the game is generally rewarding without feeling manipulative. The maps are visually impressive and offer interesting gameplay, though some game modes and vehicle controls could use some polish.

Like any online shooter, there’s still room for improvement, and it’s too early to say how well the Portal and battle royale modes will do. But I definitely plan to play more – the immersive environments and large-scale, unpredictable action in Battlefield are really special.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

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2025-10-09 19:45