Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Specialists
Specialists miss the mark, feeling much less impactful than previous Battlefields.
Lack of Polish
Like many of its predecessors, 2042 comes with bugs and other small annoyances.
Mundane Maps
Despite bringing back "levolution," Battlefield 2042's maps quickly feel dull and static.
Battlefield 2042 is the series' weakest launch in a while, with poor gameplay and polish detracting from the spectacle the franchise is known for.
Battlefield 2042 Official Gameplay Trailer
Battlefield 2042 Official Reveal Trailer (ft. 2WEI)
Battlefield 2042 isn't just a lackluster Battlefield game, it's a bad FPS in general. It's an overcorrect after Battlefield 5's marketing was criticized for its "out-there" CGI trailers. It isn't clear what Battlefield 2042 is, or even what it wants to be, beyond a bland step back. One can hope for meaningful content updates later down the line, but the ship is sinking before even leaving port.
Battlefield 2042's highpoint is its powerful Portal mode, which lets you relive the series' past glories and tweak them to your liking. Its current batch of modes is overstuffed with players and utter chaos, though Hazard Zone scales things down in an interesting, high-stakes way.
Battlefield 2042 makes gutsy changes to a series that needed them and sets a new standard for built-in custom mode support.
There are some neat new toys while Portal delivers the series at its best, but 2042 launches as the weakest Battlefield in some time.
Unfortunately, this goes deeper than a rocky launch. It’s hard not to be disappointed with this 2042 offering. You know when the devs said this is a game to “celebrate Battlefield”? They’ve stripped away some of the most fundamental elements of the series and added tornados and Wingsuits to make up for it. It’s Marketing 101. Explosions, tornados, and swooping helicopters look great. One day, they probably will be great. DICE is one of the best when it comes to post-launch patches - for better and for worse. But if you’re on the fence about buying Battlefield 2042, I would just wait.
Battlefield 2042 is a strong foundation for future expansion. DICE's multiplayer-only FPS has scale and spectacle, but there are elements in need of careful refinement and optimization.
Each weapon has a unique feel that is fun to master and contested objectives always keep you busy
Although some specialists can feel a bit useless at times, tweaks to the formula with Battlefield 2042 add a lot of interesting gameplay variety.
A lead developer from EA and Battlefield Studios teases the reveal of Battlefield 6, which is still planned to happen in summer this year.
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A huge laundry list of key details about the next Battlefield's heavily rumored battle royale mode seems to have leaked online.
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EA officially reconfirms the release window for the next Battlefield title, as well as noting the window for a full reveal of the game.
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EA releases the 8.5.0 update for Battlefield 2042 with notable in-game improvements and various bug fixes to vehicles and progression.
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