Battlefield 2042 Reviews
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 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.
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.
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.
There’s still nothing quite like being in the middle of a massive firefight with dozens of players, while jets strafe the ground around you, and a tank rumbles over a hilltop only 50 feet away. DICE has been in search of that old Battlefield magic for more than a decade, and Battlefield 2042 comes extremely close. But 2042, at least so far, rarely manages to be much more than that. It doesn’t feel like a real step forward for the franchise, or a meaningful update on a 20-year old formula. As of now, I’m still waiting for that next big leap.
I am hopeful that 2042 will be a more interesting Battlefield game at some point next year, but having been through varying degrees of rough launches with this series - from BF 2142 through BF 5 - I can’t say I have the stamina to perform the dance of chastising DICE for technical problems and missing features, only to turn around and celebrate when the game is inevitably ‘good now, actually’ a year into it.
Though that's an exaggeration (if a slight one), allowing you to kit out any character you want with whatever equipment naturally tilts combat from decisive to unwieldy. Players can access whatever tools necessary for self-sufficiency or going off solo, guns blazing. Don't expect to get many revives from your teammates even when medics are around. Meanwhile, this half-exploit system exposes several character gimmicks as same-y, underwhelming, or borderline useless-this is absolutely a game that plays favorites. Combined with the level design, it becomes painfully clear how disorganized and thoughtless the bulk of 2042's systems really are.
Battlefield 2042 is a fun game to play, but its base game content will leave you wanting. Thankfully, Battlefield Portal is there to pick up the slack and does so splendidly. There’s still some gas left in Battlefield’s tank.
Battlefield 2042 occasionally captures the epic scale and multiplayer madness the series is known for. But the game often stumbles due to poor design decisions and technical issues.
An FPS package that has its fun moments, but one that's blighted by performance issues. Portal holds great potential and may be the only mode that stands the true test of time.
Battlefield 2042 isn't a bad shooter, but to release in this quarter of this year it really needed to bring its A-game, and it hasn't done that.
Battlefield 2042 was a ship that I was looking forward to and from a distance it seemed that the journey was going to be long and different from what I had known so far. But the ship arrived and then I realized that perhaps it was not coming for me, but I was desperately looking for a port to dock so as not to sink. I don't recommend buying Battlefield 2042 during its release.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Battlefield 2042 is an unfulclined experience at the moment and needs a lot of repairs to get back on track.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Overall, Battlefield 2042 is a complete package of a first-person shooter that many players will enjoy playing it. Thanks to the Portal mode, the game never disappoints you in delivering diverse game modes, and Hazard Zone is a new option to put more hours into Battlefield, especially for pro players.
Right now, “Battlefield 2042” is better than it has ever been, though that remains faint praise. And given all that’s come before, the best decision for its future, and that of the Battlefield franchise, may be, in some measure, to simply let it go.