Battlefield 2042 Review

DICE have been spent the last five years exploring World War I (Battlefield 1) and World War II (Battlefield V) to great success, the last of which in the era where it all started. In that time, there was still a demand that the series return to either modern or future warfare. With Battlefield 2042, we actually get both. Usually we depict the future to be something to look forward to, but Battlefield 2042 paints a bleak picture of warfare teeming with tornadoes and sandstorms. The large-scale battles we’ve come to know and love are now even bigger and broader, producing an uneven yet grandiose multiplayer experience.

Set in the titular year of 2042, the world’s climate has destabilized to the point of no return. This pre-apocalyptic look at the world sadly seems to be more non-fiction than fiction. Tornadoes are spinning up all over the world, dust storms are ravaging desert cities, and only two superpowers remain after all other countries suffer catastrophic economic collapses: the United States and Russia. Being the near-future, wars are fought with updated weapons like the M5A3 (an update to the M4A2), the PP-29 (PP-19 Bizon), and tanks are now all-electric. Vying for control over remaining essential resources — war never changes.

While war doesn’t change, DICE eschewing classes in favor of specialists is bold, yet risky. There are ten specialists to choose from, which are curiously roped into classic Battlefield classes like Assault, Medic, Engineer, and Sniper. Two of them are locked at the start: Mackay (level 15) and Paik (level 25). Mackay can use ziplines faster and even fire a grapple hook to navigate inaccessible areas. Then there’s Paik, who can send out a pulse to highlight all nearby enemies for a brief period of time. I would expect that roughly have the roster would be gated behind level progression. There’s a understandable sense of freedom with this design. This allows an assault character like Sundance to wield a sniper rifle and be incredibly mobile, wing-suiting their way from one place to the next. All the same, I wish that these specialists were still beholden to a particular class. The reason for that is, while it allows individuality for the player, it disintegrates teamplay and classes that the series is well-known for.

Ranging from questionable to bothersome to problematic, Battlefield 2042 has its fair share of concerning elements. Many have noted that the whole game’s weapon count is lower (22 in total, to include handguns make up the entirety of 2042’s arsenal). You’ve got missing features like the aforementioned lack of a server browser, you can’t switch teams or squads, and you can’t zoom the very tiny minimap. These are not huge issues, but considering that they were in prior games, you have to wonder why they were omitted here. Some bugs I ran into were both funny and disheartening, such as not being able to be revived, falling through the map, or a round of Breakthrough that doesn’t end. Whatever your tolerance for these issues are, DICE and the supporting teams have a lot of work ahead of them. All that said, I can’t stop playing and enjoying for dozens and dozens of hours already.

There are three pillars to Battlefield 2042, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. At first I was worried this would split the player base unnecessarily, but just as often as I was bouncing between the three modes of play, I had no issues finding a match. In fact, it was nearly instantaneous to find something across all of them that solidifies that this is an attractive package for just about anyone.

All-Out Warfare

The first mode on the menu is classic Battlefield with two flavors to enjoy: Conquest and Breakthrough. There’s no other modes or server browser to sift through, unfortunately. Once you’re thrown into a lobby, and if you have crossplay enabled, be playing with both Xbox and PlayStation players. Most times you’ll be playing on 64 vs 64 servers, meaning you’re playing with Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 owners as well as PC. Though bigger not always better, 128 players seems great, but the maps are so big that it can feel too sparse before you find the action again. It offers great spacing and no overcrowding. It’s exciting knowing that conflict is happening elsewhere, all while contesting for a single point or sector for control. Which touches on a meaningful change for this game, there are control points that have a twin, that when both are secured will capture a whole sector. Owning a sector reduces the numbers of tickets for the other team even faster.

There are seven maps at launch for Battlefield 2042, while this doesn’t seem like a lot compared to prior games, I found them all to be good. Though not all of them are good for each mode. It’s worth noting that All-Out Warfare can be be played solo or with friends against AI and never have to meet online players to enjoy it. All-Out Warfare doesn’t hold many surprises, but it does feel like coming home. This is where I’ve spent most of my time, and it’s easily the most chaotic mode as there are so many players, it’s ratcheted up by eleven when a storm rolls in reducing visibility or tossing your enemies into the air that feels unsafe and unpredictable that the series hasn’t felt before.

Hazard Zone

This a whole new mode, developed by Ripple Effect, the team formerly known as DICE LA. This mode pits 32 players in teams of four against each other, and using your favorite specialist, define a loadout you customize for each entry into the zone. The goal is to secure data drives, and extract without all of your squad members dying. Comparisons will be made to Escape from Tarkov, but the apt comparison is actually between Hunt: Showdown and Scavengers. The main persistence is Dark Market Credits, the currency you earn from all of your actions, whether it be kills, assists, or getting data drives to an extraction. The money you earn here can be used to bolster your loadouts for the next game, and rolling your successes forward. For each concurrent game of Hazard Zone that you successfully extract, you’ll earn a streak bonus that will net you a higher payout. If your whole team dies before extracting, the streak is broken. However, any currency you’ve obtained will be retained.

This mode is played on all of the launch maps, so it is good if you play All-Out Warfare for a good amount of hours to get a basic understand of all the maps before diving in. There’s a sense of tension and stakes that has never been present before. Aside from other, real players, there are also AI opponents scattered throughout the map. This, in addition to a series of extracts at specific points and times, makes for harrowing battles for survival. Right now the mode is lacking in a meaningful metagame, and while there’s other elements like expanding your loadout and upgrades, it doesn’t feel like enough. I think Hazard Zone has more potential than payoff, but it’s unlike anything the series has ever attempted, I’m looking forward to how it’ll improve.

Portal

This is every bit the time portal it claims to be. Currently featuring two fan-favorite maps from three games: Battlefield 1942, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3. It’s here you can revisit your favorite games, modes, and maps with ease, all within Battlefield 2042. It’s going to be interesting how deep this goes as time wears on, because even from the outset is incredible. While I like what 2042 has to offer, going back to replay select elements of these defining entries in the series’ 20-year history is still fun. Portal is a trip down memory lane that’s worth taking.

Don’t like the rules of what Battlefield 2042 or even the existing other Portal options do? Well then you can code custom logic to make just about anything you can dream of. Already I’ve seen recreations of Squid Game, Prop Hunt, and Gun Game. This is neither the limit, nor the full potential of what Portal can do – there’s some amazing things to come. It does have some strange limitations, like wearing 1942 garb while using 2042 weapons. That aside, it’s a mode that puts the power in players hands, and DICE just have to provide the maps. This mode alone has longevity for years to come, and has great nostalgia. It’s such a standout mode, it’ll be next to impossible for DICE not to include it in any future Battlefield games going forward.

The color palette is dominated by teal and orange through every element in the game. The series has stayed close to these colors before, but this still manages to feel fresh. Battlefield 2042 is gorgeous and striking, partly in thanks to its scale and the other with the particle and weather effects at play. It seems that sunny skies are fleeting, as more of than not a storm will roll in. Sometimes the sky turns red and dark as a sandstorm rolls in, and other times a tornado is looming off in the distance. It atmospheric effects at their most extreme, and is not all novelty. Playing only on PC, I found the game to be very demanding on Ultra settings, averaging anywhere from 60 – 110fps given what’s on-screen and how much map you’re looking at. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the framerate is better when playing All-Out Warfare in the solo / coop mode, as transplanting the real players for AI controlled ones is easier on computation.

The game features NVIDIA RTX with Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion and DLSS. The Ambient Occlusion is great, but it takes a huge performance hit that the tradeoff isn’t worth it with its existing drain. I am using the latest NVIDIA drivers which have day 1 support for Battlefield 2042, but it still feels like it needs further performance optimization before I’d enable the Ray Tracing again. All that said, DLSS is essential to have turned on. I left it in Auto mode, and felt like I was getting the best framerate or quality in visuals depending on what was happening on-screen. Having a high-powered PC, the game runs as well as I’d expect, though I look forward to further tweaks to get it where it needs to be. Though you can’t deny how impressive it is to see a tornado rip through an era, you almost have to test what you’re capable of doing while in one.

My PC Specs:

– Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
– Intel Core i9 9900K @ 5Ghz (Turbo)
– Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM 97 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
– Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
– EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB GDDR6X FTW3 ULTRA
– Seagate FireCuda SSD (500GB)
– Seagate BarraCuda SSD (1TB + 2TB)
– OWC Aura P12 NVMe SSD (2TB)

It’s clear that DICE have some work to do, but this is an incredibly ambitious and auspicious game. The specialists are my least favorite part of the game, especially with their end-of-round quips, but hopefully they’ll find their place in time. Battlefield 2042 delivers on the core gameplay, and the promise of 128-player combat zones in All-Out Warfare. Hazard Zone is off to a favorable and suspenseful start, but it needs more to draw me back regularly. And with Portal, the most memorable mode, Battlefield 2042 protects its future by preserving its past. This is a triple threat offering of multiplayer mastery DICE is known for, and Battlefield 2042 is only getting started.

An Origin code was provided in advance by the publisher for review purposes