BUM BUM BUM BADUM DUM
BUM BUM BUM BADUM DUM
*plays the theme over and over*
A little back story: I was all kinds of hype for Battlefield 1. The beta was astounding, the engine was a technical marvel and then the bombs dropped. The season pass would have an entire army locked behind it and loot crates would feature heavily and ehhh all that woo fizzled out just like Star Wars Battlefront 2.
I used to love Battlefield games back in the day. I still hold Battlefield 1942 as one of the greats and spent frankly an obscene amount of time with 2142. It’s just my love for the series has washed away with each release since. I finished Bad Company despite its god awful story and pretty un-likeable characters. Tried 3 and couldn’t get past the terrible story and who remembers 4 & Hardline anyways? Here we are now with iteration 5 and they’ve already said they’re ditching the loot-crate focus and switching to cosmetic dlc so is this the one to get me back?
I have to admit, I love the artwork for BF5. The claw woman is already a big draw I’ll admit and that cover is the best looking one yet. Love it.
Jumping into BF5 and… Oh it’s the same old system as Battlefield 1. Aka the clusterfuck Xbox approach. Although that being said, it’s off to a good start already having Hutt style objectives from the get go. Mini objectives to drive multiplayer play and a bonus one for the beta. That’s a nice touch.
The loading icon is sideways Pacman. Once I noticed that it will never be unseen. I pass this curse on to you. Waka waka waka waka.
Conquest or Grand Operation to chose from. Well conquest is a classic but I gotta admit I do enjoy these grand operations a lot more, especially when they’re fully populated with a decent ping. It’s a little playing Fortnite except I don’t die constantly or have to hide in a bush.
Wow the Frostbite engine really does snow and ice really well! This is as lush and surprising visually as Star Wars Battlefront was battling on Hoth in that first beta in a galaxy far far away.
With Battlefield 1 I found it was a slower game than I expected but 5 feels a little faster and more inline with the previous entries. The historical upgrade in weaponry has definitely pushed the combat to be more fast paced and this is the first online multiplayer in a long time where I’ve found covering fire to be useful.
The strange downside of a strong sense of realism for me in this is that it’s hard to play as the German army. In Battlefield1 they were Germany but this is set in WW2 which mostly makes them Nazis. The terrible English with German accent doesn’t help. Granted previous entries of this had German armies from this period but the high realism makes it a little harder to swallow. Still when your side loses you do find your able to go “oh well the Nazi’s lost”.
Voice chat isn’t that great either, that’s more a complaint about the player base at the moment more than anything. The fact the net-code can hold up this many talking screaming waffling people at once is a wonder.
Oh cool! As you level up as a squad you collect points depending on how much you do and how well you do it. Then as the leader you can call in support drops, tanks and air support. Now this should encourage more working together and less… wait, WHERE THE HELL IS HE GOING?!
I’m really looking forward to the story in this. I’ve yet to finish all of the story in Battlefield1 but that’s been a corker so far and this is essentially more of the same it seems.
Ah I’ve levelled up in Assault and Medic. That’s interesting as I mainly play as a scout in other Battlefields. Oh and also unlocked some coin it seems. So much for loot crates, seems it just has a shop with set items.
Conquest time! Oh this map has strong feelings of the classic Berlin map from 1942, alleys, streets and the odd vehicle. It’s maps like this that camping so and soes get away with murder until someone spots them and shuts it down. Also the commands and chat wheel feels more limited maybe that’s just me.
A great start and long may this ethos of more stuff for the customer continue!
Battlefield 5 launches on PS4 – 20 November 2018
ElderlyGoose 