The first-person shooter genre is quite a fickle thing. If not for one thing, then this wouldn’t have happened.
And it’s exactly how we got to the point where Battlefield is where it is right now, a collaborative project that’s now excelling while its other competition is going on a downward trend.
Battlefield 6 is quite a statement, considering it’s more than a return to form after its lackluster 2042 game, and with the help of the folks within the Battlefield Studios collective, it’s not surprising that everyone’s enjoying it right now.
So, how did they do?
Presentation
One thing to note that’s impressive is that Battlefield 6 is the most optimized first-person shooter that I’ve played in years, made by a Triple A (AAA) studio. The entire game, with the campaign installed, is only a mere 39 GB, which is astounding considering the sizes of games nowadays, and it perfectly runs on not only my Series S without any noticeable slowdowns and hits on visibility. Heck, even on lower GPUs like a GTX 1060 on PC, it runs without problems too, and that’s a big plus.
And the visual itself is quite a looker. From the sun-rays hitting the maps like in Gibraltar (a series staple from Battlefield 1942 and even BF1), or the concrete rubble that is Brooklyn, the game looks incredibly pleasing, and as the map gets more damage, it still looks consistent enough as you battle on the ground in a tug-of-war of control points or dwindling tickets as defenders. It encompasses what made Battlefield stand out from its closest rival, and most noticeably, the devs learned what didn’t work from 2042.
The audio mixing is also top-notch, as its default original sound mix option will highlight all of the explosions, gunfire (both distant and close-range) and vehicles that are on the ground and air whizzing past you, as the battle rages on. It’s something you have to experience using a good pair of headphones and soak it in the chaos. The war-tracks (music you hear in-game) aren’t that bad either.
So, a quick one in the campaign, it’s just average. Like sure, it won’t the beat the highs of Bad Company 1 and 2, or even the incredible storytelling of Battlefield 1, but while the campaign itself started out strong (with a Black Hawk Down reference in big 2025, no less), it just wavers and kind of followed threads of their sister series, Medal Of Honor, somewhat at the end, and we haven’t had one MOH since 2010, mind you.
And while some say that having one is already better, which I also agree with, it’s a shame the end parts of the story mode just crumble like the game’s many buildings after its most obvious twist was made.
Gameplay
The meat and potatoes of the Battlefield is always the feeling of just playing the game. From exchanging fire between combatants, working together in a squad of 4 to seize the objective is the basis of this game.
Like, Solo Play isn’t recommended since you are usually assigned to a squad pre-match and some games you might be playing as a Medic or Engineer, and you might not even get to kill other players in the whole 30-minute match, sometimes even just dodging errant snipers who got too comfy at a spawn point, waiting for a tank to greet them.
There’s a saying within the Internet that most players who enjoy Battlefield would get their “Battlefield moment” that clicks them into it, be it the most chaotic firefight to victory, or even sniping around before getting caved in by the building you’re standing suddenly collapsing, it’s why some would enjoy this series rather than other game franchise and, I get that.
The weapons handling feels right so far, after some patching to fine-tune it before the start of the first Season of content, and the Time to Kill (TTK) has acceptable ranges from the arsenal that you equipped. Like an Assault Rifle would have some quick ones to mow down an enemy, while the SMG variants that Engineers would use could take them down a bit longer.
And of course, you have Sniper Rifles doing one-shots if you’re (un)lucky.
Vehicles are mostly the same as the last generation, which really just follows the old saying of “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it?”, because the folks at Criterion really did well to balance how easy it is to switch controls from Tanks on the ground to flying jets that you see flying above the battleground.
And one thing that I have noticed in my hours within the Multiplayer is that the servers are solid enough to not have hitching, even when I play matches from different servers, be it playing with friends in other nations or even just checking our Portal servers made by folks all around the world. It’s quite nice to have a game that’s this stable.
Content![]()
Battlefield and its creative platform, Portal, have a ton of stuff that you can do in your time within the game. Whether it is playing through their multiplayer modes that are staples of the series, from Ground warfare to even taking to the skies as you try to reign supreme. Be it Conquest, good ‘ol Rush or even Breakthrough, its matches will have you unintendedly time-skip in real life.
And we haven’t mention the Battlefield Portal mode, which is now powered by Godot for even more in-depth custom games that open up a world to creativity. Like, at this early stage of the game (at the time of writing this, a few days before Season 1), we already have folks recreating iconic maps from not only this franchise but even other games, almost authentically too. It takes time to see more interesting modes right now, but sooner or later, we might even see some fun stuff in Portal when modders properly figure this mode out.
And I got to give it to the campaign as well, it’s a pretty ok romp of about 6 hours, which is how most of the previous Battlefield campaigns usually takes to beat them so hey, it’s a good way to learn how to use the game’s mechanics, because each character you take over, also subtly represents the classes in multiplayer, which is quite neat.
Personal Enjoyment![]()
It has been quite some time since I’ve enjoyed a nice romp within team Battlefield (my most favorite one being Hardline that came out almost a decade ago), and BF6 has done stuff that is mostly improvements towards anything that made playing this series fun in the first place. Better movement tech, shooting feels smoother and returning to just class-based squad rotation instead of specialized heroes is what people would want when they boot up a game such as this.
It’s not always about the killstreaks, and being on top of the leaderboard, it’s about enjoying the chaos with a group of strangers or even friends as you seek out a win from a disadvantage or domination. It’s group play at its finest, and what better way to do it than with the Collective that has done it before. It’s quite fun being in a situation where people call it the “Battlefield” moment again, and I feel it’s only going up for them after this.
Verdict![]()
Battlefield 6 redefines itself for the better after quite a stumble in the early stages of the 2020s. It’s now one of the best first-person shooters of the year, and while their publisher has set their lofty goal on it being played by millions, I reckon it has beaten that goal, perhaps even more at this point.
It just needs to keep on improving, and only then, it’ll topple the reigns of the yearly king. So, keep on seeking that victory on the Battlefield.
Played on Xbox Series S and PC via EA Play, Xbox Review
Battlefield 6
The game redefines itself for the better after quite a stumble in the early stages of the 2020s. It’s now one of the best first-person shooters of the year.
- Presentation 9
- Gameplay 8.5
- Content 8
- Personal Enjoyment 8.5