I have waited to even start making a post about BF2042 as I wanted it to sit on me and let myself get used to it. I want to be as objective as I can so that this can be a good source for gamers that may be questioning if this game is worth it, rather than letting my emotions ruin the truly good aspects of this game.
TLDR: I hate to say it, as I spent a whole $120 on this game and pre-ordered it, but Battlefield was not ready to be released. As of November 15th, there are game-breaking bugs that limit playability and sometimes shutdown a whole server-worth of people (128 people).
Battlefield has quite a few quirks that negatively affect the immersiveness of the game but these can be overlooked quite easily, glitches that you would expect in any launch. However, Dice has missed the mark on issues prevalent in the game that I cannot mentally understand how it was overlooked. I will go over some of the issues I have faced personally or others have dealt with but I will try to skip over things that have already been fixed.
Reload Cue Stuck on Screen -
I am sure this can be toggled in the settings to remove the issue, but for players that use this do not want to have to toggle it on and off multiple times per game.
Weapon Progression Unlocks Do Not Register -
I had quite a few issues with this specifically, I would pass a kill threshold for a new attachment but I would not really unlock it. When going into the menu, it shows you have over the kills, but it is still locked. ("158/150 Kills") Only way of fixing this that I have found is restarting the game.
Battlefield Portal Servers Will Load And Put You Back In Main Menu
Due to another issue I personally have, I went into portal but every server I tried to join would load and bring me to the joining phase, but then black the screen and return me to main menu with that specific server now off the list. These were not small servers, having max players so I'd be surprised if the server shut down indefinitely.
Healing Gun -
I have not personally experienced this, but many friends of mine said that the Falck players cannot heal players with her syringe pistol sometimes. This could be because of the perma-death state or another glitch on its' own.
Perma-death Down State -
I didn't have this issue until last night (14th), which once it did I could not get away from it. This glitch locks your player in a downed state, with 0 seconds on the timer and you cannot be revived / skip to deploy. One of the servers I played on, 30 or so different players text in chat about not being able to get out of perma-death. This all happened at the same time so I assume it goes in waves affecting many players. Only way to fix this is leave lobby, game-breaking issue.
Breakthrough Game Mode -
Many games you play will be broken, where nobody in the lobby (128 players) can spawn and you just have to leave the lobby. The sides on the Hud should have "400 lives vs Infinite lives" but these broken lobbies, both have the Infinite lives icon. The worst part is that it happens so often, it happens often enough to join 4 games in a row with this glaring issue. How did this pass private testing? I can't see this not being detected unless nobody tested it. Last game-breaking glitch I have found.
Clarification: This glitch was not shown in open beta a few weeks back, but Dice/EA have private testers on NDA to identify glitches, how was it not found.
2042 does have some really cool features that any FPS player would be happy about, the graphics are amazing, maps are beautifully crafted, weapons look and feel tough. However, this may seem trivial to some when the game -In this state- is fundamentally broken and nearly unplayable for some.
Guns And Their Recoil / Strengths -
Although this battlefield was marketed as a little more arcade-like than previous games, it has features that die-hard BF fans have been waiting for and keeping the tactical realism in the game. Recoil on guns really put a handicap on certain playstyles, good luck playing on conquest with an AR that is low level, players actually have to play to their specific weapons strengths. (Except for the gods that just destroy with every weapon no matter the situation)
Gun Skins -
Though we don't have much to go off of right now, Dice has went in overtime and in my opinion crushed the detailing of skins and attachment looks on the weapons. The pre-order skins look insane and change the model look of the gun, which is a really cool addition to customize a players gun to their personal liking. A feature many miss, as the skin applied changes, so does the attachments that are on the gun. For example, the skin has metallic red on it, so does the holographic sight. I will add a picture of this if I can to show what I mean.
Graphics and Map Environments -
Even beyond the beta, the graphics are insanely good on 2042. I cannot help but relate them to BF4 as it is so similar but that's a good thing. Look at BF4 graphics on PC now and see how amazing it still looks being released in 2013. Although I cannot run ultra at 1080P, the graphics I was running (W/o Ray Tracing and DLSS) blew my mind completely. Continuing on, I have had a couple games with the tornado and boy does it really change the playing field. Running Sundance with a wingsuit is such fun and allows for easy redeployment on another part of the map. The changing of weather adds realism and makes the wartime-environment feel immersive as sand kicking up creates natural concealment to flank an enemy with sight on you. A cool feature this game doesn't miss is the natural buildup of gunk on the gun, you wouldn't even be able to tell what skin you have on by the end of the game with this buildup of mud and sand.
Specialists' And Their Abilities
Although it may be an annoyance to some, the specialists available are extremely nice to have. This allows for easier conversion to a different play style or suiting perfectly to the playstyle you want. For example, new snipers may be oblivious to people flanking around them and getting killed, but the recon specialist now highlights players in vicinity. It does seem unfair but it helps the new players, and (when / if) the game becomes what it was advertised, it will keep new players playing.
The Weapon Customization Wheel -
Personally, I do not like this addition. However, I do realize that it does add value to helping people move around and fit their weapon to the exact need at that given time. I have used this a couple times to help gain some zoom to fight far-range but ultimately found myself not using it or editing my loadout every time a game starts.
Maps are insanely cool -
Battlefield came out hard with these maps, such diverse and extremely tactical maps to tend to any play style. These maps have chokepoints, POI's that are always congested, and certain areas have strategic advantages. I have seen a losing battle, almost to the point of nothing being left, then all of a sudden we catch up and hold our defenses single-handedly with one point on the map. Dice made maps that are extremely large, and are unique. I do not think I have seen an FPS game come out with such diverse and exceptional crafting. Though this is wholly subjective.
Although Battlefield has its good parts, it also has its weak points that are just slightly infuriating to me. This is not to include the glitches. This is personally annoying to me, it may not be for you but I think there are a pretty big group of people that have the same revelations as me.
Only Two Game Modes -
Excluding Portal, and Hazard Zone, Battlefield has only 2 modes out right now which is conquest and breakthrough. It blows my mind that if this is the way Dice is choosing to do servers, then they are making a huge mistake. Do not underestimate the people that like smaller maps and not running for 5 minutes to get sniped 1800m away. Although, I am making this post as BF is still in pre-release and it would not surprise me if the servers are limited for time being, like another beta of some sort.
What even is this menu? -
Maybe it is just me, but this menu is aggravating and brings you in circles sometimes. Getting to weapon customization and editing your class is a pain as well as the way you edit weapons. For some reason instead of pressing on parts of the cross, you need to click on the tab to the left and then exchange attachments. To me, it seems unintuitive and clunky.
Portal Servers Are A Waste Of Time Essentially -
I really hope this gets fixed, I do understand people were making XP farms but why join servers if not for progression. I have not tried official servers promoted by EA, but hosted servers currently do not allow for XP or progression. You receive an extremely small amount of level XP for a full game, as well you do not receive kills in which progress into unlocking attachments for your gun. In short, this means that you have to play large-scale conquest matches struggling to get 5 kills to slowly upgrade weapons instead of playing to your strengths with smaller, mid-scale maps. This especially affects me as I play Squad Deathmatch and TDM on BF4, but I cannot do that in this game currently.
Vehicle Roadkill Galore -
This is more game population than anything else, but when you buy a game, you buy into the players on the game as well. BF2042 will bring back the good ole' Halo days where people are constantly being ran over with Ghosts. I cannot tell you how many times I have been ran over by a rogue transport or hovercraft as it is definitely in the hundreds. This cannot be escaped as previous issues compound, you cannot find a progression server that does not have vehicles. Although this can be worked around by not being on foot or at least being in an elevated position.
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Hit Registration Is Bugged Bad -
I noticed some bad hit registrations, but not an incredible amount. Although, I will admit I don't usually notice those things and put it on myself of not being skilled enough, or I made a mistake. On the other hand, Many lobbies I joined had tons of people talking about the bad hit reg. and it seemed to be affecting a ton of people beyond the point of some being surprised their gun skill isn't as good as they thought.
Weapon Diversity Lacking -
Since Battlefield hardline, the BF developers have had it decently easy with a limited option of weapons since they were trying to be historically accurate. However, this is the future and from it competing with the BF golden days (BC2, BF3, BF4) I am a bit saddened by the limited selection of guns. I hope and expect this to be adjusted and new guns added through the seasons but I don't know the future plans on the 2021/2022 roadmap. This is my personal feelings and it will not affect your fun, but it should be known.
Hazard Zone Seems Lack-luster -
Hazard Zone and BF as a whole seems to be having an identity crisis with what is the goal. Hazard Zone feels like it was supposed to be a battle royale, but then switched to Escape From Tarkov, back to something in the middle that really isn't intuitive or fun to play. I don't see the appeal of playing hazard zone compared to any other option available.
It is a travesty for such a promising game to have a flop of a pre-launch/launch like this, so many people were excited about this game including friends that don't like CoD and never played a battlefield ever. Having publicity and a reputation like this is killing off the community and has already set 2042 for a low shelf life. I am a huge BF guy, it hurts to say this but even yet, I don't suggest anyone get this game until these game breaking bugs get fixed, I am currently contemplating issuing a refund with how this came out. I don't understand what exactly caused this to happen, the open beta weeks ago was really good, I didn't personally notice any big issues but this is not what I saw back then.
I do still have some hope that this game will be fixed and be an amazing game, it does have potential to be really good and run really well. I don't know how long it will take for that time to come though, and that's the problem. We all know how Cyberpunk 2077 worked out and with this path, BF2042 is headed right down the depths of game death right along with it.
This is the time I learn to never pre-order ever again even if the beta is good. Times back in the day you could do that and the game was quality before release, but this is just a mess. I cannot comprehend why this game wasn't delayed again, unlike how many feel, I'd rather it take some more time to be perfect than rush a release and have this kind of bad press. You cannot join one server online without a group of people talking about how "*** this game is". Yes, forced profanity filter so its fun deciphering what people are saying.
Battlefield 2042 is a solid 4/10 in its' current state, but if it can get the much needed fixes and upgrades I can see it being a 9/10 in my books. Do not buy the game right now, save your money and put it into Hive Power 😉... UNTIL its fixed (Not financial advice)
Until next time...
Wow, thanks for the very thorough review! I can tell you put a lot of time into this. It sucks when things don't live up to your expectations. Especially when you spend that kind of money on them! Hopefully they get things sorted out sooner rather than later so that this game can become playable for you.
Most definitely, I was struggling to find a game to play running up to release because I was soo hyped about it. I knew I had to be ready for the game to not be completely polished but the difference between the open beta to now is so diverse. I couldn't have predicted this outcome the way it did.
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