Following Battlefield 2042’s troubled launch, EA rallied the troops (DICE, Criterion, Ripple Effect, and Motive), establishing a unified front with Battlefield Studios. Fortunately, the veteran task force hit the ground running with Battlefield 6, reintroducing the franchise’s tried-and-true traditions, such as an operator-less role system, a manageable 64-player limit, and an original single-player campaign. Most maps are dazzling sandboxes just waiting to be leveled, firearms feel impactful with detectable recoil patterns, and a bevy of demanding progression challenges keep the grind loop fresh. But like in most hard-fought victories, not every wartime decision yields a winning result.
Battlefield 6 pushes the limits of cinematic sensory overload to great effect, even in multiplayer. After narrowly escaping detection by an enemy squad, I sneak into a sniper’s lookout and pile-drive him into the ground with my sledgehammer. Rifle caked with blood, I peer out of a nearby window only to be met by the business end of a tank cannon. I dive, though it’s too late; the rocket pierces the building’s thin walls, and the floor caves beneath me. Suddenly, a brave medic drags my body out of the rubble to patch me up, bullets whizzing past us and cracking against the pavement. Adrenaline-pumping war stories like mine are commonplace, making heady firefights or daring escapes all the more personalized and unforgettable.
As a globetrotting soldier, you’ll battle in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, under Cairo’s scorching sun, and amid the ever-burning oil fields of Iran, among other arenas. For the most part, these locales are awe-inspiring, brimming with destructible, multi-floored structures, ranging from urban museums to remote construction yards. As a New Yorker, I was floored by the East River views I got from an attack chopper as Dumbo’s ritzy brownstones crumbled into dust below. Contrarily, Liberation Peak, with its mountain-side villages and military installations, and Iberian Offensive, a war-torn district in Gibraltar, failed to impress, featuring dreary, grayscale environments and unremarkable points of interest, like parking lots and rocky outcroppings.
But you’ll be hard-pressed to find a moment of solace to even take in such sights, because the action is so satisfyingly frenetic. Battlefield Studios’ newly implemented “Kinesthetic Combat System” smartly augments mobility and gunplay. When I missed my chance to spawn in a tank at match start, I grappled onto its backplate, avoiding the early-game marathon that previous entries in the series are notorious for. Wanting to drop on an unsuspecting enemy from an elevated vantage point, I recklessly leapt from the ledge and, with a perfectly-timed button press, rolled as I hit the ground, limiting fall damage and closing the distance for a melee takedown in seconds. Moreover, peeking/leaning as well as mounting weapons on practically any surface empowered me to make smarter rotations and prioritize optimal sightlines. I enjoyed contending with the mental gymnastics of mindlessly rounding corners or rushing chokepoints, giving every tactical decision the appropriate weight.
Classic modes like Conquest, Rush, and Breakthrough make a welcome return, offering the same high-octane, all-out warfare experiences that endeared fans to the Battlefield IP many moons ago. These awesome playlists remain fundamentally unchanged and for good reason: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. However, Battlefield 6 introduces a new way to play with Escalation, a territorial tug-of-war where two teams clash to control a smattering of points on a map until the number of contestable objectives dwindles. Escalation deftly redefines Conquest’s ruleset by funneling players toward one last, epic battle. Whenever a match neared its end, the electric medley of desperation and excitement was palpable.
Team Deathmatch, Domination, and King of the Hill offer small-scale options for troopers who prefer intimate engagements, especially with shotguns and SMGs. Saints Quarter, the infantry-only map made for these modes, might be the next great close-quarters arena akin to Battlefield 3’s spectacular Noshahr Canals, but spotty spawn points still give rise to cheap instadeaths. At least Portal’s return is slated to assuage my concerns with these less-enticing peripherals through detailed scripting tools that players can use to upload anything from custom horde modes to zany obstacle courses, which still astonishingly award experience. Like the upcoming battle royale mode, I didn’t get any hands-on time with the latest iteration of Portal, so it’s tough to gauge how successful it’ll be this go around, but giving the community game-editing capabilities is always an ambitious creative choice.
Teamplay remains essential to progression, and this is best exemplified by Battlefield 6’s overhauled class system. Each role – Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon – has its own signature trait (passive), weapon, gadget (tactical ability), and active ability (ultimate) that level the playing field. I appreciated having improved aim-down-sights speed with LMGs while playing Support, but Assault’s access to deployable ladders added newfound levels of verticality that led to more eliminations and, consequently, significant lead changes. Training Paths (specializations) also make role selection nuanced. The Engineer’s Anti-Armor path increased my rocket count by two, allowing me to handily turn armored motorcades into scrap metal, and when I opted for the stone-cold assassin approach with Recon, I benefited from the Sniper path, which incentivized landing headshots, as victims couldn’t be revived. I loved experimenting with each class, tinkering with gadgets and paths to help catalyze much-needed momentum swings.
Daily, weekly, and career challenges drip-feed unlockable rewards, including numerous attachments, dog tags, badges, and more. Even though Battlefield 6 touts lengthy progression systems, a swath of XP boosts and accessible tasks, like simply netting assists or traveling long distances, nicely balances legendary assignments like nailing a clip-worthy “rendezook” (destroying an enemy aircraft with an unguided rocket while exiting and reentering your own). A fresh assortment of vertical grips, charms, and playercards should make up for the battle scars, but don’t expect to look chic when running and gunning. Weapon, vehicle, and character cosmetics are shockingly uninspired, with several amounting to basic camo designs. At first glance, a whopping 30 woodland skins might seem enticing until you realize the minute differences between them. I know war is hell, but after many hours of exemplary service, I ought to look good while waging it.
Battlefield 6’s weakest link is its narrative. Alongside a hardened crew of Marine raiders supervised by a mysterious CIA liaison, I begrudgingly took the fight to private military company Pax Armata after it violently ousted NATO. In one mission, I hopped out of a transport plane, a thick bed of clouds giving way to a piercingly beautiful afternoon sun. However, the dazzling spectacle was short-lived, as I tried and failed to recall why I was even there in the first place. Major themes, namely, survivor’s guilt, embracing leadership, and expendability, are buried beneath weak dialogue, wooden cutscenes that often stripped control from me during the most exciting action sequences, and a frustratingly bland villain. Beyond completing challenges, there aren’t enough compelling reasons to endure the story. Having a curated single-player offering should add more breadth to the overall package, but this particular element is only puddle deep.
There’s nothing quite like trudging through slick mudfields, down metropolitan streets, and past eroded craters as shells lay waste to abandoned farmsteads, scorching the last vestiges of greenery. The latest entry in the Battlefield series is an amalgamation of immersive moments like this. I only wish some of the postwar rewards matched my many acts of valor and that the campaign reflected the grittiness of its multiplayer counterpart. Despite some military blunders, Battlefield 6 has successfully turned the tide.