Battlefield 6’s California Resistance feels miles off-target

How quickly things change. The release of Battlefield 6 was heralded as the arrival of a triple-A, FPS champ. This was the Battlefield to run down Call of Duty. The one returning to its roots. This was the entry that would add a Battle Royale, giving both jaded Warzone players and BF fans a playground to share.

All of that has happened. But while hype always dies, BF’s Rogue Ops has been followed by quite a misfire. California Resistance brings a new map and a limited-time game mode. There are new guns and new features. Unfortunately, there is also a growing feeling of unease about what Battlefield 6 is becoming.  

If there was one thing missing from BF6 at launch, it was a balance between smaller-scale matches and large-scale all-out warfare. Considering the lore of BF6 is a destabilised world, it was odd that it needed urgent reinforcements on this front. This is especially so because the first mission of the campaign includes chaotic action with infantry, land, and air vehicles.

With such an intro, large-scale warfare seemed critical to BF6. Instead, we had to wait til Rogue Ops. Blackwell Fields arrived and is a good BF map, but it didn’t reset the balance when the smaller-scale Strikepoint mode also arrived. Meanwhile, the arrival of the Battlefield 6 battle royale, RedSec added scale, but it’s a Battle Royale.

For California Resistance, we get the Eastwood map. This offers something new and supports larger game modes. But it’s really not a Battlefield map. Running around golf courses and across lawns in a SoCal neighbourhood feels weird. Not in an “oh, war in California!” way. Just weird. Or, as a Steam discussion says, it feels like a sort of parody.

This sort of parody-driven, self-aware approach to Battlefield 6 doesn’t work. It reminds me of the days of Battlefield Hardline, where the whole “war on crime” approach just felt odd. But here it’s worse. I understand that part of the RedSec map also reflects some of Eastwood’s neighbourly aesthetic, but a Battle Royale has more artistic license. 

In any Battlefield in any game mode, driving a tank on a golf course or around a complex with a pool would be as weird as finding a random rail gun or minigun, just lying around. Imagine if that happened, though. And then on the minimap, these guns were a gaudy gold colour… Oh yeah, California Resistance did that too. Why? 

I have to admit, when I first saw ‘battle pickups’ on the roadmap back in October, I assumed these would be items like mortars, or mountable anti-air turrets: something Battlefield-like. Instead, we get a mini gun that can shred infantry, and a rail gun that can maintain its lock-on progress even when you’re not aiming. Keep that to RedSec, please.

Honestly, I wish these pickups could be destroyed with C4. The only saving grace is that you can’t keep hold of them if you want to switch to your primary or secondary weapon. But that these golden in-game pop-ups even exist is giving a lot of Call of Duty energy. And I don’t mean that in a good way. Maybe this will improve, but these bombastic options are wild.

Another headscratcher with California Resistance is the doubling down on smaller-scale modes. Sabotage is a limited-time mode, and it is likely to be rotated in the future for variety. But why is it here? It’s an 8v8 mode that lasts six minutes per round, and it’s not wholly different from Rush. 

As such, Sabotage’s arrival makes little sense to me, aside from trying to get players to squeeze in quick 12-minute matches. I’d like to know who this caters to, and who really enjoys it, because it feels like the antithesis to Battlefield’s glorious, larger-scale action. And again, the game currently lacks balance.

For my money (literally, the full Battlefield 6 price I paid), a new, larger mode or a modified Rush with full access to all vehicles would have been a solid choice. It would be absolute chaos, and therefore miles better than Sabotage, which itself feels miles away from what I enjoy about the series.

I realise that I haven’t mentioned the guns or attachments added by the latest major update. But, honestly, they make no substantial difference to how I feel. New guns and gadgets are useful. But parody-like maps, battle pickups, and small modes that aren’t really needed seem to be taking Battlefield 6 in a very odd direction.

To be fair, I’ve enjoyed BF6, and I’ll keep playing for a good while yet. But it’s little surprise that both BF fans and those seeking a more expansive approach than Call of Duty are growing unsettled. With the threat of a certain third-person extraction title drawing players away, BF6 hasn’t been helping itself. California Resistance feels like a swing and a miss.