I've been in and out with Battlefield almost the entire series - I hated the beta for 3, and felt like it was already chasing Modern Warfare with Operation Metro, and so for a long time Bad Company 2 was the end of history to me. I couldn't be convinced back for 3 or 4 [even though I understand they ended up being better than I expected] and then came back for BF1 - which I still think has a look, feel, and especially audio design that blows away almost any other multiplayer shooter of the type. The janky guns, the cumbersome artillery pieces, screaming through a bayonet charge, even the abysmally stupid gas mask button eventually grew on me. Then the 5 beta happened and I just threw up my hands in frustration. Culture war aside, I genuinely felt like the team just had no idea what they should be doing with BF5... and then they proved it with 2042. Now, I've played a lot more 2042 than I could ever justify, because it was my brother and I's 'meetup' game for a year or two, and I only started playing it once it had gotten heavily reworked, but I do think it's fun. Fun, but not Battlefield, despite delivering occasionally on some truly Battlefield experiences.
My life has been in flux since BF6's release, and I have only gotten to play a few hours so far, but I played the open betas, and my general feeling is that BF6 is in that way very similar to 2042 - fun, but not quite the kind of fun I want. On the plus side, and it's a big plus, it's there at launch, instead of being a miserable trainwreck for a year or more as the studio struggles to get it to a playable state.
Will we ever have a TRUE return to form for Battlefield? Well, you know I hate to pull the seniority card on you, Scanlines, but back in MY day, Battlefield was about driving a jeep all the way across Iwo Jima just to run over one guy, and being blown away by the Desert Combat mod. Has THAT been the Battlefield experience since, like, 2? Even for 2 I remember sitting in my dorm room being mad that they ruined it with the commanders and sniper rifles.
'Fun but not quite the kind of fun I want.' Is a good one line summary of this article in all honestly. I definitely like Battlefield 6, it's absolutely a good game in every conceivable metric but it does feel like those last vestiges of Batlefield-ness are going dark.
Battlefield 1 lacked staying power for me but it was absolutely brilliant at game-feel and atmosphere like you say, something very raw and dirty about it in a way that Battlefield 5 failed to capture.
That's a fair point, I have actually played BF2 briefly but it doesn't have the memories for me, only put an hour or 2 into it one time.
I've been in and out with Battlefield almost the entire series - I hated the beta for 3, and felt like it was already chasing Modern Warfare with Operation Metro, and so for a long time Bad Company 2 was the end of history to me. I couldn't be convinced back for 3 or 4 [even though I understand they ended up being better than I expected] and then came back for BF1 - which I still think has a look, feel, and especially audio design that blows away almost any other multiplayer shooter of the type. The janky guns, the cumbersome artillery pieces, screaming through a bayonet charge, even the abysmally stupid gas mask button eventually grew on me. Then the 5 beta happened and I just threw up my hands in frustration. Culture war aside, I genuinely felt like the team just had no idea what they should be doing with BF5... and then they proved it with 2042. Now, I've played a lot more 2042 than I could ever justify, because it was my brother and I's 'meetup' game for a year or two, and I only started playing it once it had gotten heavily reworked, but I do think it's fun. Fun, but not Battlefield, despite delivering occasionally on some truly Battlefield experiences.
My life has been in flux since BF6's release, and I have only gotten to play a few hours so far, but I played the open betas, and my general feeling is that BF6 is in that way very similar to 2042 - fun, but not quite the kind of fun I want. On the plus side, and it's a big plus, it's there at launch, instead of being a miserable trainwreck for a year or more as the studio struggles to get it to a playable state.
Will we ever have a TRUE return to form for Battlefield? Well, you know I hate to pull the seniority card on you, Scanlines, but back in MY day, Battlefield was about driving a jeep all the way across Iwo Jima just to run over one guy, and being blown away by the Desert Combat mod. Has THAT been the Battlefield experience since, like, 2? Even for 2 I remember sitting in my dorm room being mad that they ruined it with the commanders and sniper rifles.
'Fun but not quite the kind of fun I want.' Is a good one line summary of this article in all honestly. I definitely like Battlefield 6, it's absolutely a good game in every conceivable metric but it does feel like those last vestiges of Batlefield-ness are going dark.
Battlefield 1 lacked staying power for me but it was absolutely brilliant at game-feel and atmosphere like you say, something very raw and dirty about it in a way that Battlefield 5 failed to capture.
That's a fair point, I have actually played BF2 briefly but it doesn't have the memories for me, only put an hour or 2 into it one time.
No love for BF2? I miss the days of playing it in Czech cyber cafes. Proper teamwork too.
I didn't really get to play it. Have always been a console gamer primarily, only tried it a few time, the maps look brilliant though.