With the latest season starting, Battlefield 2042 has had a lot of change with it since launch. A lot of weird, strange, and downright stupid design choices have been reworked into a much more enjoyable state. The map pool is slowly expanding, though, with each new release, we can see the BF2042 team is learning how to make the map blend with the gameplay seamlessly. New maps have a focus on cover and chokepoints, which is where most of the action happens.

In terms of the new Specialists, they’re designed well and seem to fit nicely in the game’s world. As for their actual equipment and gameplay, it varies. The first DLC Specialist which released in Season 1, Lis, features a remote-controlled rocket launcher… and that’s it. While the second DLC Specialist who just came out with the latest update, Crawford, features a mountable machine gun complete with a shield.
Not to mention, Crawford also can revive anyone on his team and also resupplies their gadgets. There is quite a contrast between the two newest Specialists, and it sort of feels like Dice still don’t entirely know what they want new Specialists to be. Lis feels like she is a good alternative to the existing launchers but doesn’t have such a huge impact as Crawford who can place a mounted gun, mow down a handful of players, then revive his squad and a few others on top. While we’re still quite early into BF2042’s life, Dice need to figure out how they want new Specialists to fit into the game.

Otherwise, with the latest slew of updates, the game has become surprisingly playable. Optimisation has been given a huge boost so now the game runs even better. Most of the maps have received reworks in some way, along with tweaks to the launch Specialists to make them feel like less of a win condition if you can spam their abilities quick enough. Not only that but the Specialists were redesigned to better fit the world, making them look far more fitting and sound like they're in an actual war and not a Marvel movie.

My original review noted that the game was a good “game”, just not a good “Battlefield game” after the first handful of significant updates that made the game better. The launch version of BF2042 was absolutely appalling especially considering they were asking full price for something very clearly unfinished. Though, we’ve come a long way from the launch version of BF2042, I still don’t think the game is worth what EA are asking for. Should BF2042 go free to play? I mean, it has microtransactions, it has a battle pass (which is much better implemented than the likes of Call of Duty and co.), does it need to cost the asking amount?
Regardless, the game is becoming much more enjoyable, and to be honest, a lot of people thought this was going to be the case and they were spot on. Yeah, there are some bugs here and there but honestly, I can barely name more than 1 off the top of my head.

I’ve spent a lot of time with this game since launch and I’m glad to say it’s getting there in terms of quality. Now, you may have noticed I didn’t talk about Portal or Hazard Zone, and its mostly because those modes haven’t really changed much. Portal is still getting a lot of community attention and Dice is still pushing community “experiences”, but I think if Portal is to really succeed in future, they need to step away from forcing players onto “hosted experiences”, which is code for “lobbies that act as servers”. Portal should be playable on the same platform the base game is playable on in addition to hosted experiences, at least as far as featured experiences go.

In any case, pick the game up on sale, or if you’re looking for something new to play, you might have a good time with this.

Hopefully, Dice can keep this momentum up.

With the latest season starting, Battlefield 2042 has had a lot of change with it since launch. A lot of weird, strange, and downright stupid design choices have been reworked into a much more enjoyable state. The map pool is slowly expanding, though, with each new release, we can see the BF2042 team is learning how to make the map blend with the gameplay seamlessly. New maps have a focus on cover and chokepoints, which is where most of the action happens. In terms of the new Specialists, they’re designed well and seem to fit nicely in the game’s world. As for their actual equipment and gameplay, it varies. The first DLC Specialist which released in Season 1, Lis, features a remote-controlled rocket launcher… and that’s it. While the second DLC Specialist who just came out with the latest update, Crawford, features a mountable machine gun complete with a shield. Not to mention, Crawford also can revive anyone on his team and also resupplies their gadgets. There is quite a contrast between the two newest Specialists, and it sort of feels like Dice still don’t entirely know what they want new Specialists to be. Lis feels like she is a good alternative to the existing launchers but doesn’t have such a huge impact as Crawford who can place a mounted gun, mow down a handful of players, then revive his squad and a few others on top. While we’re still quite early into BF2042’s life, Dice need to figure out how they want new Specialists to fit into the game. Otherwise, with the latest slew of updates, the game has become surprisingly playable. Optimisation has been given a huge boost so now the game runs even better. Most of the maps have received reworks in some way, along with tweaks to the launch Specialists to make them feel like less of a win condition if you can spam their abilities quick enough. Not only that but the Specialists were redesigned to better fit the world, making them look far more fitting and sound like they're in an actual war and not a Marvel movie. My original review noted that the game was a good “game”, just not a good “Battlefield game” after the first handful of significant updates that made the game better. The launch version of BF2042 was absolutely appalling especially considering they were asking full price for something very clearly unfinished. Though, we’ve come a long way from the launch version of BF2042, I still don’t think the game is worth what EA are asking for. Should BF2042 go free to play? I mean, it has microtransactions, it has a battle pass (which is much better implemented than the likes of Call of Duty and co.), does it need to cost the asking amount? Regardless, the game is becoming much more enjoyable, and to be honest, a lot of people thought this was going to be the case and they were spot on. Yeah, there are some bugs here and there but honestly, I can barely name more than 1 off the top of my head. I’ve spent a lot of time with this game since launch and I’m glad to say it’s getting there in terms of quality. Now, you may have noticed I didn’t talk about Portal or Hazard Zone, and its mostly because those modes haven’t really changed much. Portal is still getting a lot of community attention and Dice is still pushing community “experiences”, but I think if Portal is to really succeed in future, they need to step away from forcing players onto “hosted experiences”, which is code for “lobbies that act as servers”. Portal should be playable on the same platform the base game is playable on in addition to hosted experiences, at least as far as featured experiences go. In any case, pick the game up on sale, or if you’re looking for something new to play, you might have a good time with this. Hopefully, Dice can keep this momentum up.