Battlefield 6 is Amazing, and I couldn’t be More Excited

(Intro)

Battlefield 6’s open beta is awesome. This game from everything we have seen and played so far, looks to finally redeem the series with a massively successful title, barring things stay on the current path. From the reveal trailer to multiplayer deep dive, and now to the first open beta weekend, seeing the game played is one thing. But being able to put your hands on it and experience what the game feels like is something else. I mean, there is a reason why after only about less than twelve hours there were over three hundred thousand concurrent players on steam. Twice as much as 2042’s highest player count ever. This game could be something truly special. So, let’s break this open beta down; talk about gameplay, visuals, audio, performance and everything else and ask the question: is this game finally going to be what Battlefield fans have wanted so desperately of their beloved franchise?

(My personal BF history)

My history with this franchise doesn’t go that far back. The game I put the most time into was Bad Company Two, on the Xbox 360. I adored that game to death, and Battlefields three and four while both awesome experiences as well, never rekindled that spark of enjoyment for this franchise like Bad Company 2. But I have always had a soft spot for Battlefield existing and being a respectable franchise that sat next to the likes of Call of Duty as titans in the FPS genre. I’ve never been good at these games either; just a casual enthusiast who liked to run around and get into the weeds of big team battles across huge maps.

(The heart of BF: gameplay)

And those feelings have finally returned in 6. Working with a team to capture an objective, push an advantage, or to make a tactical retreat is back in all of its glory. The thirty-second loop of BF6 feels so crispy. Movement isn’t over the top like it has been in recent CODs; the only two extra movement options you really have are the slide, which doesn’t fly you across the floor, and this new tactical roll to soften your fall when you drop from higher elevations. The gunplay: responsive and not that easy to manage recoil on weapons when on the move. These guns have some kick to them, and I’m glad they do. I didn’t want laser beams in this game, but to be honest, BF has never really had that. Although I will say the SMGs the engineer can use do feel the easiest to wrangle out of all the different weapon types. The assault rifles feel powerful when shot in bursts at medium to long range, the LMGs have the larger magazines so accuracy is less of a factor when you can hold a choke point down with sheer volume of fire. And the snipers probably feel the most familiar; hit the headshot and you’re rewarded with a on shot kill. Because this beta doesn’t have every weapon in the classes, we will have to wait for the full version to know what the off-class weapons behave like. But things like the shotgun feel satisfying to use with the close-range one-shot power they have.

Besides the weapons, the gear and utility has seen some shakeups across the classes, and it feels as though it’s also for the better. Gadgets have moved around, and the roles of each class have shifted somewhat. Assault is all about being in the front lines, engineer is still the primary explosive class with repairing vehicles, support still provides the healing restocking, and the recon is much more about being stealthy and away from the action to spot and provide long range support. The one element of the game I haven’t gotten a chance to mess with are the vehicles. I’ve always been more of an infantry guy in BF, but from what I am seeing from other players, the ground vehicles feel really at home in this game, while the air vehicles like the helicopter could still use some tweaks. People are saying they don’t feel good to pilot, and you aren’t able to show your skill with them and pull off evasive maneuvers as much as you could in previous titles. So, hopefully they listen to some feedback and give the air superiority guys some love. But in general, veterans of this series who maybe haven’t played the last few titles, should feel very much at home in this game.

(Visuals/audio)

The visuals of this game are striking, and again it’s something Battlefield has always been known for. While it might not be pushing the engine to its absolute limits in terms of sheer graphic fidelity, other games like BattleBit have proven that graphics while nice, don’t make a game successful on their own. And don’t get me wrong; this game is beautiful. But one thing I’ve noticed across a lot of the maps and general scenery is the color palettes being a little flat. There isn’t a ton of color in this game across the board; it’s much more subdued and desaturated. Which is something I hope maybe gets tweaked slightly in the future. We’re so used to the older titles like 3 and 4 really leaning into the blue and orange motifs for their loading screens and official art. But here, the color swatches if you will are varied but not as pronounced which, I kind of wish wasn’t the case. Maybe there are some maps in the full release that will remedy this feeling, and while I’m not going to dock metaphorical points off the games score, it’s just an observation form my end.

The audio in BF6 is also very impressive. The clatter of all the different weapons, the battle chatter of the characters calling out enemy locations, their reloads and downed teammates and everything else going on in an active war setting is perfect. Again, audio is something BF has been kind of known for, and this title doesn’t compromise in that regard at all. I especially enjoy when explosives go off near you and your audio kind of dims out for a while and then slowly returns. That effect has always been cool and I’m glad it’s in this game.

(Performance)

The general performance of the game has been better than I thought it would be. It’s not perfect, but after the disaster 2042 was, this is miles ahead. With my frame rate locked at 60fps, with all my settings on at least high, there were very few drops in performance. The only times I would notice it was during insane close quarter battles where the new destruction effects were all over the screen. But even then, it was dipping by maybe five frames at most, so hardly unplayable. However, and maybe this is just a beta thing, sometimes in the main menu it would run at about half the frame rate, so close to thirty, was strange because it happened a couple of times, but outside of the actual combat so it was seldom a factor on my enjoyment of the game. Again, I’ shocked by how well it ran in general; I was worried my PC coming up on four years would struggle a little bit, but it seems as though Dice has really figured out the optimization for this game, which is great to see.

(It’s just a fun video game)

My thoughts have been kind of all over the place; I wanted to focus on the core fundamentals of Battlefield that people want to hear about. But for me, this experience has just been a blast. It feels like not only a stellar Battlefield game, but just a good ass video game to boot. It’s fun; people are working together; the communication is funny with other teammates. I brought up BattleBit earlier (rest in peace the update that’s still in the works but will never actually release), but to me, this has the same energy of that game, but with the AAA polish from Dice and EA. After what feels like over a decade of either middle of the road or disastrous games, players have finally got something here that brings us back to the mid 2010s. A proper return to one of the best first-person franchises that’s available. My only concern is the elephant in the room: EA. As long as they keep their greedy paws off this game, let Dice do what we’ve known they can do, and allow them to produce a high-quality product, I don’t see why this entry into the series can’t be hugely successful. Especially with all the talk about the portal mode and what seems to be limitless possibilities there; it feels like BFs version of forge form Halo, which I am all for. Either way, as a casual fan of this franchise, I am beyond impressed with what has been shown and playable. I just hope they can carry that momentum all the way to the finish line, where the game releases in October.

(Outro)

Battlefield 6 looks to have a bright future ahead of itself. As long as Dice can lock in and finish this game strong, and EA doesn’t meddle with any kind of crappy live service shenanigans that ruins the game, we might finally see a legendary return to an important franchise that has been missing for almost a decade. A return to form that is going to make Call of Duty sweat just a little bit more. Which anytime another company can make Activision squirm in their chair, well that’s just a good day for consumers, is it not? Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know your thoughts about Battlefield 6s open beta if you watched or participated, if you think this franchise is about to make a huge comeback and be sure to subscribe for more videos about games putting out a fantastic first impression that hopefully is truthful to what the final product is going to look like. I hope to see you in future ones.