EA's answer to Call of Duty returns with tighter, large-scale warfare and destruction, but is it enough to put the series back on the map? Few games carry as much pressure as Battlefield 6. After 2021's Battlefield 2042 and its predecessor Battlefield 5 both buckled at launch and failed to hit sales expectations, EA has thrown multi-studio manpower behind this next instalment – with Criterion, Motive, and Ripple Effect joining original developer DICE under the newly formed Battlefield Studios umbrella.
At a time when the games industry is synonymous with layoffs, it's an anxiety-inducing move, amplified even more so after EA's recent buyout. Over the past few months, however, the tide has been turning in the game's favour, thanks to the positive reaction to the beta and a refreshing back-to-basics approach far removed from Call of Duty's Beavis and Butt-Head skins. Battlefield 6 has enough steam behind it to create a breakthrough moment, and while its overall success will likely be determined in its staying power after launch, this shooter delivers a return to the core tenets of what makes Battlefield tick – for better and worse.
While Battlefield and Call of Duty are often pitched against each other, they are notably different games. Activision's franchise is a hyper-slick stop-and-pop arcade game, mostly hinged around grounded, close-quarter encounters, whereas Battlefield leans into looser, open-ended warfare at a large scale. If Call of Duty is about racking up killstreaks, Battlefield is defined by spectacle – whether parachuting from a burning helicopter, watching destructible walls crumble around a sniper's den, or hearing rockets screech overhead as you dive away from a tank.
Design-wise, it also rewards players beyond just running and gunning. In classic series fashion, you have four classes to choose from: Assault, Engineer, Recon, and Support. All these classes can be customised with different weapons, gadgets, and traits, and you're encouraged to experiment through tailored XP challenges to bump up your rank in multiplayer. Battlefield 6 doesn't tamper with these fundamentals, but it is leaner than what's come before. There are still a few massive maps, but the bulk of the nine maps available at launch feel designed to funnel you into conflict at a more regular clip.
Occasionally, the accelerated pace and relatively smaller maps throw up frustrations (we found the spawn points to be egregious at times), but when you're in sync with your squad, Battlefield 6 can be exhilarating. The sound design especially is stunning, with every screaming rocket and wall-shattering explosion rattling your speakers with a real seismic weight. It helps heighten the immersion despite some visual shortcomings, with the environments – spanning New York to Gibraltar – possessing little personality beyond the surface level layout. Battlefield 6 is refreshingly devoid of gimmicks overall, but this means it's also very familiar. Beyond the maps (one of which, Operation Firestorm, is recycled from Battlefield 3), the only new mode is Escalation, a different take on Conquest where the map's control points disappear.
