Yesterday, EA finally gave Battlefield fans what they were looking forward to since last week, and that’s the Battlefield 2042 gameplay reveal! Clocking in at just over three minutes long, the trailer featured infantry combat, vehicles, and loads more! While we’re quite far off from the shooter’s October release date, we here at MP1st decided to give our take on what was shown! Check out our Battlefield 2042 gameplay reveal impressions and see if you agree with ’em or not.
James Lara:
This gameplay reveal just oozed in “Only in Battlefield” moments, with many of them being callbacks to the original community created ones. I loved it. Seeing the game in actual action, I’m left impressed.
Judging from the character movement, it seems that there is some weighted feeling to add a bit of realism much like previous Battlefield games. Not a whole lot of surprise if I am honest, but it did look great in motion, and seeing new gadgets such as the hook shot got me really exciting to see what crazy things players do.
And that’s kind of what this whole trailer is about after all, to show just how much insane stuff can happen all in a single match. Seeing all the vehicles such as the tanks and helicopters all in the same area and wreaking havoc was such a good adrenaline rush, and of course the viewpoint from the soldiers on foot was just as exciting.
One of my favorite parts of the trailer though was when the dust tornado started to come in and the soldier went to the roof of a building nearby with a helicopter waiting for them there. Veterans from Battlefield 3 and 4 know exactly how tense of a moment like that was, as a single helicopter pilot could easily shred up a whole squad of players. Of course this being scripted that would more than likely have had happened, but still it’s always a good fight to have.
Luckily someone brought up an ATV with some C4 attached to it. Yeah, as if that didn’t put a smile in your face and nostalgia of doing it yourself in Battlefield 4.
Now there were other exciting tidbits from the trailer, one being the new Plus system that allows you to change your weapon attachments as you play. This is a huge game changer as it allows you to carry a single loadout with basically everything you need for that weapon. No more having to edit your loadout and being taken out of the action as you do it. It’s such a cool mechanic, and I can’t wait to mess around with it myself later this year.
The wingsuit is also new to Battlefield. I thought this was a great addition as it’ll help you feel like you are no longer a sitting duck in the air. The parachute of course is still in, but the wingsuit is going to allow so much more freedom in movement. Having to jump off a roof and quickly get to a location without the risk of a everyone aiming out you is going to feel great.
And finally there’s all the level events, or as Battlefield 4 fans would call it Levolution. Now I don’t know if DICE is calling it that this time around, but it’s clearly upping those moments. In the first portion of the trailer we can see a massive sand tornado rolling in along with all the debris it has picked up. Visibility goes from being clear, to a hazy dust storm.
We aren’t sure how much this will actually change the level, but we are hoping that once the dust has settled, it means the map is covered in a blanket of thick sand. Fingers crossed.
The one thing I didn’t really see much of was destruction. In fact, besides from vehicles and explosive particles, there really wasn’t much of it in the trailer in terms of buildings and landmarks. In fact, after giving the trailer a few more watches, you can see that a lot of the environment remains unchanged, despite being in the middle of a full on warzone. That, and even during the crazy sandstorm, a lot of the environment looked as it did even before.
I am really hoping that changes, since this is after all from an early alpha build but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The visuals don’t bug me and I know they will for sure be better by the time release comes around, but in terms of level of destructibility based off the footage we saw it’s kept pretty low. I hope that turns out to be false, because that is the one thing that Battlefield fans have been craving for. Since the release of Bad Company 2, the series just never reach that high.
Overall, like I said I was impressed with what was shown, enough to make me excited and want to actually buy the shooter.
Alex Co:
Oh, man! Where do I start? While we got three minutes worth of footage, there’s still a TON of stuff left unanswered. We didn’t get to see the Specialists that much, how does each Specialist ability work and so on. But more importantly, we didn’t see any destruction! Clearly, DICE is offering destruction on another scale in Battlefield 2042, but they haven’t shown us just yet.
I gather the questions we all have will all be answered in separate info blowouts, which make sense. I mean, why explain everything in one gameplay reveal and overwhelm gamers, when you can slowly trickle info out, and build up hype? Makes sense from a marketing perspectie clearly.
Aside from the maps, one thing that stood out a lot were the new stuff (or semi new?) We saw ziplines that were used to great effect to reach an area camped in by a sniper, there were wingsuits that allowed players to friggin’ fly around the map, there was even one character with a deployable cover!
Clearly, DICE has given a much bigger emphasis on infantry play, and customization. I haven’t seen all the Specialists or know of their abilities, but DICE seems to be aiming for letting the gamer play the way they want.
We also got to see the Plus system for changing weapon attachments on the fly! The UI looks clean, and the idea of it is very useful for a Battlefield game where you need to change gun loadouts depending on the map or situation.
Capping the gameplay reveal was that big storm cloud thing that you just know will be hell on whichever side is winning the match! Will it be just a gimmick or provide something big like how Levolution was (in some maps)? Only time will tell.
I have laods of questions regarding Battlefield 2042, but it managed to do what it was meant to do, and that was to build hype and pull people in. After watching the gameplay reveal more than four times now, I think it did the job.
What are your thoughts on the Battlefield 2042 gameplay reveal? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments.
