Battlefield 2042 open beta is overwhelming chaos in the best possible way
Date:
Wed, 06 Oct 2021 09:41:09 +0000
Description:
The Battlefield 2042 open beta is brilliant, chaotic fun for those who want a less serious first-person shooter.
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Hunkered down behind a hill, I set up a turret at the peak to ward off any US soldiers who may try to make their way over the top. My squad has captured
the sector and we need to secure it while the rest of our 64-player team attempts to capture the other sectors within Battlefield 2042 s Orbital map. Just as we think weve got the hold on the area, I hear the rumble of an
engine and suddenly a quad bike comes speeding over the hill, flying through the air and ultimately taking out a handful of team members before crashing into a wall. Its a surreal moment and, despite the casualties, I cant help
but laugh this is quintessential Battlefield.
Playing the Battlefield 2042 open beta, there were many moments such as this that really hit home the sheer absurdity of it all. What adds to this absurdity is the sheer size of the map itself, 128-players battling it out
for control of the majority of sectors within this massive map. When
developer EA Dice called Battlefield 2042 the most ambitious series entry to date, it wasnt lying.
Battlefield 2042 is overwhelming at times, but thats exactly what makes it so enjoyable. Just dont attempt to take it too seriously. Best FPS games : the most essential first-person shooters Dont go in the tunnel (Image credit: EA Dice)
The Battlefield 2042 open beta grants players access to the games All-Out War multiplayer mode, dropping players into a 128-player match (64 players on
each side) within the Orbital map, set in Kourou, French Guiana. The map sees you battling over a rocket launch site as a controversial space launch
becomes a race against time. In the beta, its not quite clear why the rocket launch is controversial, but it makes for a brilliant chaotic set-piece as
the match progresses.
"As we moved through the darkness, I saw a glint of light and immediately
knew it was all over."
The Battlefield 2042 open beta grants access to four Specialists: Wikus
Casper Van Daele, Webster MacKay, Pyotr Boris Guskovsky and Maria Falck. Each Specialist has its own class: Maria, for example, is Support, and so should
be healing up fallen comrades, while Casper is Recon and so stealth is his speciality. Each Specialist can use any loadout but has a specific cool
gadget thats unique only to them such as Borisaforementioned turret that
only he can set up.
While I tried out each of the Specialists, Boris was my guy. His turret provided me with the extra cover I so desperately needed as I got to grips with Battlefield 2042 and the swarming enemy soldiers that scurried around
the map like aggressive ants at a picnic.
Thats perhaps the biggest benefit from Battlefield 2042s increased player size: theres just no letting up. While you wont constantly run into a
plethora of enemies constantly, you will nearly always come across someone wherever you are. Sure, the map has scaled with the player size, but I never struggled to find an enemy or a teammate when on foot, and there are so many players that the action never stops.
But its in Battlefield 2042s clusters, as developer EA Dice calls them, that the real fun happens. Clusters are points within sectors that naturally encourage players to swarm, resulting in big ol firefights. The best experience I had with a cluster was in a tunnel system in a northern sector
of the map. The tunnel system was dark and definitely filled with enemies
but, as my team was losing control of the sector, we decided to push through the tunnel in an effort to clear it out. There were plenty of us after all.
As we moved through the darkness, I saw a glint of light and immediately knew it was all over. An evil Boris had set up his turret out of the line of sight within the tunnel, meaning we were down the stairs before we knew it was
there myself and fellow team members were quickly gunned down, while a few more fought valiantly on, the flash of their guns lighting up the darkness.
We probably should have expected that. The next time, we were more prepared, coming in with grenades to take out the troublesome turret before pushing the US out of the system and claiming victory.
The clusters are brilliant and they mean that, wherever you go, there is action happening. At one point I was simply walking to a destination and overhead a vicious dogfight was taking place. It made me feel like a very small cog in a much larger machine, but in the best possible way. Team work makes the dream work tornados aside (Image credit: EA Dice)
Our venture into the tunnel probably would have been more successful had
voice chat been working. While I was running a Discord voice chat with one other journalist I knew, the feature was unavailable in-game (at least during the open beta we played), preventing us from sharing our thoughts and plans with our team members. It meant that teams were mostly running around like headless chickens, which isnt ideal for maps of this size.
Whats more, due to the number of players, the teams are split into squads of about five, with each squad meant to play its own role in the overall
victory. Without voice chat, this just didnt happen. While I could see my squadmates within the map, highlighted in green, I had no idea what they had planned. Spoiler: mostly trying to blow up the rocket (which you can do after it initiates its launch sequence). But even if we had been allowed to voice chat, which will be possible in the full release, I dont think we would have been much more organized. Battlefield 2042 seems to encourage play rather
than competition. Sure, you dont want to lose, but most players seemed to be spending the time exploring all the features on offer possibly because, in the beta, it was their first time playing the game.
The moment a tornado ripped through the map, everyone dropped what they were doing and headed for the swirling beast. I drove a tank into the eye of the tornado, amidst a sea of parachuting soldiers and thrashing jet fighters,
just to see what would happen after all, I only saw one during my three-hour playtime so this was my chance . Unsurprisingly, but very pleasingly, my tank was thrown across the battlefield. Less pleasingly, it threw me into an out-of-bounds zone and my tank blew up. Chaotic playground (Image credit: EA Dice)
Im not a huge first-person shooter fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Battlefield 2042 open beta. Thats mainly because it felt like more than
an FPS, instead offering a chaotic playground where anything could happen
and likely would happen and because I didnt feel the competitive pressure that I can do with games such as Call of Duty.
"Run someone over with a tank, crash a jet into a rocket and even parachute into a tornado the serious stuff can come later."
But that lack of pressure is a double-edged sword. Those who want to take a more competitive approach will likely have to put up with players who simply want to have fun, while those who want to just have fun will likely be nagged by those who want to win. While the roll-out of Battlefield Portal may see those who want to play pivoting towards that mode, or even towards the unrevealed Hazard Mode, those playing All-Out War will likely have to put up with the nuisance to a degree at least until the novelty wears off.
What I advise is, during the beta period, dont take Battlefield 2042 too seriously. Run someone over with a tank, crash a jet into a rocket and even parachute into a tornado the serious stuff can come later.
The Battlefield 2042 open beta is live now, so if you want to jump in and experience the game for yourself, you can do so now. Check out our guide on how to play the Battlefield 2042 beta . Here's what Battlefield 2042 could learn from Warzone
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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/news/battlefield-2042-open-beta-is-overwhelming-chao s-in-the-best-possible-way/
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