October 25, 2011, marked the release of one of the most beloved games for many players out there. Battlefield 3 might have taken its time, but it won over the hearts and time of many thousands players who waged multiplayer battles across memorable maps: destroyed tanks in Death Valley, Armored Shield, and Bandar Desert; clashed in close combat in Operation 925, Donya Fortress and Ziba Tower; fought their way through Back to Karkand, and witnessed the final DLC with its own majestic maps. The game had its shortcomings, much like it did advantages, which is why it was beloved by so many.
Battlefield 4 launched on October 29, 2013, and I still play it with my friends from time to time. The same 4 classes that were introduced in BF3, familiar but reworked maps, new content, the Commander Mode, the Observer mode, the ability and flexibility to configure BattleLog and much more. At first, the game was met with skepticism due to technical difficulties, bugs, and overabundance of cheaters, but in about a year it was polished to shine.
There were more Battlefields after that, of course: Hardline, BF1, BF5, Battlefield 2042, but with every new title it seemed like the series became only a shadow of its former glory. To me, it felt like EA started making a conveyor production of Battlefields as a way to grab some quick cash, and it was just about the time to say goodbye to this wonderful series of games, but…
On August 7th, thousands of players remembered what a login queue looks like. And a week before that, they saw a trailer with probably the most appropriate soundtrack for the huge amount of destruction showcased in it. It was Battlefield 6 time, and it is obvious that EA finally listened to the playerbase that still supports BF3 & 4, and plays those old games by the thousands.
At first, when the news about Battlefield 6 hit, there were thoughts and comments along the lines of, “So what? Another BF that will be disgraced at the very start, a stupid shooter, ugh” and so on down the list. And what’s most interesting is that gamers had every reason to think so, because the series has been in a lot of trouble for a good 10 years, and the latest part, despite a very cool announcement trailer, turned out to be a terrible failure upon release, the consequences of which were repaired for several more years. (The problems in 2042 that have not yet been resolved make it an average game at best).
However, EA, understanding the skepticism, immediately outlined the following:
A special team assembled and led by Vince Zampella is responsible for the development of the new game. It was this titan of gaming that led the development of all Call of Duty from 1 to Modern Warfare 2, and then made the benchmark Titanfall dilogy. And of all people, Vince Zampella is very famous in the circles of online shooter game developers.
All the promotional materials indicate that Battlefield 2042 was a mistake on all levels that cannot be repeated. Instead of an announcement trailer and a big “PRE-ORDER” button, the game was given for testing to a limited number of ordinary players registered in the Battlefield Labs system at least six months before the announcement. Periodically, these players shared footage of the future shooter (by the way, this was not allowed), and it was already clear from them what BF6 would be like. Because of all the hype, the queues on the servers were simply of a cosmic scale. In the first hours, the queue on the server reached 300+ thousand, despite the fact that about 200 thousand were ALREADY playing! As a result, the beta test showed a stunning online audience of half a million+ players on weekends.
An objectively expensive and hyped promo-campaign, clearly studied from the competitors. BF6 was fully announced with fanfare at a specially organized live presentation, the game was introduced by Vince Zampella himself with the words “This is fucking Battlefield 6!”, and the soundtrack of the announcement trailer, where everything explodes, helicopters collapse, buildings and ceilings are smashed with a sledgehammer, was the timeless track “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit.
EA is UNEXPECTEDLY very generous. It sounds strange, but let me finish. Usually, the release of each online shooter is accompanied by a division of players into those who pre-ordered earlier, paid more, and so on. They are allowed into the beta version and the game itself before others. BF6 also had early access to the beta version, but you could get it for watching streams on Twitch. So, yes, for free.
Entering the beta of Battlefield 6, I immediately got hit by a strange feeling, well, something like this can’t come out from under the pen of EA in 2025. Playing the Beta, I felt like I was playing the very Battlefield that I didn’t find in the 2042 version. EA was finally able to repeat their formula for success, which they lost in the last couple of Battlefields. This is a return to form, a return to the roots of the series, a return to the rails of the hype train.
This beta reminded me why I loved the Battlefield series so much and why it’s worth returning to it. When the game is not stuffed with a bunch of elements and mechanics that are completely unrelated to each other and are shoved into the gameplay haphazardly, simply because CoD has similar mechanics. Every element of Part 6 already in beta shows that it was made for a reason, that it complements the rest of the game, making the experience deeper and more interesting.
There were only 3 maps in beta so far, but looking at them you are amazed by the attention to detail, destructibility and even just the beauty of these locations. Sometimes you even get the feeling that you are playing a scripted trailer for the game, but no, everything that happens on the maps happens in real time and with live players. Battlefield 6 feels more alive and smooth compared to CoD, the shooting does not focus on visual feedback (like when the player’s entire screen shakes during long bursts), weapon animations are not overloaded with detail, and the entire narrative visual is aimed exclusively at the utility of what is happening. The player is not distracted from the main dish- the large-scale combat clashes.
Many will say that it is incorrect to compare this with COD, but I will silently point out the fact that the series has been trying to introduce large-scale battles since 2019, and each time failed because the developers do not understand how to set the right pace. Two of the four modes presented in the beta are large-scale battles in which it is difficult to lose orientation, the player always sees what is happening around them, understands where to run, what to do and who to shoot.
The other two modes are used exclusively for infantry without vehicles on relatively small areas of the map, and here it is clearly visible that the author of the classic Call of Duty was responsible for the development. What I mean is that each of the latest parts of CoD sooner or later rolled down to the fact that everyone ran around 2×2 maps and mindlessly scored frags, ignoring all the innovations of the games. This was the case with Black Ops 6, where everything was reduced to running around the StakeOut map (and by design it is literally a box) without using the new system of movement, jumping, taking a player hostage, etc. But in BF6, on the contrary, infantry maps even in the beta version focus on the tactical destructibility of locations, teamwork and everything that the developers intended, no farming of experience points and statistics.
The game features the same 4 classes as before, and they are actually DIFFERENT from each other. Each class has a unique class weapon, for which it has passive bonuses, and no, you can take a sniper rifle or an assault rifle for a medic, no one will be against it, but the passive bonuses will not work. Each class has its own unique gadgets, the medic – a box that heals and gives ammo to everyone nearby, as well as a defibrillator, capable of getting up a wounded soldier, and even without a defibrillator, this class can drag a soldier away and heal them faster than other classes. The sniper places a tracker – capable of detecting enemies in a small radius, has a respawn point, with a limited number of respawns and C4, and oh yeah – if you hit an enemy in the head with a sniper rifle, he CANNOT be revived – brilliant!), the attacker can inject himself with adrenaline and will be insensitive to suppression from enemies, and carries 2 main weapons with him at once. The engineer, FINALLY, can take both an RPG and an Igla – against air vehicles. And he can repair his tanks and jeeps with a burner. Each class is important in the game, the synergy between them is well thought-out and implemented, you no longer feel like an unnecessary class in battle.
Many mechanics have been reworked and improved, for example, the ability to finally cling to a tank and ride on top of it. How we did it – in 2-3 we lay down on the rear ramp of the tank and calmly repaired it using 3 burners, while 2 enemy tanks were pounding the frontal armor and wondering – how is that possible? Why doesn’t it die from us 2 + a couple of three engineers shooting at us from RPGs. (by the way, we were still exploded by focused fire). In BF6, there are a lot of small changes in the mechanics that you won’t even notice right away, but then you won’t understand – how did you live without them before?
In the beta version, you can see that the progression of weapons is dynamic, and different attachments will change the feeling of using it. No boring farming of scopes, like in the latest parts of CoD. For each gun you will have 100 points of overhang, a regular sight -5 points, a collimator sight -10, a multiple 4-8x – already under 20-30 points, an extended magazine – 20 points, and seeing this we can understand that we will be able to customize and balance our guns to fit our desires. It will not be possible to use the best and most powerful additions for a weapon all at once, you will have to sacrifice something.
But you can also really take any weapon on your operative, do you want to complete the task of tracking enemies through the Tracker-sniper – but the map does not imply long-range firefights? – take an assault rifle or even a shotgun, put the tracker in the corner next to the enemy base and voila – you do not lose combat capability, and complete the task. In general, there are no complaints about the gameplay of BF6. The only thing is that the screens for choosing equipment and weapon attachments seem a bit overloaded, but this is a matter of taste, but at least you don’t have to go to a separate site to configure BattleLog.
EA even predicted that enabling Secure Boot, which is necessary for the anti-cheat of the game, would cause a lot of controversy and problems. The developers posted a detailed guide on how to enable it. True, for those who have Windows 11, it has been enabled by default for a long time, and such players did not even notice the problems, but there are already posts and exclamations from people around the web- “Do I have to be a system administrator to play your game? – CoD wins” and others, but for me it was not a problem. Moreover, EA posted a guide long before the start of the Beta – giving people time to prepare.
On the 2nd day, videos showed that cheaters had appeared in the game, and EA has already reported that they banned 300+ thousand cheaters. But let me remind you, no anti-cheat will rid the game of cheaters, it’s like an arms race, a new shield forces cheaters to forge a new sword, and a new sword forces developers to create a new shield. Secure Boot is still a good barrier against cheaters, which will be difficult for them to overcome, at least it will cut off the poorest cheaters: it is clear that cheats will still be used, but at least they will be an expensive pleasure, with the threat of losing access to the game.
As a result, Battlefield 6 feels like a continuation of the 1st and 5th parts, with the same quality and love for the series, making 2042 look like some kind of failed spin-off. Where 2042 took a step forward and 5 steps back, BF6 is catching up and stepping forward. The game also features the best revival ever – pulling your teammates out from under a burning tank, or from a corridor being shot at and resurrecting them – priceless!
Frequently, gameplay looks like scenes from “Saving Private Ryan”, and are simply amazing in their cinematography. It seems like a simple mechanic, but it creates so many emotions, you see how teammates drag the wounded, you cover them with fire, someone saves others, someone dies from return fire… It would seem like simple mechanics, but damn, how this mechanic helps involvement and adds to the atmosphere!
The game has a good balance between infantry and vehicles, between built-up areas and free spaces, which shows itself well during matches. A similarly pleasant balance of classes and guns is present. Of the drawbacks so far, Battlefield 6 features a very strange interface. Starting the game for the first time is very difficult. The menu is simply lost against the background of the rest, and some screens are overloaded.
If you didn’t take part in Battlefield 6 Open Beta yet, you can still jump into Weekend 2, which is now live!
