- [James] Hello Battlefield fans.
This year we're splitting up the Battlefield V review
into its single and multiplayer components
with a full review to follow.
This video covers the multiplayer only.
Be sure to check out the single player
and overall reviews in the video description.
("Legacy" by Johan Soderqvist and Patrik Andren)
(soldier speaking in foreign language)
With all the development muscle
behind EA Dice's massive shooter, I didn't expect going in
that playing Battlefield V's multiplayer
would feel so much like discovering
a very promising early access game.
There's a sizeable number of modes and bug fixes
still to be delivered and it feels as though
the good will of free future DLC has led to the release
of a less complete product now.
To its credit, a cavalcade of clever gameplay changes
succeeds in changing the series standard
64-player warfare in a more tactical direction,
but the execution simply feels rushed.
Still, there's plenty of dynamic FPS fun to be had
in the Battlefield V today and I could see it becoming
one of the best in the series history
after some substantial updates.
(soft violin music)
Across all of its current multiplayer modes,
Battlefield V's default mechanic
takes a bold step towards the hardcore.
Health regeneration is limited,
the time to kill is reduced and the spotting system
is almost entirely removed.
But the revisions are more thoughtful
than simply adopting all of the hardcore rules.
For example, while time to kill is generally faster,
sniper rifles deal less damage than ever before,
letting a snappier feeling to gunplay
without excessively disrupting
the class's balance and power.
And in lieu of the entire removal of 3D spotting,
only a handful of gadgets and certain combat traits
can now place that infamous red circle over enemy's heads.
These changes aim to emphasize team play,
satisfy gunplay and immersion
and all of them find their marks.
The incentives for coordinating
with your four-person squad are so strong
they're borderline coercive.
The scarcity of vital health and ammunition resources
collectively dubbed the attrition system
succeeded in making me go out of my way
to work with my squad and strengthen class identity,
but felt a little heavy handed at times.
Retreating in search of a friendly medic or a supply station
rarely led to any interesting moments.
Being able to scavenge from enemy corpses on the other hand
encouraged me to take a lot of fun risks.
The ability for anyone to revive a squadmate
regardless of class is another welcome incentive
to stick together, glitching and awkward it may be.
(suspenseful music)
Across the board, the 37 firearms
of Battlefield V feel fantastic.
Pronounced and predictable recoil replaces
the random-feeling spray of Battlefield 1.
Each class has access to an assortment of seven to eight
primaries, that with the exception of the medic,
who can only wield SMGs,
present a variety of playstyle options.
The support class possesses the greatest variance
with access to shotguns, LMGs, devastating MMGs
that must be deployed to aim, and the FG42
which in Battlefield V anyway,
behaves like an assault rifle.
And it's fun to unlock flashy but period-appropriate
weapon skins that flaunt your achievements.
Battlefield V introduces a specialization system
which in theory allows you to further tailor a weapon
to your preferred playstyle, but most choices are
uninteresting stat tweaks that ironically
diminish the effects of Battlefield V's
brand new recoil system.
Vehicle specializations are generally much more alluring,
offering more meaningful and visual alterations.
Each infantry class can now choose from two combat roles
that with the exception of the sniper and pathfinder,
feel like a total afterthought.
Battlefield V boasts 26 era-appropriate vehicles,
a number that absolutely dwarfs its predecessor's
paltry eight at launch.
And yet part of me misses the rampant chaos
caused by the admittedly overtuned elite units,
cavalry and behemoths of Battlefield 1.
Tanks can be fun and whizzing around in a spitfire
is neat, but I can't help but feel that the relationship
between vehicles and infantry
in Battlefield V is overly binary.
I've never enjoyed hate picking the assault class
to destroy enemy armor, but since Battlefield V tanks
are much more difficult to avoid than their BF1 ancestors,
that's exactly what I found myself doing.
Similarly, you will be bombed.
When you are, you will either choose to bring your current
objective to a grinding halt to track down an anti-aircraft
gun or tank or just keep going
and accept that bombing's a part of life.
(dramatic violin music)
Eight maps are available in Battlefield V
as of launch and while I'm not a fan of the extensive
labyrinth of identical unfurnished apartments in Rotterdam,
I felt the other seven maps to be quite enjoyable.
Fjell 652 takes place on a high altitude Norwegian mountain
overlooking the entirety Norwich map
and is objected to intense and atmospheric snow storms.
Twisted steel is built around a massive bridge
that serves as both a spectacular landmark
and a functional mechanism to add a linear lane
to the map's familiar open environment speckled
with rural villages.
Fortifications can be constructed on any map
and are situationally useful.
And that's all I have to say about building.
Unfortunately, even the good maps don't always stand up
to the test of being ported to seven different modes.
It's spread across three playlists.
The modes themselves are all over the place,
especially in the infantry-focused playlist
where Frontline lasts many times longer
than Team Deathmatch or Domination.
There's a particularly messy portion in Frontlines
on Twisted Steel where the defending team
has a clear vantage directly into the attacker's bomb spawn.
On more than one occasion on
the Frontlines version of Narwich.
I spawned outside of the boundaries,
at one point resulting in an unavoidable death
due to desertion and that's part of a disappointing trend
because Battlefield V is frankly littered with bugs.
Some are of the superficial and even comical variety,
but quite a few others have a major,
at times, game breaking impact.
In total, I had to exit a match or relaunch Battlefield V
more than a dozen times in my 60 hours because of menus
getting stuck open with no way to close
or match timers and objectives bugging out.
Also the all-too-frequent appearance of my glitches
and sticky geometry conveys a general lack of polish.
(soft violin music)
the feeling of getting in on the ground floor
is something that will inevitably be much better
mere months now is unavoidable
while playing Battlefield V's multiplayer.
Squad play and infantry combat in general
is taken in a very worthwhile direction
with smart tweaks to guns and resources.
But the same care hasn't been applied throughout.
Rampant bugs, wildly varying mode times in similar playlists
and how big features like combat roles take their toll.
The good news is that patches are already rolling out
and with a year or more of free maps and modes on the way,
Battlefield V can only get better from here.
For more on Battlefield V, watch our review
of the single player campaign plus the first 15 minutes
of gameplay and standby for the full review.
If you enjoyed the video, shoot me a follow on Twitter
@ThuggnDuggn and for everything else, stick with IGN.