One of the best pieces of advice I could ever give students in my class, as well as my writers, is never to keep up with the Joneses. While you can improve yourself, and adopt habits that work for you, you should always maintain that core that makes you, well, you. With that core intact, you can do whatever you want, but you will always remind people that it is you who lies beneath it all.
Battlefield 2042 had lost that essence in its core that made it one of the more unique fighting experiences. It felt like it needed to push the limits of what it could do, in the process complicate itself in order to change and keep up with the rest of the FPS world, and what became of it was more Call of Duty, which owns its unique core, and less of Battlefield. It’s like trying to be cool in front of the cool kids and realizing that simply isn’t your style.
So, the good folks at DICE went back to the drawing table after listening to fans and what came out of that is a re-discovery of what made Battlefield simple and fun – and easy to work class system. The upcoming update this week brings players back to that simplicity of what made Battlefield 1-5 fantastic, and it will allow players to concentrate on strategizing their battling without getting gummed up in the classes. And trust me when I say, it worked out.
We were privy to see the class system change in action for the first time this past week and what that rollback meant to the gameplay. We got some good hands-on time with the newly updated game and were able to work out all the classes to see how they were. What came out of that was pure joy. While certainly, I was terrible at the game, as I am with most BF titles, it was nice to return to the field and feel like I was back at home with the game I knew and loved.
On that note, let’s get right into it.
Simplified
The specialist class system went through a major, yet easier reconstruction with the upcoming latest 3.2 update. The specialist classes have returned to the following:
Assault – The grunts of the game. This is returning to the nitty-gritty fighter that can get up close and personal with enemies and their vehicles (and promptly KABOOM them). This is more for the run-n-gun fighters that need a smooth transition when they put down Call of Duty. They are armed with explosives, such as C5s and Claymores, and typically will annoy everyone with smoke grenades. I tried this one out for about 20 minutes during the preview and I must admit, if I want to just storm the castle and be used as a human shield, this is the class for me. Their specialty is using a med pen, which was used quite a bit during my human shield role.
Engineer – Do you like getting out of vehicles to repair them? Well, this class is for you! The engineer is one of the fan favorites of BF players, as they can repair vehicles on the fly while they’re still battling it out. While the weapon breakdown isn’t as important, and honestly, that’s not why you become an engineer in the game, this was a nice return to a safety net of a specialist. People are always happy to see this class on their team.
Support – This is your ammo mule specialist. They bring the goods in tight quarter battles and they’re great at support. They’re also good at bringing back people from the dead. They come equipped with a defibrillator and typically use that most of the time during battle. I was grateful during my session for those who revived me…multiple times…during a few matches. Bless them.
Recon – The best class of classes in my opinion because you don’t have to be in the battle to do battle. I used the recon class quite a bit. Setting up an insertion beacon, especially in unreachable places just to annoy enemies, is too much fun. Also, sniping people who peek their heads around the corner to see if there is anyone out there is always amusing. The only reason I like this class more than the others is that I don’t have much talent in the game, but I’m deadly from far away when I’m not getting killed a thousand times in the scrum.
All the above said the return to these classes means that you’re back to the old-familiar structure of the BF franchise. Why in the world they went away from this is beyond me, but I’m glad they’re back. I have enough complication being recon and angling my sniper shots, so anything outside of that complicated mess is just gumming up the fun. I’m glad they brought the classes back, as they did put me in the mood to return to this franchise. I personally think it was the right move. As much as I love the CoD franchise, I have desperately missed the long missions and big maps with friends in Battlefield. I can finally move on from Battlefield I and Battlefield V.
Breakaway version 2.0
One of the maps we were able to play during the preview session was Breakaway. If you don’t remember that map, it’s a level completely covered by snow and ice and has deep valleys, open icy tops, and plenty of small places to hide, snipe, and take over locations. In this re-work, DICE made the paths to and from flags a bit more accessible in multiple ways, something that will keep people from creating choke points, and they have relocated the oil rig on this map to a more accessible area of play. In other words, they have placed it right in the middle of everything which means you’re going to have a heavy amount of firefight happening here, as well as nasty snipers who will be camping.
One of the more glorious moments of this preview playthrough was getting a tank almost on the first level of the rig. The driver of the tank, who was not me, was bold and brash, and somehow, he knew that he could angle the tank onto a walkway bridge and muscle his way up there. While eventually, we did get stuck, it was crazy accessible for vehicles with big guns needing better angles. One of the more glorious parts of the BF experience is just getting vehicles into spaces they don’t truly belong. Sure, it means assured death, but it doesn’t make it less fun.
The small improvements helped this map out so much. It felt more like a loosey-goosey map that allowed more options for attack and defense. There were a few choke points, especially on top of one of the glaciers where there are a bunch of fancy red trailers, but for the most part, you can get around without being immediately killed. I can dig that.
Anyway, on that note, let’s wrap up.
Conclusion
What we saw while playing the preview of Battlefield 2042 3.2 update was impressive. Going back to the tried-and-true class system was a great move and it will certainly pay off in pulling players back into Battlefield 2042. I know it’s certainly going to pull me back into the scrum.
