Battlefield 6 review — The objective was clear, and well executed

One of the most iconic franchises in the FPS genre, Battlefield is a series known for its all-out warfare, destruction, and intensity, from the multiplayer to the campaign, and everything in between. However, the train seemed to teeter on the rails after a couple of somewhat lackluster releases and very odd decisions about the direction the developers wanted to take it. At the end of July, we got a first-hand look at what Battlefield Studios (Criterion, MOTIVE, DICE, and Ripple Effect) have been working on with the multiplayer reveal, which showed a lot of promise with regards to gameplay, creative direction, and so much more. This was followed up by the beta, which peaked at over half a million players, a testament to the hopes of many who are looking for something refreshing, and a real contender to that other series. Of course, we’ve been hands-on, boots-on-the-ground, and in the trenches with Battlefield 6 for several days now, and if they’re not already shaking in their battle rattle, they should be.

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GamingTrendCassie Peterson

Battlefield 6 is the spiritual successor to Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4, two of the most popular games in the series. Battlefield 4 is where I migrated when other games just weren’t doing it for me. That same love and energy carried forward into Battlefield 1, which had some of the most satisfying sniper gameplay I have ever experienced in any shooter. Unfortunately, I fell off over the next two releases, as I no longer got the thrill of previous games. The same can’t be said about Battlefield 6. From the moment I stepped foot into the venue for the multiplayer reveal, I knew we were in for a real treat. EA has delivered on a massive scale. Battlefield is all I’ve been able to think about for almost two months, and for good reason.

Battlefield 6 takes place in 2027, and a new global war has erupted. After a high-profile, international figure is assassinated, NATO crumbles, with many nations withdrawing their support. At the head of this conflict is PAX ARMATA, which quite literally translates to “armed peace” or “peace through force”. The remaining NATO allies have to come together to put a stop to PAX before their new world order can take hold. The campaign is nine chapters long, taking us from New York City to Gibraltar, Egypt to Kazakhstan, and more. From the very first cinematic, the tone is set with the highest stakes the series has ever known.

Your team is Dagger-13, four Marines with special skills that reflect the four classes that we’ll dive more into with the multiplayer overview. We got a chance to play as each character throughout the missions, which is a great way to introduce players to the classes, as each character has a different role in the squad, as well as a different weapons kit. While we don’t get a super deep dive into each character’s personality, I still found myself drawn to each one in turn. The voice talent did a great job of making their characters feel heard, even with minimal dialogue for each.

The story takes around five or six hours to complete, which is about average for a Battlefield campaign. It’s full of all the high-octane action, destruction, and Battlefield-ness you’d expect, especially if you were a fan of the Battlefield 3 & 4 campaigns. I know many are excited to bypass it and go straight to the multiplayer, but I don’t think this is one you should pass up, especially when you finally see how it all ends. I wish it were longer. I want to see these campaigns get longer and really dive into the deep end. That’s not to say that this story is any kind of shallow, but there could still have been more to give it more girth and really help Battlefield 6 establish itself as a leader in FPS storytelling. 

Unfortunately, not everything about the campaign meets those high expectations. Just launching into the campaign caused me to pause as I couldn’t tell what the game was actually doing. I’d click the button to start the campaign, and then nothing would happen for a few seconds. And then the game would seemingly close and relaunch, as if the campaign was an entirely separate entity. The same thing happens when you want to leave the campaign and head back to the main menu. It’s a very jarring experience, and I really hope they fix this, as it is likely to cause confusion and frustration for players. 

As for the content, there were a couple of instances where the audio would completely desynchronize from cinematics, breaking the immersion from the storytelling, and at a particularly major plot point no less. I was able to resolve it once by restarting the checkpoint, but that didn’t work when I tried it at this most-pivotal moment, which is so disappointing to see… and hear. Lastly, I played the game on Normal difficulty because I like a good balance between storytelling and action, but I’d often see my squadmates literally run past enemy combatants instead of staying behind cover. Some enemies would also stand in place out in the open, not shooting or even reacting to me or my squad as bullets and explosives are flying by. I’m hoping, even though no one really wants to see this, that there will be a day-one patch to take care of these issues.

That’s enough talk about the campaign. It’s time to dig into what most of you are probably waiting for: the multiplayer.

Battlefield 6 multiplayer brings all of the BOOM and destruction you could ever need. The sound design is exceptional, with headphones delivering intense immersion through distinct tank shells, helicopter flyovers, and the crack of sniper rounds whizzing past your ears. In one of the first matches I played on Conquest, I hadn’t even managed to fully run out of my team’s HQ when I saw a jet careening through the sky and into the side of a mountain, tumbling down the side in a ball of flame, as another jet flew overhead. Immediately, I knew I’d come to the right battlefield. With the cacophony of explosions, gunshots, and shouts, I was taken back to the good old days of playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 for the very first time. I was almost as overwhelmed as I was back then when a tank came bursting through the walls of a building, completely leveling it as it pressed on. The hairs on my arms stood up, and I felt a tingling of excitement as I braced myself for the battle ahead.

This has not stopped yet in any of the matches I’ve played, from the reveal event to the beta, and, I’m sure, into the review sessions my co-author, Henry, was able to hop into… once he was able to find a match, that is. Unfortunately, getting into matches during the review period is always a struggle due to the limited player count. However, if the beta was any indication, this shouldn’t be much of an issue after launch. If anything changes regarding our opinion of the multiplayer post-launch, we’ll be sure to update this review.

Back into the action, there are 8 modes at launch, 4 featuring that iconic Battlefield all-out warfare and 4 modes infused with Battlefield DNA on a smaller scale. We’ve been able to play a bit of each at different points in the last couple of months, with Conquest being an easy favorite of mine, as is to be expected. Conquest provides the perfect mix of combat on an open battlefield and close-quarters skirmishes, keeping players on their toes at all times, whether they’re ducking into crumbling buildings or skirting the edges of the map to take out a sniper. There are 9 maps these modes will take place on, ranging from infantry-only maps like Saints Quarter to having access to the whole military budget on New Sobek City. Each map and mode combination keeps things fresh, with no two matches ever being the same. This is assisted by the tactical destruction, kinesthetic combat, and, of course, the four classes.

Battlefield’s class system is back, with some revamps to make each class more impactful on the battlefield. The Assault class is your frontline gunner, equipped with an assault rifle and grenade launchers. They specialize in getting into the fight and helping your squad push forward with brute force. It’s also the only class to have a second primary weapon available. The Engineer is your vehicular expert, equipped with a submachine gun, a vehicle repair tool, and a rocket launcher. They can get around quickly with a smaller primary, helping to ensure your tank stays healthy while doing the opposite for the enemy. Of course, Assault and Engineer soldiers are prone to injury. Support soldiers help keep your squad in the fight by providing much faster revives, providing additional ammo and health, and laying down some cover fire with an LMG. And keeping an eye on everything from afar, the Recon class is equipped with a sniper rifle, respawn beacons, and improved spotting. They also carry C4 explosives to help take down tanks and other vehicles, which seems a little odd to me, seeing as they’re not meant to get that up close and personal.

Assault and Recon became quick favorites of mine, despite them being complete opposites of each other. I like getting deep into the fray, directly impacting people with my little grenade launcher, mowing people down with my gun, and just generally causing mayhem. I bet they wish they had Allstate for mayhem like me. On the flip side, sniping in Battlefield 6 feels good. Not as good as it did in Battlefield 1, but definitely a shot in the right direction. Of course, trying to find a safe place to plant myself can be a challenge, and other snipers are generally a better shot than I am. While a lot of the time you can get revived when you take lethal damage, being hit by a well-placed sniper shot to the face is a full kill, no revives allowed. Engineer was also a lot of fun to play, especially when I would just perch myself on the back of a tank with my repair tool out, clicking the button to start the repair as soon as the tank met an enemy tank. It was fun getting onto a particular tank where the driver was also very conscious of my presence; he knew I was there to take care of him, and he returned the favor if I was ever in need of a revive, taking the tank to a safe location where he would then hop out and lend me a defib or adrenaline needle. In the end, providing support for my squad wrapped up my experience of the classes satisfactorily. For one, it’s an easy way to gain points to level up when you’re constantly restocking your team. Aside from that, when I can just hold the W key and the left mouse button to clear out a room, I’ll call it a win. I’ve sure got enough ammo for the job.

The vehicles in Battlefield 6 make their explosive return. Vehicles range from ATVs to tanks to jets and choppers. I still can’t fly, so I’ll keep my boots on the ground, or in an anti-personnel vehicle. Tanks have been the most fun to play. There’s something that is so satisfying about pointing at a target, clicking the button, and watching that something turn into pieces of something. And being able to bulldoze my way through structures, crushing any unfortunate souls in my path, brings me a level of joy that may cause concern if anyone catches my maniacal laughter in the moment. However, while I can’t fly, I love seeing jets and attack helicopters flying overhead, deploying flares, firing rockets, and then exploding. I find myself stopping to just stare at it all in the heat of battle, marveling at the level of detail and chaos unfolding around me. Battlefield 6 is iconic on every level.

As is the standard with any multiplayer experience now, Battlefield 6 supports cross-platform play, with the option on console to turn it off if you don’t want to. Unfortunately, PC players don’t get this option, which I find a little disappointing, but at the same time...PC master race. We’ll stomp those console kids any day. (Sorry, Henry.) Once you’ve figured out how the menu works (it’s not intuitive in the slightest), matchmaking is fairly simple. They shove all of the all-out warfare stuff to the front, because they want you to go make a big mess for the next half hour or so. Scroll a smidge more and you’ll find the close-quarters stuff as well. I think the most baffling absence is the quickplay option. Yes, there is a custom search mode that lets you deselect what you don’t want to play. There are also options for moshpit-style matchmaking, which brings a few modes and maps together in either a CQB or big maps playlist, but it just isn’t the same. Having trouble finding multiplayer matches and having to guess and check which mode might have an easier time matchmaking was definitely a point of frustration during the review period; however, again, if the beta was any indication, this shouldn’t be an issue after launch.

The maps, modes, vehicles, and classes already make for an excellent multiplayer picture; however, there are a couple of other gameplay features that really help complete this package. We’ve mentioned the destruction already, which is made even better by how well-done the visual effects are. You’re not just seeing big chunks of buildings falling down. Glass is shattering, shards of stone and splinters of wood are flying like shrapnel, and there’s a big crater where that tank used to be. And the remnants of destroyed vehicles remain on the battlefield as a reminder of what happens when you cross paths with a professional nerd. 

The kinesthetic combat system also takes the gameplay to the next level, with advancements in player movement, interactions, and gunplay. Most notable is the ability to drag a downed friendly behind cover before reviving them, which has come in super handy when there’s heavy gunfire ahead of you. You can also peek and lean around corners to try to keep yourself at least partially behind cover, which is done automatically when you approach a wall or other object. While there, your mountain can be mounted or braced against the surface for added stability. You’re still about half exposed; however, you’re able to quickly unpeek and move back safely. If you do find yourself on the run, you can execute a combat roll when dropping from some elevated surfaces, keeping your momentum for the getaway. Lastly, some vehicles allow you to hitch a ride on the back, providing more options for transport around the map, particularly in modes like Conquest.

Battlefield’s Portal mode is also making a valiant return in Battlefield 6, although we were unfortunately not able to get hands-on with it for this review. However, it is supposed to be a big, open sandbox, allowing players to create custom games with all kinds of different rules, and literally build out entire maps and modes of their own. We can’t wait to see what’s cooking here, and we’ll hopefully be able to provide a better and more detailed overview soon.

But if the campaign, multiplayer, and Portal still aren’t enough content for you, more is to come in seasonal content after launch. We’re talking additional maps, modes, weapons, and more coming with each seasonal drop. My biggest hope, however, is that these seasonal releases will also take into consideration the game’s health, gameplay and quality-of-life improvements, and other things that are very important to fans of the series and fans of the genre. It feels like some developers have fallen into the habit of making lofty promises and then failing to deliver. I’m hoping Battlefield Studios will set a good example for how post-launch content and support should look.

Speaking of quality of life, we have to talk about the user interface for Battlefield 6. The main menu needs to be cleaned up. Right now, it starts off with the Bulletin, which provides quick information and updates about the game. That part is alright, but then you have a Featured tab and one other tab before you make it to Campaign and Multiplayer, with Portal at the bottom. Please just delete the other two tabs. For one, they are redundant as they basically contain the same stuff. Secondly, your ‘featured’ content should be your campaign and multiplayer tabs, period. We don’t need specific stuff called out, burying other goodies below. We’ll find everything that we need – whether it’s for Portal, matchmaking, or continuing the story – in their respective tabs. Creating more tabs just makes it more confusing and noisy. I’d also like to see them do away with the almost Hulu or Netflix-esque navigation, especially because it’s not intuitive on console. It’s less of an issue on PC because we can just point and click, but on console, they have to depend on holding the thumbstick and then nudge, nudge, nudge to get where they want. This can easily be simplified with radio-style buttons and clearly-defined menu sections.

There are a decent number of performance and graphics settings for players to tweak, especially if you’re on PC. In particular, we had some fun experimenting with DLSS 4 with various PC configurations. Without getting too deep into the technicalities, Battlefield 6 on my PC, which is equipped with a GeForce RTX 5060Ti 16GB, averaged 335 fps during action sequences throughout the campaign, peaking at just under 600 fps during cinematics, at 1080p and Overkill graphics settings. For comparison, before enabling DLSS 4, I was averaging around 130 fps. Editor in Chief, Ron Burke, runs a GeForce RTX 5090 on his PC and was seeing similar performance while running the game in 4K. These numbers are right in line with the estimations from testing by NVidia and Battlefield Studios when the new Game Ready driver was being prepped. Of course, another test will be when we get into the multiplayer, since there are a ton more variables to account for compared to the campaign.

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On console, you have options to favor performance or quality, as well as a handy FOV slider (stop playing at 60 FOV) and other features to help console players get the best Battlefield experience. Henry was able to go hands-on with the PlayStation 5 version of the game, gaining some valuable insights into the console experience. Battlefield 6 on a base PS5 delivers solid technical performance with two distinct visual modes: Performance uncaps the framerate to target 80fps, while Quality prioritizes fidelity at 60fps. Either way, the game runs smoothly with no noticeable frame drops. Though load times are a bit long, given it’s an online-only title. The DualSense controller shines with the game’s usage of adaptive triggers and haptic feedback for weapon and vehicle controls.

This may seem like a small consideration to some, but since I dabble in content creation myself, these additional settings are definitely appreciated. I’m not sure what the exact difference is between the two yet, but there are options to enable Streamer Mode and Anonymous Mode. Overall, these are to help the creator remain hidden within lobbies to prevent harassment or otherwise deterioration of the overall experience for the creator. There is also an option to have in-game radio music disabled, which protects creators from potential DMCA strikes if they feature copyrighted music in videos. Lastly, there are options to adjust the HUD, particularly the mini-map, which is likely a consideration for both the content side as well as player protection. Content creators are a major part of the overall gaming community, so it’s nice to see these settings added so everyone can play Battlefield 6 and have a great time.