You know, I’ve played every Battlefield game ever. I’m not saying that to garner credibility, I’m just saying it so you understand I’m a series fan. I often buy Battlefield games on PC, PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.
Even the awful Battlefront games. When EA went full blown Social Justice Warrior about pushing females into the forefront of WW2 combat, there was some fan backlash. Then they told the fans that they were uneducated morons and if they didn’t like it, don’t buy it.
Okay, if you follow the gaming industry at all, you know EA is pretty much awful in every sense of the word. Not because of politics, but because they gobble up game studios and force them to churn out unfinished products with ridiculously aggressive monetization of core content through micro-transactions.
Look at what happened to Bioware with Mass Effect 3. EA took a series that basically sold itself on a large scale, and ruined the credibility of the studio and the IP in one pass. So throw on top of that the blatant disrespect to their fan base in Battlefield, with regards to the SJW controversy, and I decided I had enough.
I passed on Battlefield V, as did so many others. EA felt the sting, and hopefully they’ll learn from it. Now, desperate to sell copies of this game, the price consistently drops to $30. Similar to Mass Effect 3, it’s hard to pass up on a AAA title when they drop the price by half, even when you know the reviews are poor generally.
In a moment of weakness, I picked up the game. I still play Battlefield 4 on a regular basis, and occasionally still play Battlefield 1. I had been craving new Battlefield fun, and I love WW2 games generally.
I just couldn’t resist. I threw the disc in my Xbox One X, hooked up to my Samsung OLED 4k TV with HDR. My face tingled as I anticipated the awe inspiring experience of playing a new Battlefield game in 2019 on the best hardware.
Note: I have a beefy PC as well, but I don’t play in 4k generally due to lower frame rates, and Battlefield has a higher player count on consoles. so I understand consoles aren’t strictly the best, but I feel that the Xbox One X really should be the premium experience for this game.
The game pushes you straight into a cinematic single-player tour of the settings, weapons and vehicles. Similar to the introduction to Battlefield 1, it doubles as a very simple tutorial. You start as a paratrooper dropping into a snow covered rail hard under radiant glow of the Aurora Borealis, and quickly proceed to fight the Germans head-on.
You are transported to a sniper nest in North Africa, where you ambush a German convoy with air support. And then, you find yourself as a German tank commander in the same desert setting, engaging in armored warfare.
Here we are, three minutes into the game. I look to the tanks around me, which are engulfed in blocky pixelated messes that I know are intended to be particle effects from the dust being kickced up by the tracks on these monstrous war machines.
The immersion was completely broken for me, and instant disappointment set in. On PC, these things happen. Developers make games with certain hardware in mind, but there are so many different graphics cards, processors, and audio devices in circulation today.
Updating drivers or changing graphics settings to attain desired performance is a part of PC gaming. With console gaming, developers know exactly what hardware you have. My Xbox One X is the exact same as yours.
Generally, console games have far fewer issues in this regard. That’s why I was shocked to see such a glaring graphical glitch on console, and in the mandatory opening sequence to boot. This game had been out for months, and that glitch still exists.
What a let down. Alas, I soldiered onward and attempted to experience the multiplayer gameplay. I was dropped into a snowy mountain infantry battle, eager to take part in the tense battle at hand. I was able to play for approximately five minutes before I experience a truly game breaking glitch.
I took a path around the mountain to flank a large group of the enemy, and I was met with a like minded player on the opposing team. He chucked a grenade at me, and I was blown to pieces. I then fell under the level and my screen bounced around frantically.
The game did not display the normal statistics on death and did not give me the option to respawn. Pressing the start button did not pull up the menu. I watched from underneath the level as other players continued the fight, while I remained helpless.
I gave it a solid three minutes before forcefully exiting the game, as it was my only option. Frustrated with my “Battlefield experience,” I gave it up for the night and was completely disappointed. The next day, I decided to give it another go.
This time, I played an entire match without a major glitch. I thought maybe I experienced something totally out of the ordinary and moved on. Then the map changed. I fought on a city map this time, and the exact same thing happened to me just minutes into the match.
I continued on for a few days, experiencing the awful 8 bit style particle effects on tanks and occasionally game breaking bugs in multiplayer. At its absolute best, the game is mediocre compared to the other Battlefield games.
Not stellar, not awful. It’s unfinished and unpolished, and this is months after the release. It’s unplayable in this state, and that’s unacceptable at any price. I explained the Battlefield experience to you, so you don’t need to buy this game.
There are far less expensive or time consuming ways to disappoint yourself, if that’s what you’re after. Go for one of those instead.