Battlefield V: A Review
A good game with the potential for greatness
Battlefield V’s title screen. Picture taken by Grant Sprinkle
After a disappointing announcement and marketing campaign, along with a delayed and shaky launch, Battlefield V still manages to be one of the strongest games on the market right now, with a return to quick, satisfying, skill-based gameplay that the series is known for, as well as making new strides, such as its free live service that has replaced paid downloadable content. Taking place in World War 2, this game’s return to its roots breathes new life into an old war.
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The German Sturmtiger, one of the reinforcements you can call in. Picture taken by Grant Sprinkle
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A bug at the launch of the game, which left a floating church bell, even when the rest of the tower had been destroyed. This was fixed in a later patch. Picture taken by Grant Sprinkle
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An extremely close game on the Devastation map, where the victory could have gone to any team. Picture taken by Grant Sprinkle
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An example of the poor anti-aliasing on Battlefield V’s foliage. This happens across all platforms. Picture taken by Grant Sprinkle
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The Best Squad screen, appearing at the end of the round, highlighting the squad that earned the most points. My character is shown at the left. Picture taken by Grant Sprinkle
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My first reaction upon starting the game for the first time, back in August, when the open beta event was occurring was, “Wow, this menu sucks.” And I’m not wrong, either. Battlefield V‘s menu is not good at all, with it going for simplicity and visuals rather than accessibility and practicality. While it certainly looks nice, everything is hidden in boxes and subcategories, maximizing the amount of clicking it takes to do something simple such as changing your character’s looks or weapons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0XQuNOaL5s
However, as bad as the menu is, you’ll be spending most of your time in-game, fighting across Battlefield V‘s numerous maps, spanning across Europe, and highlighting battles in the outbreak of the war, such as the invasions of Norway and France, the Battle of Rotterdam, and the North African campaign. In total, 8 maps were available at launch, with another, Panzerstorm, launching on December 4th along with the first Tides Of War update. Tides of War will add free chronological content to the game, telling the war’s story as it rages on. While free content is great, this has left the game feeling rather empty at launch, to the point of it almost not feeling like a WW2 game, due to the lack of iconic weapons and battles. Additionally, many game modes such as the new Firestorm, BFV’s battle royale mode, won’t be arriving until March. In fact, every update to March will be adding content that was supposed to have been in the game in the first place. In the 6-month span after the game’s launch, only two new multiplayer maps will have been added, and afterward, the real content will begin to come in.
Battlefield V‘s gameplay is absolutely the game’ strongest point. A huge improvement from the previous title Battlefield 1, everything you do feels crisp and polished, with expanded movement mechanics such as crouch sprinting, directional rolling, and the ability to dive through windows. All of these new features help keep the game fast-paced, fun, and realistic, as you are granted freedom in movement. Additionally, the gunplay is extremely polished as well. You hit where you aim at and the skill cap is higher than ever, as due to a decreased amount of starting ammo compared to other games, it takes far less ammunition to down an opponent, encouraging you to make use of cover and flanking.
While all Battlefield titles are renowned for the level of detail put into them, BFV offers such a level found on no other game. Targeting reticles for tanks are appropriate to as they were in real life. Whenever the announcer is heard telling players what objective has been captured or lost, his voice is accompanied by a bit of radio static, as well as the names of the objective being announced in English or German, depending on your team. Pair this with the ambient sounds unique to each map, and you feel completely immersed in the game. The game also has a few historical references as well. In the map Devastation, a bombed-out version of Rotterdam, another map, has a rare, random event in which red flares will be seen in the air, along with air raid sirens. The sky will soon be filled with bombers, and explosives will rain down upon the map. This was an event that actually happened in real life, during the Battle of Rotterdam, when the German Luftwaffe bombed the city during negotiations of surrender, even with German soldiers sending red flares as a message to cancel the attack.
However, there are several parts of the game that needs a lot of work. First and foremost, as this article was being written, an update was rolled out to the game-changing the way that TTK worked. TTK, or time to kill, is a crucial factor is how the game works and plays. Most guns in the game now take an extra bullet to down an opponent, which while that doesn’t sound like much, radically changes how they are played. Everything feels sluggish now, as flanking and other skillful tactics aren’t as useful now. However, with the amount of community backlash the decision has incited, I expect this to be changed in the near future. Another frustrating part of the game is that it takes an extremely long time to quit a game, which you need to do to receive and change new assignments and challenges. Additionally, sometimes you don’t receive the in-game currency you usually do when you level up, even when the game says you should have received something.
Overall, Battlefield V is one of the strongest new first-person shooters on the market, bringing something new to the age-old genre of WW2. While it has it’s many flaws, the game makes up for it with intense gameplay and extreme levels of detail, giving all fans something to enjoy.
Grant Sprinkle is a senior at Woodford County High School. It is his first year as a Jacket Journal reporter. He enjoys writing, drawing, and playing video...
