As someone who grew up playing video games, Battlefield is a series that I have always been aware of. It is a first-person shooter game, or FPS, that includes a class system and a multitude of realistic weapons and gadgets that fit the time period of its specific entry. Battlefield has always been in conversation with games like Call of Duty, both games specifically in the more realistic war-like subgenre. There’s always been a huge debate over which is better, Call of Duty or Battlefield. After this most recent entry in the series, Battlefield 6, I would concretely say that the series is firmly ahead of its competition.
Battlefield 6 takes place in the near future during a fictional World War 3. In this universe, World War 3 starts after a militant group called Pax Armata begins to forcefully take hold of parts of the world, and NATO begins to attempt to stop the group’s overreach. Pax Armata begins the war by bombing a NATO base in Georgia, and you follow a soldier named Dylan Murphy in the game’s campaign mode. Murphy is a part of an elite group called Dagger 1-3, and you follow him and two other main members through their fight with the militant group throughout the game’s single-player campaign. If you are like me, however, you are not playing Battlefield for its campaign mode. Instead, you are playing for its ridiculously fun multiplayer modes.
There are a multitude of modes within Battlefield 6, even more than previous entries with the addition of a community creator, which allows for people to create their own multiplayer modes (even to insane degrees). The primary modes that most people play, however, include Breakthrough and Conquest. In Breakthrough, there are two teams fighting on warfronts in all different settings (including Cairo, Azerbaijan, and even New York City). One team is defending certain objective points from attackers until the attackers’ “soldier count” reaches 0, while the other team attempts to take said objectives before they lose all of their soldiers. In Conquest, it’s a much more chaotic and varied mode. Two teams fight over 5 objectives and attempt to capture enough objective points in order to win the game. No matter which mode you play, the game has breathtaking visuals that include a new and improved destruction system. The system allows for any in-game buildings to be completely destroyed by any artillery, tanks or planes. Every building, even in familiar places like New York City, can be completely destroyed. There were moments while playing that felt like I was in a cinematic war movie.
Within all multiplayer modes, a person gets to pick a “class.” There are four separate classes in typical Battlefield fashion which include: Assault, Support, Engineer, and Recon. Each class has a speciality with certain types of weapons, along with a multitude of class specific gadgets. I love playing more supportive roles in video games typically, so I immediately gravitated towards the support role. Support is a fun medic type role in which you can revive your teammates and provide covering fire with a large LMG. Within each class you can use any weapon not specific to your class, which is a new and improved feature of Battlefield 6. In previous titles, certain guns would be locked to certain classes, which would be entirely frustrating if you simply love a class’s gadgets but don’t like any of their weapons.
I can remember distinct moments from the time that I’ve played this game. I distinctly remember playing with one of my friends on the Siege of Cairo map on defense. We holed up at a position defending a site, and for about the entire game, we stayed there. Dozens of enemies continuously attack us. Bullets flying, bodies piling up. Walls collapsing around us, we could barely move at all. Yet, we stood right on our position fending off the horde of soldiers attacking us. We stood there, magazine after magazine, doing all that we could to stay alive. My friend and I revived each other, had each other’s backs, and fought through it all. It felt like we were in Saving Private Ryan, almost. The game really provides these memorable experiences and some cinematic quality.
Battlefield 6 is full of content and careful attention to detail, and I can firmly say that I am in love with this game. It has fun, replayable gameplay and so much progression that I won’t see myself getting bored in a real long time. There are many modes (some of which I haven’t even been able to touch yet), and a visual style that is distinctly realistic and breathtaking. Most importantly, Battlefield 6 is fun. If you have been feeling a disconnect from video games, or if you simply want a brand new thing to get into with some of your friends, this is the game for you.
Liam Parker is a Senior Psychology major who believes that sometimes the best form of storytelling comes in the form of a virtual battlefield. They can be reached at lparker1@ithaca.edu