STORY
Battlefield and Call of Duty games share a lot in common with each other in the gaming world. Despite being primarily known for their online multiplayers, they also shared fairly short lengthed thrillride campaigns that carry you from set piece to set piece by way of explosions and showing off all the toys it owns, and I’m going to admit that I am a huge fan of these campaigns. On a technical level they always tend to look outstanding at the time of release and they rarely, if ever, outstay their welcome to the point that you would get bored of them. They were my gaming guilty pleasure, much like a Michael Bay Transformers movie. You enjoyed it for the time you spent watching it but wouldn’t really expect them to land many awards.
But with this years entry of Call of Duty getting rid of the campaign entirely I was forced to turn to Battlefield and see what EA could deliver with the latest installation of their long running FPS franchise, especially after choosing to return to World War Two following what I felt was a very successful switch to World War One. And I have to say that I came out of the campaign feeling a bit deflated, bordering on disappointed.
EA have approached the campaign’s structure the same way they did in Battlefield One with multiple short campaigns that take you through the story of various people in various fronts and locations of the War, you’ll fight in the deserts of North of Africa as a British convict in the SBS, the snowy mountains of occupied Norway as a resistance fighter, the fields and forrest’s of France as a Tirailleur, as well as swapping sides of the war to command a tank in the final stages of Germany’s collapse.
But while all of these premises were interesting and fresh perspectives from a war that has been covered countless times in video games, the way they were utilised just didn’t stack up compared to previous iterations of Battlefield campaigns. The campaign has far too much of a reliance on stealth, a mechanic that Battlefield has never been known for, and on this showing it should remain that way for however long they continue to add to the franchise.
Each campaign tends to have about an hour or two’s worth of gameplay depending on how you play. With each also spanning around about 3 levels, or chapters, within it. All of them though seem to ditch something that for me made Battlefield campaigns quite unique at the time they were first being done.
Stealth and solo play are a constant presence. I never ever got the feeling, other than in the odd battle in the Tirailleur campaign, that I was part of big epic pushing of the lines between Allies and Axis forces. Too often I was forced to sneak up high, use my binoculars to scout the area, and sneak in to disrupt alarms and plant explosives. I felt more like a secret agent than a soldier and it all felt like it belonged to a Far Cry entry than a Battlefield game. And because of all that I was left feeling that I was missing some feeling of grandeur that usually comes with one of Battlefields campaigns.
Occasionally the campaigns will open up the map to allow you to attack objectives in any order you want, but again you aren’t with any other soldiers, it’s just you versus countless German’s guarding each outpost or facility and you have to repeat the cycle of scouting and picking your method of attack until they’re all done.
With such a short campaign, the fact you spent most of it crouched or crawling round groups of enemies just felt like a waste of potential. Because of the short length of time spent with each character I didn’t find myself caring all that much for each of them either. I know I was supposed to be rooting for them but averaging 3 missions on each campaign was not enough to get me hooked into each character or groups the personal struggles.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is still solid for a first person shooter. If you enjoyed any recent Battlefield entries you’ll feel right at home in this one. The shooting is nice and each gun feels unique but it’s nothing groundbreaking to the point that it feels like an upgrade on Battlefield One, weapons obviously are more modern so firefights can feel a bit faster paced if that’s something you found to be lacking in Battlefield One. Vehicles all feel fine without being outstanding either, although I for the life of me couldn’t figure out piloting planes but that’s more of a me problem than the games and I fully understand that I should stay away from them.
Sometimes however you will get sucked out of the immersion with a few glitches here and there. Bodies will twitch on the ground when dead which is a massive pain if you’re playing a sniping role and every shot is important and you don’t want to give your position away. It also can just take your attention for just long enough to be a hindrance especially when in multiplayer.
Going prone feels like you’re putting the game through its paces. If you’re wanting to go prone on a flat open section of a map you’re fine, the game will play ball with you. But when you start start adding in uneven terrain or even some objects in the environment you’ll find yourself sliding sideways into open ground and into the enemy fire you’re trying to avoid or even see your legs pop through your body and any objects around you.
Additionally I sometimes found myself having to swap guns multiple times as occasionally the gun I found on the ground would be invisible. Not ideal if you need to use the iron sights to line up shots.
These things can sometimes be forgiven when you’re playing a game, but when your previous entries have been quite well polished, although there has been a few we won’t talk about, and your main selling point is that fast paced high stakes multiplayer combat you’ve been trying to sell every time then you need to be sure that these small glitches aren’t something that will cost players lives or kills. While I may have come to terms with my inadequacy in multiplayer shooters a long long time ago, a lot of other dedicated players won’t have the same calm reactions to being killed due to a games glitch as I did.
GAME MODES
Which brings me onto the multiplayer. It’s more of that battlefield hit. Maps are big and in the case of Grand Operations they can have different stages to them. And I don’t just mean in multiple rounds that the mode is competed over in the form of days of a battle. Each map has its own areas that become congested and hectic as the battlelines are pushed and pulled, and referring to your map often can be encouraged to keep up to date with where is safe to be taking up positions in.
Also in the multiplayer is Tides of War which aims to tell the story of World War 2 over the life of Battlefield 5 from start to finish. This means that new maps and fronts that launch will be free rather than through DLC which is always appreciated and will hopefully keep the multiplayer fresh over the course of its life for more people as opposed to locking it behind a paywall.
However at the time of writing the final piece of the multiplayer has yet to be released. Combined Arms is a 4 player co-op experience that is billed as both a great introduction to Battlefields squad based combat and offer a challenge to veteran players. Although this omission from the launch package isn’t exactly terrible.
VERDICT
Battlefield 5 doesn’t reinvent the wheel. In fact in many ways it feels like a bit of a step backwards. Its campaign is a dull short experience that doesn’t hit the heights that you may have come to expect from one of Battlefields campaigns and is lost in a bit of an identity crisis, which is a shame for the small collection of people who do enjoy them.
If you’re a multiplayer shooter fan and regularly played previous Battlefield entries then you will more than likely enjoy this entry, it’s fast paced and squad focused gameplay is just as enjoyable as it has been previously. And with the added free content to come over the course of the games life you will most likely have something new to play just in time before you get bored. That’s if you don’t encounter too many of the games bugs and graphical glitches.
Conor
Reviewed on PS4. A review code was provided by the publisher.