Battlefield V – Review

Name: Battlefield V
Developer: DICE
Publisher: Electronics Art
Released: 15.11.2018
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Reviewed on: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro & PC (10 hours)
Acquired: A copy of this game was provided by a publisher for review purpose

Battlefield V got lots of potentials to be the greatest Battlefield game in the series, but there is something that doesn’t feel completely right. Let’s dive into our categories to try to figure it out.

Story

For the first time ever back in 2008, Battlefield finally got their own single-player campaign in Battlefield: Bad Company, with it the Frostbite engine as well. I loved the story in both Bad Company and Bad Company 2, they provided me tons of “military parody” as well as some cheeky bad guy scenarios, a true “80’s action movie”. The more serious and chaotic approach in Battlefield 3 was also well received at my house, yes there were some issues with it, but it was entertaining. Everything from BF3 up to Battlefield: Hardline has almost used the same “story template” until Battlefield 1 arrived with the introduction of “War stories”.

Nordlys War Story

Rjukan – Nordlys War Story

From Narvik

Battlefield V continues the usage of “War stories”, and that’s great on certain aspects. Some of the voice acting performances are great, and some are very cringeworthy. One big plus, however, is the usage of the native language in each war story campaign. For now, there are three different war stories in BFV set in Norway, North Africa, and France. I do love the concept behind “war stories”, they are short but packed with music, stories, and gameplay that provided me few different feelings along with my experience. Especially “Nordlys”, who is the single-player campaign from Norway, not only do they speak in my own native language but the background story itself regarding the heavy water and the Vemork facility operations stands very close to me. So I was a bit disappointed that DICE decided to add a fictional story, instead of the real one, the fight, bombing the facility and that families were involved stands true to the story.

Had it not been for the three different stories, the gameplay could be gameplay be very repetitive. Because each story uses the same mission template (or just felt like they did), first stealth op, then destroy these three objects, and then the final battle. Luckily the experience is short but great.

One last thing I noticed, that actually bothered me, your enemies, the Nazi German, not once did I notice their famous Nazi symbol. Not on any flags nor on any uniforms, so it would seem like DICE has approached a more safe way in their development, to not offend anyone. As for me, by doing this, they lose one of the biggest aspects of creating a world war two game, the one thing that almost everyone will recognize to world war two.
6/10

Graphics

I won’t be talking about the graphics differences between the PC version and PS4 Pro version. Because when it comes to it, the PC version simply only looks more “shinier” than the console version. (except the new Ray Tracing feature on the PC version)

There isn’t a lot of big changes from Battlefield 1, but there are some minor improvements such as animations, environmental textures, and character models. Sliding into a crouched positioned is removed, you can now run while crouched and you can even see your legs while moving backward in a prone position (as you could do in World War 3). When I say environmental textures, I mean textures in objects such as stones, grass, bricks etc. The biggest change, however, is the lighting. Battlefield V looks even more colorful and brighter than its predecessors. Character models aren’t greatly improved nor great, but the biggest issue is that I didn’t notice the difference between each faction all the time, mostly because of the lack of famous WW2 symbols. But overall, Battlefield V looks great. It sure seems like every triple-A titles I reviewed this year struggles a bit when it comes to minor details, but then again, it has an overall awesome look.
8/10

Gameplay

I mentioned my pros and cons of the singleplayer campaign beneath the story section at the beginning of this review. But the main part of every Battlefield game since the first game back in 2002 is multiplayer. And it’s where I struggle the most to figure out if I like it or not. On one side, this got the potential to be the greatest Battlefield in the series, on another hand, there are a lot of bugs and server issues. I will try to explain what I mean, and this comes from my own experience. I’ve seen other peoples reviews and videos on YouTube, and there is a lot I didn’t encounter nor agree on.

Let’s begin with the stuff I really liked, Grand Operations is by far my favorite mode in BFV. It provides a full-length match with varieties of different familiar modes such as conquest, and some similarities to the rush mode. The time to kill another player is reduced, and the snipers are more balanced and not as overpowered and annoying as they were before. Inactive squad leaders automatically get replaced with another player in the squad, and squad leaders can call in different types of support by using points the squad has earned (calling in more tanks, bombing raid, ammo crates etc). I actually like the fortifying feature, most people might forget about it, and it might just be a gimmick at some point., but use it right, it might save your life.

Weapons sound and feel like it is well balanced for now, I never raged quitted because I felt like something unfair happen to me nor that my enemy was unfairly unbalanced. And the new progression system might seem a bit confusing the first time you finished a match. But I like the fact that weapons get slightly better over time, and that you can upgrade each weapon.

We do have the famous different classes to choose from such as the Assault class, Support, Recon and Medic class. Everyone can now revive team members, however, the medic class revives much faster. “Spotting” enemies are now gone, only the Recon class can spot enemies by using the right tool. Each class now feels more important to achieve that strategic point of view in every squad.  

Recon

Support

Medic

Assault

But sadly, Battlefield isn’t known to release titles without any flaws. I did encounter one game-breaking bug in both single-player and multiplayer, my health pack didn’t work, as in, it didn’t want to heal me,  it just popped up and nothing happened. I did mention that there were a few bugs and server issues, and I must say that the console version actually did perform better this time. The PC version has a lot more bugs and issues than the PS4 version. Luckily, this is something DICE is working on to update later on.

For now, there are eight different maps to play on. Some of them are great, one is directly awesome, and one is completely boring. The “Narvik” map feels more “alive” with map design that suits every playstyle, environmental graphics and objects look great, but “Hamada” is completely different. It just felt rushed made without any love to it. Rotterdam and Narvik are by far my favorites. One minor feature I loved in “Grand Operations” is the cutscenes/animations at the beginning of each match.
7/10

Controls

I always have to change the control settings for the vehicle control schematics on the PS4 since Battlefield 4, not sure why I don’t like it, but it doesn’t feel natural to me to throttle by moving ”R” upwards. I’m more comfortable with throttling being at “R2”. By using “R” as throttle, I always fuck up with the camera and especially tank/plane movements. Besides that, everything felt responsive and accurate.
9/10

Replay Value

Let’s talk a bit about the replay value. In this state, BFV doesn’t have a lot of content yet, three war stories (the fourth one is coming 4th of December), Grand Operations, Breakthrough, Infantry focused multiplayer modes and regular conquest mode on eight different maps. The progression system might be bit confusing, but the progression to level up your weapon, earning a different type of skins, and by doing daily orders and other assignments grants you in-game currency to buy more cosmetics objects. This is what we got for now, but there is more free content underway such as “Tides of War” and Battlefield’s answer to the Battle Royale genre coming up next year.
7/10

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