Battlefield V
$69 | PC, PS4, XBOX ONE | ORIGIN.COM Does a classic of its genre still deserve the accolades?
Battlefield V as it stands is a game of absences, for better and worse. There are the reassuringly perilous open spaces of its eight multiplayer maps, which reach across WW2 Europe from Norwegian slopes to the shimmering plateaus of North Africa, and which rank among the best DICE has ever created. The radiant Hamada map, in particular, is almost offputtingly uncluttered, its northernmost Conquest flags separated from the others by a gorge which gives snipers the drop on any would-be Montgomery fool enough to rush the bridge.
Battlefield has never been celebrated for its singleplayer, and the fifth game’s War Stories do little to improve its standing. They’re essentially a thinly narrativised introduction to multiplayer gadgets and mode rulesets, spiced up by a focus on less-known aspects of the war but too ham-fisted to do their occasional promise justice. The opener stars Billy Bridger, a bit-part from a straight-to-VHS Cockney heist movie who is somehow recast as a special forces hero. A series of stealthy search-and-destroy missions against dim-witted Germans, his missions are as tedious as the voice-acting is hysterical.
If Battlefield V’s campaign is too dull for its own good, its multiplayer has never been more sociable. Players now spawn into a four-head squad by default, regardless of mode, and while you’re free to range at whim, there are powerful incentives to stick together. As in previous games, squadmates can spawn on each other, shaving precious moments off the trip from base to frontline. Battlefield V feels more significant for its adjustments to DICE and EA’s business model than what it actually achieves at the level of play: it’s more a question of stretching the same components across different production timeframes than meaningfully changing them. The possibilities of fortifications and the rejuvenated squad system will be alteration enough for returning fans, but won’t attract many new converts, and the singleplayer is a watery afterthought.
APC team