How Battlefield 2042 beta players felt about ‘the next generation of warfare’

Harsh criticism, hope for Portal, and the revelation that people like Battlefield 5 now.

For some Battlefield fans, last month’s Battlefield 2042 open beta lowered their expectations for the full game, which will release this November after a month-long delay.

“I’ve had Battlefield disappoint me before, but this is the first time I actually thought the inherent core game was bad,” wrote Reddit user TerrorFirmerIRL, who said they cancelled their Battlefield 2042 pre-order following their experience with the beta.

Former Battlefield esports competitor Xfactor, who currently streams Apex Legends and other games, had similar feelings. Battlefield 2042 is “flawed from a fundamental Battlefield shooter perspective,” he told us. Not only was the beta unacceptably buggy to him – a flashback to Battlefield 5’ s launch – it featured “dumbed down” guns and other identity lapses.

My experience in the beta was often frustrating, but when I squadded up with some friends – we could only get three of us in a game, annoyingly – I had a good time playing tank commander and running around at the foot of a rocket ship. I also enjoyed bothering snipers with a flying drone... Clearly I am not a player of Xfactor’s caliber.

Others here enjoyed the beta, too, and we weren’t alone in having fun despite the some obvious flaws. “Most people I know IRL really liked the game,” wrote TiToim on the Battlefield subreddit, “so I guess the small hater percentage come here on social media to express themselves.”

Wherever players came down on the Battlefield 2042 beta, no one’s denying that it was buggy as hell. One of the bugs highlighted by Xfactor is a returning bug from Battlefield 5, he says. A video he posted on Twitter shows a player seemingly materialising behind him after firing a couple silent gunshots.

DICE says that some of the issues that were present in the beta are already fixed in the version of Battlefield 2042 that’s being prepped for November. The beta was also very limited: One map and mode accessible through a stripped down UI. Not everyone is convinced that the spacetime anomalies they experienced in the beta will be resolved by launch, though.

And even if the launch were wholly bug-free (unlikely), plenty of design complaints would remain for players like Xfactor. Another big target of criticism are Battlefield 2042’ s new specialists, which replace the usual classes. Like Rainbow Six Siege operators, specialists are characters who carry unique gadgets such as a healing pistol and grappling hook. Unlike Siege operators, they can otherwise carry any gun and equipment loadout. A sniper can have anti-tank rockets, an LMG user can have anti-air missiles. There are ammo crates, but who wants anything other than rockets and missiles and C5? (That’s futuristic C4, I believe.)

“You can’t tell who is next to you and who you are shooting,” said Xfactor. “How do you prepare or counter that?”

There will be more specialists in Battlefield 2042’ s release version, so you won’t necessarily see so many duplicates running around, although that won’t necessarily help with identifying loadouts. Fans who are fundamentally opposed to the change have started looking to 2042’ s other offerings for hope, namely Battlefield Portal.

Portal will allow players to design and play custom game modes that pull weapons, vehicles, and maps from

Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3, and Battlefield 2042. If it works, it could be an ideal answer to fans who don’t like the new-style Conquest mode: Go to Portal and find a group of players who are using Battlefield 3 classes instead of specialists.

Later in November, I guess we’ll find out.