Multiplayer mayhem in a great new addition

AFTER the successful Battlefield 1 series going back to the First World War, Battlefield V takes up back to WW2.

The first thing you will notice is the revamped home console, which has been given a spruce up and personally, I think it looks a lot more user-friendly and is easier to navigate around than in past games.

The single-player campaign, War Stories, portrays real, relatable people facing brutal warfare filled with Battlefield moments. You witness the war through the eyes of the men and women who changed the world forever, as you take on unexpected and untold stories of human drama set against global conflict.

I do enjoy the single-player Battlefield modes, and this is no different, with some great set pieces and the stories can be very moving.

But for the long-term appeal, Battlefield V is all about the multiplayer.

Grand Operations packs a powerful narrative experience into a combination of maps and modes, representing up to four ‘days’ worth of missions, where each day’s results affect the conditions of the next. This mode is an upgraded version of Operations in Battlefield 1.

Then there is Conquest, where you and your squad must fight point-to-point in 64-player Conquest mode, working to gain control of key locations on a massive multiplayer map.

In Conquest Assault, every inch of ground becomes precious as a line of capture points focuses the battle into all-out firefights.

Frontlines pits teams in a fight for chained control points in a tug-of-war. Both teams fight for one flag at a time, and once this objective is captured, the action moves on to the next.

Domination is a scaled-down version of Conquest, this packs in just as much infantry-focused action.

Team Deathmatch is Battlefield pure and simple, and Airborne sees each team gets a set number of tickets that represent a player’s respawn, where each death drains the total number of tickets until there is a winner.

Breakthrough sees one side pushing to seize all control points in a sector, and to force the enemy to retreat.

And Final Stand is a nail-biting, tie-breaking mode, Final Stand appears depending on how well your team performed in the first three days of a Grand Operation.

The gameplay is fast and furious, but has a few tweaks here and there - when you die, you can either call for help, or quickly bleed out. Another welcome addition is the ability to build various fortifications around the map - you can put up a sandbag wall to block up an entrance, or pop some barbed wire down to block the way.

The graphics are truly impressive and beautiful, but the depth of detail in each map does not affect gameplay slowdown at all - EA are masters of multiplayer in this aspect.

Battlefield V is the most physical game in the franchise, with player movement immersing players into the action like never before.

And with gunplay, where you aim is where you’ll shoot. Disregarding bullet drop over longer distances, the bullet will go where you have your sights.

Destruction is more more dynamic than ever. If you shoot a projectile that blows up inside a house, the walls will crack from the inside, making debris fly outwards. Drive a tank into a building, and the debris will instead move inwards. Impressive.

All in all, Battlefield V is another impressive addition to the series - EA have been brave to change some aspects of the gameplay, but I feel overall that it all works very well, and with give many, many hours of enjoyment to Battlefield fans.