Battlefield 2042 review friv game - Not good, not bad

The seventeenth online games from the studio Friv2Online in the Battlefield 2042 series makes a mixed impression. Modes that are not similar to each other are perceived as three different games, which greatly complicates a comprehensive assessment of the product. Despite the abundance of problems, we enjoyed the gameplay, and we are in a hurry to share our impressions with you in a capacious review.

Battlefield 2042 has a storyline. It is served rather sparingly, but the essence of what is happening reflects intelligibly. The new war not only swept the entire globe, but literally redrawn its geography, painting most of the countries in the colors of superpowers, clinging to death in the confrontation for world domination.

Against the backdrop of rampant cataclysms and hostilities, overshadowing the scale of all the wars that the human race has known, we, the children of an era that has disappeared into oblivion, crushed by an avalanche of conflict and already non-existent countries, are doomed to survive as restless, adjoining one of the warring parties, then another.

In general terms, the current situation is played out in the main mode of Battlefield 2042 at briefings, while the owners of the Xbox, PlayStation and PC boot into cross-platform battle and choose starting positions.

ALL-OUT-WARFARE MODE

On each of the maps presented in the frivgame, two irreconcilable sides of the United States and Russia are fighting for some strategically important object: an agricultural region in Egypt, an oil producing station in Antarctica. For us, all this is nothing more than cosmetics, creating scenery for the background and plot justifying our stay in the epicenter of the conflict.

In All-out-Warfare, the Renegades participate in one of two game modes - capture or breakthrough. Choose at will, since each mode has its own playlist. Conqueror is reimagined as classic territory-hold combat, but with a few tweaks: key areas are now connected, maps have grown significantly in size, and the number of players simultaneously participating in a match has increased to a new maximum of 128 people.

Teams will have to capture and hold as many areas as possible until the enemy reinforcement points are exhausted. Sounds familiar, but feels different. The process is now a bit reminiscent of today's popular war simulators, like Hell Let Loose or Squad, but, unfortunately, without a voice message and any restrictive measures that would contribute to the cooperation of players.

As a result, a good half of the community, unaccustomed to such open spaces, rushes alone where the soul tells (often on a transport stolen from their own), leaving the team and allies trailing behind. Someone sets up meaningless ambushes in safe zones, someone rushes past the target points to the opposite end of the map, and then everyone writes in the comments that there is too much space in the game and there is no one to shoot at.

Such opinions amazed me even at the CBT stage, because the game provides a huge number of tools for deployment: a large selection of vehicles that can be borrowed or summoned using airdrops, choosing a spawn point near a team member, the ability to stand at any of the captured and even areas besieged by the enemy, at worst - a quick deployment button. The map always shows where the battles are taking place, and it is obvious where they will take place in the next few minutes.

Yes, it happens that a dash to a neighboring area, for example, through a mountain pass in The Rupture, will have to be done on your own for some time, but this is an atmospheric part of the gameplay of any war simulator: get as part of a large group to the next target, avoid ambush, to gain a foothold in a new position. If you act according to the tasks set, it will not be boring.

While free wanderers enjoy, without exaggeration, chic landscapes with beautifully crafted backdrops, lighting and realistic skies, responsible restless perish in the midst of hostilities under the deafening roar of war, in which the incessant chorus of large-caliber guns mixes with the chirping of automatic rifles and the screams of wounded mercenaries.

The battles of Battlefield 2042 are not just spectacular, but deafening. The refreshed engine works wonders on the screen, changeable weather and climatic anomalies in the face of storms and sandstorms exacerbate the already deepest atmosphere of aggressive confrontation.

Yes, physics in places gives out very funny blunders and some related bugs are in dire need of correction, but it is physics that so effectively raises clods of earth, splits structures and bends trees with blast waves. With each new Battlefield, the tension on the battlefield grows, and this part was no exception.

Another thing is the cards themselves, and here there really is something to scold igrodelov for. There are few new locations and a good half of them are made frankly carelessly. I liked Cosmodrome, Manifesto seemed interesting, but playing in desert areas like Renaissance or Hourglass is as uncomfortable as possible.

These are flat, inexpressive locations with huge empty spaces, a minimum of shelters and even drops that would become a natural barrier from direct fire, turning into hunting grounds for snipers and aviation, which simply cannot be avoided. This is especially acute in the breakthrough mode, where one of the teams starts at a common point and is forced to directly break through to the enemy zones.

The impact of the weapon is pleasant, but you can’t call it perfect. In addition, it would not hurt to solve the common problem of the series - to finally work with the balance of the guns. Dozens of modules are available for weapons, which can be changed on the go, which somewhat simplifies the battle at different distances. (Especially if you are not one of the players who can kill with a sniper rifle at close range).

Each of the presented fighters has a unique active and passive ability: someone places turrets, someone has a reconnaissance drone, and another has a universal set of grenades, which includes auto-guided nano-missiles. The choice is sufficient to pick up a couple of your favorite specialists, but this aspect of Battlefield 2042 has been undeservedly criticized.

Due to the inability to adequately cooperate with teammates and the sad features of the maps, many players act only in their own interests and simply cannot realize the potential of specialists. They do not use countermeasure systems, do not jam vehicles, do not work in the forefront with shields, do not share ammunition and further down the list.

To get a really strong return on Battlefield 2042, I would recommend playing it as part of a squad of friends with voice communication, and would not count on a medic random to rush to pull you out of enemy fire or share a first-aid kit.

On the pre-combat preparation screen, you can configure everything you need. There are pre-made types of equipment provided here, but these are just templates. You can create exactly the same ones and name them whatever you like. Each specialist's equipment includes a primary and secondary weapon, a device, and some kind of throwing thing.

As I noted above, there are not very many firearms in Battlefield 2042 yet, and most of those presented are modified old barrels known from other parts of the series. In general, there are only three auxiliary guns: the Austrian G57, an improved carbine pistol and a revolver.

You can choose from one of eleven devices: first-aid kits, ammo boxes, rocket launchers, explosives, target designator, etc. There is even a landing beacon (which, of course, almost no one uses either), which allows you to create a new spawn point for the squad.

Throwable is limited to Frag Grenade, Molotov Cocktail, Smoke Bomb, Motion Sensor, and Emi Jammer. In the vehicle section, some components of ground and air combat units for different factions are changed (anti-tank system instead of anti-aircraft for Wildcat, larger caliber for Apache).

Here you can also choose skins for vehicles and fighters, change skins for weapons and hang key rings on them, change the appearance of a combat drone. The availability of most cosmetics is tied to account level or kill counters, as is the availability of weapons, modules, and additional equipment - a simple but fair progression.

If you're looking for a bigger challenge, the player card customization section has plenty of icons, mottos, and backgrounds for your party members to see. To get many of them, you need to earn certain medals. By the way, these are the only rewards for achievements in another Battlefield 2042 Hazard Zone mode so far.

HAZARD ZONE

Only the lazy didn't call Hazard Zone the local Escape from Tarkov. This comparison is completely incomprehensible to me and it clearly flatters Battlefield 2042. In Hazard Zone, eight teams (four players each) make a sortie on one of the standard maps not to eliminate each other, but to get data carriers scattered throughout the field and successfully deliver them to the evacuation points.

At the beginning of the battle, you see a map with marked zones, in the center of which you can theoretically get what you are looking for. Each zone is assigned a probability scale for encountering bots from the occupying forces, a chance to find a satellite module or means of calling - laptops that can be used to request equipment, drones and reinforcements (resurrection of comrades who fell in battle) from the air.

The reward in the Hazard Zone is a special currency that players spend to buy standard and mode-unique gear, which includes media scanners by default - a kind of target indicator to quickly mark the task for your group.

And here, again, due to problems with teamplay organization and the community’s love for solo play, Hazard Zone with randoms turns into an excuse to be humiliated by bots, aimless running around empty locations, but most often in sessions with an offensive death, which take longer to load than the match lasts.

Despite the fact that in the Hazard Zone, a wounded fighter does not fall to the ground, but remains under the control of the player and can crawl away in anticipation of help (if he is not finished off), the allies rarely support each other, prefer combat over data collection and often take the same specialists instead in order to assign roles to the team. The mode as a whole is fun and even viable, but, again, only if you play with your squad.

BATTLEFIELD PORTAL

The third "game within the friv game", which just did appeal to the old-timers of the series. This is a separate set of understandable tools for creating custom maps based on Battlefield 2042, Battlefield 3, Battlefield Bad Company and Battlefield 1942, and the weapons, vehicles, units and locations themselves transferred to the new engine remained identical to the original ones.

On a separate page in Portal, each player who has purchased Battlefield 2042 can create a unique match by mixing the universes of games and modes as he pleases: pit soldiers from World War II and fighters with futuristic equipment against each other, arrange a battle of snipers from Bad Company in the Saint-Vith fortress, stir up PVE match with bots and so on.

A very detailed editor allows you to organize amazing battles in their uniqueness. The most interesting of them end up at the top of the playlist of the ever-expanding game browser. Online in Portal is large and stable, and you are sure to spend dozens of unforgettable hours nostalgic for the old parts of the franchise and try to reimagine the new one with it. The only thing I would like is even more maps for this mode.

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