Kotaku Reviews Battlefield 2042’s Season 3 Update: Escalation

Image: EA

The last time we took a look at Battlefield 2042, the beleaguered online shooter had just released its second major update and was finally starting to look like something approaching a finished video game. With Season 3 releasing this week, it’s now even closer.

Note that I am not making this statement as a criticism. Battlefield 2042 released in the middle of the pandemic, with nearly two entire years of its development affected. As a lifelong series fan – but also a video game journalist familiar with how this stuff works – I’ve made peace with the fact that the game was clearly rushed by executives to achieve a financial goal. in the short term, regardless of the damage it has caused to the long-term reputation of the brand.

So I’m just not exactly reaching when I say – as anyone who played the game at launch knows – it just wasn’t ready for release in November 2021. Those of us who still found something to love in the game and kept playing have, for months, essentially played and publicly tested an unfinished video game.one that was never going to feel “complete” (at least compared to its predecessors) after months of updates.

Well we are now at that point of “months of updates”, which in previous Battlegrounds would have been the stage where the game was significantly added, but in the case of 2042 it’s right there where he is within touching distance of normal.

This week saw the release of Season 3, which adds a huge new map (set in Sweden, around two square robotic weapon factories), a new anti-tank vehicle, a railgun and a new specialist, whose weapon unique is a miniature air-burst explosive rifle.

Battlefield 2042 | Season 3: Escalation Gameplay Trailer

It’s perfect! The map, Spearhead, is large, and as failed before is clearly differentiated by the presence of two large indoor playgrounds for close combat, surrounded by large open spaces for snipers and vehicles. I had a great time with it, as its long design and rocky terrain between the two buildings means games often turn into meat grinders at central checkpoints, leading to huge, explosive battles.

The new Specialist, Rasheed Zain, is also something the game has needed; his air-bursting rifle is able to kill enemy forces bunkered down in cover or around corners, giving infantry the kind of space-clearing ability that was previously only available to vehicles or the rare few who can actually use grenades properly.

I’m not quite as sold on the other two main additions, the railgun and anti-armour tank. The latter, the EMKV90-TOR, plays like StarCraft’s Siege Tank; you can drive it around for a bit with limited firepower, but when you really want to mess stuff up, you can lower its suspension and snipe enemy tanks from across the map.

The railgun, meanwhile, is all about timing; it’s useful as both a medium and long-range weapon, but only if you can master the way it charges itself then discharges automatically when ready. Nearly all of the game’s current roster of weapons and vehicles feel somewhat contemporary, with gentle concessions made to the fact this game is set 20 years in the future; these two additions look, sound and feel more like Halo weapons.

Image: EA

When you look back at all the work and updates the game has received since launch—not just new stuff but revisions of old maps and tweaks to things like Specialist appearance and their soundbytes, giving the game a more cohesive tone—it’s clearly a much-improved experience!

I think when the unpopular Specialist system is reworked next month to revert to traditional Battlefield classes, that year-long effort to make this the game it should have been will be done. Which, given how disastrous the game’s launch was, will be one hell of an achievement.

And yet, it also can’t have us help but wonder: what could this game have been if the last 12 months had been free to add to the game, rather than just perform emergency repairs? I really like the setting of 2042, one of the few blockbusters to ever take the threat of climate change seriously, and its near-future arsenal has been so much more fun to use than the historical gear available in the last few games.

We’ll never know! A pandemic and the investor class conspired to curse this game, and so if all we can look forward to is one last Season 4 update before the whole thing gets binned and everyone moves onto the next Battlefield, then that’s what I’ll be looking forward to. Me and the other people who have been enjoying the game since launch. We are dozens! Dozens!

Image: EA