This week, we’re taking a look at Battlefield 6. For longtime fans, the beloved game is back, but the successive release fumbles of the past, along with broken promises, questionable technical states, might have left you wondering about Battlefield Studios’ and publisher Electronic Arts’ new release, Battlefield 6 (BF6), and where it stands.
It has been available for over a week now, and the multiplayer experience has been well-received by most players. However, the campaign has some bugs, and in its current state, it’s been quite problematic. For most players, it has been relatively bug-free since launch, and it mostly delivers on its promises.
The bulk of players come for the multiplayer action, and for most, Battlefield 6 is more satisfying than it’s ever been. Whether on foot, in the air, or by vehicle, the game is smooth to move around, and simple to interact with tools and weapons. You can hop or dive into vehicles, deploy gadgets, and Battlefiled’s spectacular “Destruction” feature that allows players, along with powerful weapons, to reshape the field of battle by destroying cover, trees, and even parts of or entire buildings. It’s truly impressive to see dust, debris, and cement chunks raining down as bullets make contact, or a perfectly placed grenade throw or grenade launcher shot that destroys vehicles and buildings, altering the terrain entirely, making the match never quite the same each time.
Battlefield 6 allows 64 players a huge sandbox of action, from slippery engineers who annoyingly make the battlefield hell, to the support or medic that revives the player that you finally killed instantly, only to kill you again. Mirak Valley, New Sobek City, and Operation Firestorm offer wider battlefields with cover and hills, while Empire State provides a mix of open areas, including roads, buildings to duck into, and rooftops to snipe from. Each map can allow each player to play the game and loadout they prefer.
Although the game accounts for bullet travel, it drops just enough to reward a skillful shooter. There is a modest recoil and bullet spread, so whether you are a veteran of the game or a complete novice, you do not need to be a hardcore player to land the perfect shot and enjoy the game.
There are four classes to choose from: Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon. However, the different classes seem to balance out the game very well despite their distinct identities. You can focus on keeping to team alive as a support (medic) or go all out as the Assault Class, yet both are balanced and a lot of fun to play.
Although the maps have fewer vehicles and the cramped bottlenecks guarantee instant heart-pounding action, you might find yourself dying every 5-10 seconds and respawning too often. Spend time learning the maps; it’s a huge tactical advantage to know the surrounding area, buildings, or rooftops, before your enemy does, allowing you to wipe out an entire enemy squad.
With the larger maps, the vehicles can easily add a whole new element to the game, quickly changing from foot action or sniping to all-out destruction. A good tank driver can cause complete chaos in the game by completely destroying buildings, other vehicles, plus sending debris everywhere, and death to whoever is in its path. You can enjoy blowing stuff up or even play the game as an engineer and repair the tank so that it can continue on, causing complete chaos along the way.
Or head to the air. There is nothing like a big dogfight or bombing runs to eliminate the other team. Although it has the highest skill requirement, and it’s very difficult for newcomers to learn, once you become the master of the skies, it’s completely satisfying.
Career XP in Battlefield 6
Each player begins the game in rank one, a basic hardware loadout assortment that also includes a weapon from each signature weapon category, and access to all four classes. As you advance in the game, you can increase your player rank, or what they call “Career XP”, by playing multiplayer and earning Career XP by kills, assists, capturing objectives, repairing vehicles, and simply by completing matches.
As you advance in rank, a new piece of functional hardware or a loadout slot will unlock, with some ranks unlocking a new player card or a new set of assignments. Reaching rank 50 might be the goal for some players, but for others, unlocking every loadout item, both for infantry and for all vehicles, might be the main goal.
Some weapons and cosmetics require completion of a challenge instead of simply ranking up. These challenges have been subject to criticism and will likely be adjusted due to their difficulty. One such challenge requires getting 30 headshots on enemies within a conquest point in a single match, resetting if you fail to do so.
With all of the functional unlocks ending at rank 50, the “advanced ranks” are every two levels that begin from rank 52 to 100, which will unlock a new cosmetic item, such as vehicle decals, playercard titles, or weapon charms and stickers. But you can also continue beyond rank 100.
| Career XP | Rewards | Career XP | Rewards | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank 1 | Start | Rank 26 | SV-98, Weapon, Sniper Rifle | ||
| Rank 2 | M4A1, Weapon, Carbine Rifle | Rank 27 | Acoustic Sensor AV Mine, Gadget, Engineer | ||
| Rank 3 | Air Defense Launcher, Gadget, Engineer | Rank 28 | Incendiary Grenade, Grenade, Support | ||
| Rank 4 | M39 EMR, Weapon, DMR | Rank 29 | UMG-40, Weapon, SMG | ||
| Rank 5 | Grenade Intercept System, Gadget, Support / Playercard Background | Rank 30 | RPKM, Weapon, LMG / Weapon Charm | ||
| Rank 6 | PW5A3, Weapon, SMG | Rank 31 | Missile Intercept System, Gadget, Support | ||
| Rank 7 | Breaching Projectile Launcher, Gear, Assault | Rank 32 | M417 A2, Weapon, Carbine Rifle | ||
| Rank 8 | Additional Loadout Slot, Assault | Rank 33 | SVK-8.6, Weapon, DMR | ||
| Rank 9 | DRS-IAR, Weapon, LMGM4A1, Weapon, Carbine Rifle | Rank 34 | Mini Frag Grenade, Grenade, Engineer | ||
| Rank 10 | Recon Drone, Gadget, Recon / Weapon Sticker | Rank 35 | AK4D, Weapon, Assault Rifle / Playercard Background | ||
| Rank 11 | M277, Weapon, Carbine Rifle | Rank 36 | USG-90, Weapon, SMG | ||
| Rank 12 | Additional Loadout Slot, Engineer | Rank 37 | Tripwire Sensor AV Mine, Gadget, Recon | ||
| Rank 13 | Unguided Rocket Launcher, Gear, Engineer | Rank 38 | M123K, Weapon, LMG | ||
| Rank 14 | B36A4, Weapon, Assault Rifle | Rank 39 | M45A1, Weapon, Sidearm | ||
| Rank 15 | Additional Loadout Slot, Support / Playercard Background | Rank 40 | EOD Bot, Gadget, Engineer / Vehicle Decal | ||
| Rank 16 | LMR27, Weapon, DMR | Rank 41 | GRT-BC, Weapon, Carbine Rifle | ||
| Rank 17 | High Explosive Launcher, Gadget, Assault | Rank 42 | M1014, Weapon, Shotgun | ||
| Rank 18 | Additional Loadout Slot, Recon | Rank 43 | Throwing Knife, “Grenade”, Recon | ||
| Rank 19 | PW7A2, Weapon, SMG | Rank 44 | Thermobaric Grenade Launcher, Gadget, Assault | ||
| Rank 20 | M/60, Weapon, LMG / Playercard Title / Class Challenge Assignments | Rank 45 | KV9, Weapon, SMG / PlayercardBackground | ||
| Rank 21 | Flash Grenade, Grenade, Assault | Rank 46 | M250, Weapon, LMG | ||
| Rank 22 | AK-205, Weapon, Carbine Rifle | Rank 47 | Long-Range Launcher, Gadget, Engineer | ||
| Rank 23 | Sniper ** Decoy, Gadget, Recon / Weapon Challenge Assignments | Rank 48 | M44, Weapon, Sidearm | ||
| Rank 24 | ES 5.7, Weapon, Sidearm | Rank 49 | Portable Mortar, Gadget, Support | ||
| Rank 25 | SOR-556 Mk2, Weapon, Assault Rifle / Playercard Background | Rank 50 | TR-7, Weapon, Assault Rifle / Combat Knife Skin | ||
| *Rank information provided by ea.com |
Beyond Career Rank
However, your career rank is only one of the mastery branches in the game. At ranks 20 and 23, the class and weapon assignments become available to complete.
There is also Hardware Mastery XP, a progression system specifically designed for weapons and vehicles, which works similarly to Career Rank XP, with in-game actions and rewards providing Hardware XP for the specific weapon or vehicle in use. Furthermore, each vehicle has its own Hardware XP path for additional attachments and cosmetic unlocks. Each weapon has its own list of attachment unlocks, and during weapon progression, unlocks for “weapon packages” become available. These are pre-built weapon configurations (attachments, camouflage, or skins) that can be applied to any primary or secondary weapon. The same applies to vehicle progression, where you can unlock unique skins and camouflages.
Let’s not forget the badges and dog tags
There is a section for the number of badges earned (Total Badge Rating) on your player profile, as well as the number of dog tags earned. You can collect multiple badges with weapon, vehicle, and class masteries to your badge rating. There is a total of 212 weapon and vehicle badges, and one additional set of badges unlocked through their two class assignments. Currently, a Total Badge Rating mastery would be 228 badges, with more to come with each season.
The hardware associated with badge tiers is Bronze for Hardware Rank 10, Silver for Hardware Rank 20, Gold for Hardware Rank 30, Platinum for Hardware Rank 40, and Elite (Red and Black) for Hardware Rank 50.
You can view Accolade dog tags as a pride and bragging point as a permanent achievement, but they are also temporary, as they are lost in battle. Depending on the difficulty, Accolade dog tags will be earned in either Metal, Bronze, or Gold. When earned, Career Rank XP will be rewarded, but also keep in mind that each one may require accomplishing an Accolade more than once.
The Campaign
The expectations for the Battlefield 6 campaign were set pretty low, and Battlefield Studios did a decent job, but it still should have been better than this. It’s not entirely clear at this time whether the campaign is finished, but at times, it feels very unfinished. It’s a decent warm-up and a great way for newcomers to learn how to play the game. The missions for each character are assigned a class, and you order the squad to perform actions, making you familiar with the game for future multiplayer action. Jump right in and get at it; your squad can revive, resupply, and put down suppressive fire.
The campaign showcases the game’s visuals and sound, and it will be hard to say whether the campaign is beneficial to the game or diminishes its overall value.
Battlefield Portal
Battlefield Portal is the series equivalent of Halo’s Forge mode, allowing for the creation of custom maps, scenarios, game modes, and more. It allows users the ability to implement AI enemies along with a complete suite of map editing tools, with the bonus of being able to host via their own servers, for free. Battlefield 6’s portal mode is the most robust it’s ever been, and we’re super excited to see what people come up with. In the first week, we’ve mostly seen experience farming portals, but with this game’s success, we might even see custom campaigns in the future. Overall, Battlefield Portal will be a fantastic way to continually breathe life into BF6 between content updates.
Battlefield 6 is available in both the standard edition and the Phantom Edition. The Phantom Edition includes the BF Pro Token, Phantom Squad Soldier Skins, Weapon Packages, Deluxe XP Boost, and more.
