Gunfire. The sound of a tank rolling up to your location while you try to drag your comrade to a safe location: It’s terrifying. It’s thrilling. It’s Battlefield.
That’s how I felt on Aug. 9 when I first played the Battlefield 6 beta. I sunk 17 hours into the beta–and those were hours well spent. Electronic Arts did a good job bringing back the modern Battlefield that the fans have been asking for. The game is reminiscent of Battlefield 4, which came out in 2013.
The gameplay is fun, the guns feel wonderful, the vehicles don’t feel like they’re made out of paper mache, and the beta makes you eager to play the actual game.
Battlefield 6 is a large-scale first-person shooter. The main game mode is called Conquest, where you try to hold as many positions as possible while trying to defeat the enemy team.
Rush is a fast-paced game mode where one team tries to plant a bomb on the objective while the other team defends it. Breakthrough is a game mode where one team tries to capture two objectives and break farther into the map to capture more while the other team defends.
Having all these game modes kept me and my friends from getting bored, and we had a great time.
The beta improves upon other Battlefields in many areas. In the previous Battlefield 2042, the vehicles felt weak and not enjoyable to use, but in the beta, the tanks feel stronger without being overpowering.
Battlefield 6 also marks the return of modern weapons and vehicles, which is exciting for Battlefield fans as previous games have had historic settings. Battlefield 1 was set during World War I, Battlefield 5 took us to World War II, and the newest game, Battlefield 2042, showed us the distant future of warfare.
Now let’s talk about guns. Honestly, the guns in the beta were really fun to use and felt more realistic than in the past. In previous games, the guns felt more like a BB gun and did less damage than they should have. In the beta, the guns, especially the pistols, feel more realistic and like they actually have more of an impact.
The shotgun in Battlefield 2042 was especially bad, but it looks like that was also improved. The shotgun feels extremely strong, maybe a bit too strong compared to the other weapons. I do like this improvement, but EA might need to tone down the shotgun’s power before the real game comes out. If everyone is running around and killing players within one shot, that’s definitely a problem. Although shotguns are supposed to be powerful, with so much power it might be the only gun players use, destroying the balance and ruining the need to play with other guns.
When I played the beta, I mostly used the M4, the lMGs and the DMRs. Each felt pretty satisfying to use, especially after you got done customizing them.
Before every match, players can go to their loadouts and put attachments on their guns, giving them extra magazines, laser sight, etc. The best part about this is that the game saves what attachments you put on what gun; if you put a laser on your M4, then change classes, you can still use that same M4 with the same laser and other customizations.
Just like every other Battlefield, Battlefield 6 has four classes: Assault, Medic, Engineer and Recon.
Assault
Assault is your basic soldier class, it comes with a grenade launcher and the added bonus of having two primary weapons, perfect for anyone wanting to do some real damage on the battlefield.
Medic
Medic is what the name implies–this class comes with an inventory full of health-related items to heal teammates and give them more ammo. As a Medic, you also gain the ability to revive downed teammates, either by using your defibrillators on them or by dragging them away to safety. It’s both exhilarating and terrifying having to save your teammates in the middle of battle, but man, it makes you feel like a hero.
Engineer
Engineer is the only class that can repair vehicles. Tank drivers can repair their tanks themselves, but engineers do it faster and more efficiently. Engineers are given a blow torch, a rocket launcher and anti-tank mines, giving them the ability to damage and destroy enemy vehicles.
Recon
Recon is the class for snipers. The Recon class comes with a respawn beacon that you and your squad can use to respawn wherever the beacon gets placed in the game’s map. This class also gets these things called T-ugs. Place these sensors down and they act like tiny drones, as they can detect enemies or nearby vehicles. Recon also comes with a C4 explosive that you can throw and blow up to really cause havoc.
Each class also gets its own ultimate ability, which is new for Battlefield. The Assault class gets the ability to see and hear nearby enemies better, the Medic’s ultimate makes it so your teammates can get resupplied when they come near you, and you revive faster. The Engineers’ blow torch repairs vehicles faster, and Recon gets a unmanned aerial vehicle that reveals enemy locations in a much bigger area.
I enjoyed my time playing the Battlefield 6 beta, and honestly it feels like this is the best Battlefield has been in a while.
EA improved on so much, especially the destructible environment. For years, fans have been wanting more destructible environments similar to those in Battlefield 4, and the beta did have many destructible buildings. Let me tell you, it’s so cool hearing a building cave in on itself, knowing you’re about to die. I felt so immersed playing the beta, which is suspiciously good.
I like the new Battlefield, but I am worried that when the game officially releases, it will be full of micro-transactions because of EA’s use of in-game purchases in the past. I recommend holding off on pre-ordering and waiting for the game to fully come out, to see for yourself if it is as worth it as the beta.
Velocity 
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