During the EA Play event at E3 2018, we had the awesome chance of playing Battlefield V and I have to say it was a great experience. With this being my first E3, a lot of people thought that I was going to be overwhelmed. If anything, it was quite the opposite feeling that I had when I walked through the front gate at EA Play. The overall environment of the event was phenomenal, each game had its station setup and its theme. Of course, with EA there was a huge highlight on all their sports games, but at the back of the event, the two main games that you saw showcased were Anthem and Battlefield V.
Anthem is something that we will talk about soon, but my main focus today will be how different Battlefield V is from its predecessor and why I think it could be the best installment year-to-date. When we lined up for our appointment with Battlefield, we were directed into a large container that “contained” its mini theater. Once we were inside the theater, we were shown a video highlighting what tasks needed to be done in the Grand Operations game mode. Grand Operations is a 64-player mode that pits your team of 32 against the opposing team of 32, in an epic clash that spans across 2 days.
When you start the game as an attacker in day one you will experience the newest mode, Airborne. We started the demo by parachuting in wherever we wanted, but we also ran the risk of being shot down by anti-air guns. I thought this addition was cool, it immerses you in the large-scale battle a bit more. As the attackers, it was our goal to take out the four anti-air weapons and drive the defenders back. I found the task easier than expected, our team was all on the same page and it was awesome to see us succeed. That is until we ran into the heavily fortified defenses placed by the opposing team!
The defenders can now build a multitude of defensive structures. Not only can you build sandbags and walls, but you can also build defensive gunner mounts. These fortifications add to the realism of the game and make me more excited for the release of this title to see how well it will be used online. The first day of Ground Operations was set at night and the second day was during the day, but with the time change also came a new game mode. Breakthrough was the next mode, this split the map into many sections and our goal was to capture the areas.
The only way to do so was for our team to control all the area’s “capture points”. I will say that this moment got a bit aggravating to me. I don’t know if the other players didn’t realize that we had to hold all capture points or what, but we, as a team, declined very rapidly. This mode was more chaotic like we have seen in the past with Battlefield, but we still had fun, even though we lost the game. We were told that more days and modes would be eventually put into Grand Operations, but at this time we played 2 of the 3 Days available.
The gameplay has been enhanced since Battlefield 1, not only did our task seem more reachable, but it was also easier to help out our squad. In all previous Battlefield titles, the only way to revive downed teammates was by playing as the Medic Class. Now, just as long as you are in the same squad, you can revive any squad member, NO MATTER YOUR CLASS! Even though this revive doesn’t get you back to 100% health, this is a huge change that will impact the game as a whole. Lastly, I have to say, the overall presentation and graphics of the game were spectacular. The snow, the wind, the destructive environments, the lights in the Norway sky…all of these details left me in awe.
The game has never looked better and you can see the love that EA and Dice have poured into the title to make it bigger and better than Battlefield 1. We loved what we saw from Battlefield V at EA Play 2018! This game is truly amazing and probably the most fun I have had in years with Battlefield! Although there may be a few things that need to be fixed before launch, we are excited to play Battlefield V and we hope you liked our hands-on preview! Please make sure to check out all the other E3 2018 previews we have here on Cinelinx.com!
