Battlefield 2042 Open Beta impressions: A buggy mess with great potential

Long before I dove headlong into Call of Duty, I had a passionate relationship with Battlefield 4. I put so many hours into that game that I was wicked with a DMR. I could get sniper-worthy head shots across Operation Locker using a scope with JUST enough magnification that it wouldn’t flash. Then came Battlefield 1 and it was fine. It was a lot more fun to snipe in that installment than anything else and it just took a little bit longer to connect with. Next was Battlefield V and it LOOKED great but didn’t have the charisma that BF4 had or the quality gun play that BF1 had. With the announcement of Battlefield 2042, fans of the franchise, myself included, have been really excited to get back to modern machinery, but after the open beta this past weekend, what are our first impressions so far?

The biggest change is that there will be no campaign for Battlefield 2042 and all modes are online multiplayer. I’m not sure how I feel about that since it almost feels like half of the game is just gone. With the removal of a big chunk of the game, there’s a lot riding on the game being near perfect upon release. I played the beta on Xbox One and it took hours to get into a server. Once I made it into a server, the frame dropping and lag was SO bad. It’s really hard to hit an enemy that is popping and locking around the map. The same goes for vehicles and aircraft in each game. Now, I imagine those running with an ethernet cable or a PC had a much better experience.

Even those that experienced great frame rates and no lag were still subject to the multitude of bugs that were abound in the beta. Battlefield has always had some of the funniest and most frustrating bugs and glitches but I find it worrisome that there were that many bugs in this beta. Sure, this isn’t the finished product, but with a beta of only one game mode and one map and no solo campaign, how were there that many issues? An alpha many times tests functionality, while the beta will test server capacity. The release of Battlefield 2042 is next month and it makes me wonder how many of these bugs will remain.

That being said, Battlefield 2042 looks really nice. Graphically, this is the best looking one yet and I played on Xbox One. I can only imagine how pristine it will look on next-gen consoles and PC. Something that is new in the gameplay is the ability to change the parts of your gun while on the frontline. The plus system allows you to modify your scope, barrel, grip and magazine in your weapon wheel. While I am not a fan of the revive system AGAIN in this installment, the plus system can make customizing your weapon for your enemy a breeze. Speaking of breeze, this b*** had a tornado pop up in the middle of the map. Out of everything that went on in that beta, there were two things that I took away from it all: the rocket launch to space that I could watch in my sniper scope and the tornado that I could fly into like I was Dorothy Gale.

There will be your standard classes like Medic, Assault etc. Each class can utilize any gun or sidearm they choose, but there will be certain pieces of equipment that are only attainable using that class. One example is a wingsuit and I am going to have a ton of fun with that one. I will feel like the deadliest flying squirrel in town.

It’s hard to say what Battlefield 2042 is really going to look like after release. There were some really cool moments and it has a lot of potential to be just as popular as BF4 with its modern technology and reactive weather. However, if the bugs aren’t handled by launch, it’s going to be just another broken game that was released with excuses. Here’s hoping Battlefield 2042 is going to be everything we hope it is upon its release on November 19th, 2021.