Battlefield 2042 Lets Players Use Mother Nature to Smite Enemies

by Cole Travis in General | Jun, 10th 2021

Battlefield is back, and they’ve entered the FPS genre again with a massive bang, showing off their new game through a 4 minute reveal trailer online, and with the release of the trailer comes a website dictating a massive amount of information on the game’s release.

The official trailer for Battlefield 2042 showcases many encounters fans will find themselves in while fighting throughout the massive open worlds that the series is known for. With just about five minutes of content, players see soldiers falling from mountains, using wingsuits to escape. There are also new planes, tanks, and four-legged robots that bear a striking resemblance to the Boston Dynamics robots that surface from time to time online. There are also close-quarters combat scenarios in warehouses and showing off the many new types of weapons that will be used in the next entry of Battlefield.

There’s also a specific scene in the trailer that features the Rendezook maneuver. A pilot ejects out of his plane to blast down another plane with a handheld rocket launcher, following up this display by landing on his plane while it’s falling, only to start it again and take off unscathed. This shows that the same tricks players have used in the Battlefield series in entries like 3 and 4 are noticed by DICE and play a part in the new Battlefield title. 

The trailer caps off the reveal with a massive tornado destroying the world, pulling in players, vehicles, and the environment into the massive cyclone. As it ends, one of the soldiers jumps out of a vehicle into the open air, using their wingsuit to ride the storm up and escape the tornado as it continues down its path of destruction. Battlefield 2042 knows how to set the tone for the game. The series promises high octane warfare featured in their most popular entries. However, there are more additions to the game aside from tornados and robots. 

Battlefield now supports up to 128 players in a single game, making 2042 feel more like an all-out warzone. No matter where players go in the game, they’ll be engaged in combat. However, this 128-player count is limited to the power of the Xbox One Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. With seven new maps provided by 2042’s website, DICE’s design of their maps has changed completely. 

With the introduction of 128 player games, Battlefield 2042’s maps aim to give players a unique experience as each section of the map contains distinct combat areas and a focus on variety to engage not only on foot players but those who opt to fly, drive, or ride with their squad. As of now, Battlefield 2042 showcased seven maps for players to fight in. 

Orbital is a map that has players fight around the site of a rocket launch in French Guiana. The rocket takes off storms can approach and turn the tides of a battle for either side. Hourglass is a bustling city in Qatar. With sandstorms frequently coming in during the match, players will have to navigate the world as it becomes increasingly difficult to see. Combining this with players who fly in the middle of a city wrought with skyscrapers, close-quarters air combat will be a forefront for helicopter pilots in this map. The city landscape becomes more intense for players with Kaleidoscope, a metropolis in South Korea. With a giant plaza sitting in the middle of the map, as well as massive skyscrapers that players can zipline across, there’s more city than outskirts for pilots to navigate. 

Things become even more compact for on-foot players in Manifest, a cargo dock in Singapore, which houses many close-quarter combat scenarios, and plenty of cover from anyone watching from the sky. However, being on the coast, waterspouts tend to be attracted to the battlefield, meaning that players on the water might become consumed by the massive cyclone of water and debris. Discarded, however, is devoid of any massive water bodies. Taking place on the coast of India, players will find themselves taking to hovercrafts and fighting among the scrapped remains of tanker ships. At the same time, deadly storms continue to encroach upon everyone in the vicinity. 

Breakaway takes players somewhere the series hasn’t gone before, Antarctica. Being turned from its icy continent to an oil rig, players can destroy tanks to create a permanent fire that blocks off points of the map, meaning that players will have to think on their feet if they plan to take on whoever has the advantage. Contrasting the freezing and fiery conditions of Breakaway comes Renewal. Players will see a distinct change from the Egyptian desert to the manmade agricultural sites as players fight for access to the three main gates closing off this green utopia from the rest of the desert. 

However, Battlefield isn’t all massive maps and fighting, as players can engage in one of the many game modes that push the renowned FPS series to its limits. For 2042 players, Conquest returns; however it comes with a new twist that’ll keep players engaged. Regularly, Conquest has soldiers engage one another as they fight over three key points on the sandbox. Battlefield aims to change the game by breaking apart the three conquest markers into a large handful of capturable points. DICE mentions that every map in Battlefield 2042 has been designed to fight this new version of the fan-favorite game mode as the map contains “Clusters” of action where the main points once stood. Players will have to fight their way through multiple points on the map to claim victory over their enemies. Breakthrough also makes its return to the battlefield series. 

Following the original rules of the game Attackers and Defenders, players will fight in Battlefield’s large-scale maps to take control of the massive locations on each map. With every player taking charge at one location, it’s anyone’s game when two 64-player teams clash with one another. 

Two other game modes have been announced for Battlefield 2042. Hazard Zone is described as edge-of-your-seat gameplay, and another unnamed mode is described as a love letter to the core battlefield fans. Discover unexpected battles and enter the wide universe of Battlefield with this experience. While these aren’t mentioned in detail, fans will find out more information when the game gets an in-depth information dump at EA’s Play Live on July 22.

Taking a bit of a step back from some of its competition, Battlefield 2042 introduces specialists, something that Call of Duty had done from Advanced Warfare to Black Ops 4. DICE has been kind enough to give players a look at four specialists on their website, all with their unique abilities. 

Webster Mackay is the first specialist, being an ex-military survivalist. He’s aiming to right a wrong he made while in his military days. His special ability is a grappling hook, allowing him to pull himself up from ground level to high ledges to get an advantage. On top of this, his mobility is higher due to his passive, Nimble. His passive allows him to move faster while aiming down the sights of his gun. This allows him to be accurate and fast enough to avoid enemy attacks, proving to be a deadly combination. 

The next specialist is Maria Falck. Being a mother, she cares for her teammates while searching for her son. Her ability is that of a syringe gun. This special weapon allows her to heal allies from a distance. If the gun is shot at an enemy, it’ll deal damage to them as well, being both a support weapon and an offensive weapon in situations where she’s pinned down. Her passive is Combat Surgeon, which allows her to revive teammates to full health if they’re down, making her a perfect choice for those who play medic in Battlefield. 

Next in line with the new specialists is Pyotr “Boris” Guskovsky, an engineer and a questionable asset due to being born in Russia. Combined with his sentry gun, the SG-36, the two make a worthy adversary as his turret can point out enemies and fire at them within a certain range when placed down. He can also use his passive, Sentry Operator, to focus the turret’s fire on a target he spots within the gun’s range, allowing two weapons to be focused on one enemy. 

Lastly, players can take control of Wikus “Casper” Van Deale, a man who would rather keep to himself. He’s one of the best fighters on the team, as his determination for a better world balances out his unwillingness to make friends. He is equipped with an OV-P Recon drone, which is more than just a flying camera. It can disorient enemies with its EMP blasts and can be a targeting system for lock-on weapons. This means that the drone can keep tabs on a helicopter while Casper readies the rocket launcher to shoot it down. His passive movement sensor gives alerts when enemies are approaching his position while he’s on the ground or piloting the recon drone.

While it’s confirmed that Battlefield 2042 will not contain a single-player campaign, “in the launch window,” EA and DICE have been adamant that the game contains a lot of lore and story within its world and specialists. Their faith in the story and world of Battlefield 2042 is so strong that they’ve included a massive lore section of the map, discussing the world of Battlefield 2042 and how players ended up in this new futuristic Warzone. 

According to the website, the beginning of the end started in 2030. Chaos reigned over the world. The first Category 6 hurricane was recorded in 2033, with the second great depression starting in 2034. By 2035, the European Union was disbanded rising tides threatened coastal cities in many countries. Thousands of people from various backgrounds were displaced by their countries, coming together to form their closed-off communities. Determined to make the world a better place, the non-patriated founded their sovereign communities, calling themselves No-Pats. 

By 2037, the world has seemingly recovered, with massive revolutions coming from energy, desert irrigation, hydraulic levees, and more saved the world, seemingly putting an end to the chaos that began at the turn of the decade. Although with no way to repatriate the 1.2 billion people who lost their homeland in countries worldwide, No-Pats became a major staple in every part of society, including all military, economic, and social policy creation. Many of the No-Pats exiled from their homeland were distrustful of the government they had once called their own. Standing on their own, unbound to a country, they drew a line in the sand between the past and future. As the world attempted to pick up the pieces, however, friction began between the world’s two remaining superpowers: the USA and Russia. This all came to a head in 2040. 

In 2040, a space debris storm caused over 70% of all orbiting satellites to crash into earth, rendering them useless. This destroys not only the internet but GPS navigation and storm forecasts. Communication grids collapse, prices of oil and coal skyrocket exponentially. Tensions continue to rise as the USA and Russia start to point fingers at who caused the blackout. No one can spy on one another; making countries begin to lose trust in each other. Some suspect that this is the doing of the No-Pats. However, both countries see the No-Pats as an opportunity to save face and not start another world war.  

Both countries begin hiring No-Pats to fight for them, promising whichever refugee wins will keep whatever land has been conquered by either country. Bringing players into the shadow war of 2042 against No-Pats hired by Russia and the USA as open war becomes imminent, players must now pick sides. The future is uncertain, but all players fight for their future, whatever that may be.

Battlefield 2042 seems to be ramping up to become another massive success in the FPS genre, as Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5 may not have been the first choice for players due to the change in technology and setting. With Battlefield taking a step forward and rekindling its gameplay roots from Battlefield 3 and 4, fans are looking forward to what can be done in Battlefield 2042. Lucky for those players, the wait won’t be long as a gameplay reveal will show off Battlefield 2042 on June 13 during the E3 festivities.