Ever since the PS3/Xbox 360 era, there has been a constant debate (some would say argument) over which is the best FPS shooter? Call of Duty or Battlefield? I’ve always found it a fun debate myself as, over the years, I’ve swung both ways in my answer.
The last Battlefield game was the disaster called Battlefield 2042. I personally got a lot of fun out of it for 200 hours of game time still, but I could see it had issues. There is a litany of reasons why it was so bad. On the other hand, Battlefield 6 not only has learnt from its past mistakes and dramatically improved them, but it also nabs a little bit of the good bits from its competition too. The result is an extraordinary new package that will appeal to such a wide audience.
Probably the weakest link for the game is the single-player campaign. The campaign does a good job of dropping players into various situations around a weak storyline but was fun to play, nonetheless. The graphics and sound design are especially pleasing as there are occasional big set-piece explosions or things of wonder to look at. The gunplay is also very comfortable and responsive, so it’s easy to slip right into the action.
The campaign will take around 5 hours to complete depending on the difficulty and has collectibles to find along the way. I wouldn’t recommend buying the game just to play the campaign. I know some gamers buy Call of Duty just for the campaigns. BF6’s campaign is not strong enough alone to justify the game’s price tag. The game also doesn’t have any co-op elements, it’s simply campaign or multiplayer.
I would hazard a guess that multiplayer is the reason the majority of gamers would buy this game. After 40 hours of the BF6 multiplayer beta and another 30 hours of the live, full game multiplayer, I can safely say this is the best FPS multiplayer I’ve played in YEARS!
It’s hard to know how deep or not in the details I need to go to explain why this game is stunning online. For me, that statement comes from nearly two decades of FPS gaming. So, I’ll start with the basics and facts.
Out of the box, there are 5 game modes over 9 maps. Some game modes include all the bells and whistles of the Battlefield experience of vehicles/aircraft alongside the soldiers on the ground.
The class system and the weapons that go with it also divides the fans of the series. Some players will want class loadouts locked to the four different classes. What that means is, as per the older Battlefield games, if you, for example, choose to play as an Engineer, then your main weapon can only be a sub-machine gun. A Medic will rock around with an LMG, etc., etc. This, alongside the game mode Conquest, is what is generally referred to as the quintessential Battlefield experience. For the hardcore fans, you will find this here, and it’s glorious.
But, BF6 has evolved and has so much more. You can also play in game modes where the classes are not locked to a specific weapon. An Assault class can, for example, use a sniper rifle.
There is also a really deep number of weapons per class to unlock as you rank up. Each weapon also has a lot of unlocks for it too. I played the first day of multiplayer for around 7 hours, pretty much using one gun the entire time. By that time, I’d only actually unlocked around a quarter to a third of the gun attachments. The grind for better gear will take a long time, but it is both a blessing and a curse.
It’s a blessing because the drive for those better items is real and encourages you to keep playing. The curse factor of it though, as I’m finding out myself, is that once you get some of those attachments, your weapon becomes immeasurably stronger. That means those that are new to the game, honestly, will be at a disadvantage for a while.
I’m also struggling to find a reason to use one whole class of gun, the SMG. There are assault rifles, carbines, SMGs, LMGs, shotguns and sniper rifles. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses for various occasions and playstyles. The SMGs, though, seems to be outclassed by either the carbines or shotguns in CQC and too weak at longer distances compared to the assault rifles (as it should).
I’ve also noted that because guns per class aren’t locked for the class of character you play as, the game is filled with around 70% of players just using the assault rifle. I’m hoping a tweak or two here and there might encourage players to expand on their choice of weapons.
The game itself looks and sounds incredible. Graphically, it’s not the strongest, most detailed game I’ve ever seen, but it does an amazing job of immersing the player into its world. In the city maps, buildings crumble and fall, with debris and dust flying everywhere. Explosions look phenomenal. Character models and the vehicles themselves look extremely realistic and weathered.
One of the biggest upgrades the game has over BF 2042 is that the maps not only look great but are filled with a lot of interest and thought and cover. The BF 2042 maps were sparse and boring but not here in BF6. I don’t think the game has reached the heights of greatness when compared to the Battlefield 1 maps, but this is very close.
The audio is also incredible too. Jets ripping across the sky above you as they blast over your head will literally have you duck at home the first time you hear them. All the weapons sound authentic, real and powerful, unlike the artificial noises another FPS series tends to use all the time. The aforementioned explosions “whoomph” with such clarity that you feel like you were physically there.
My only real gripe about the graphics is the infantry animations when moving. Because the game has real world physics involved in the shooting, it means adjusting to movement direction and speed is a paramount skill to get right when aiming at something moving. Bullets, rockets and other projectiles all have different speeds. This means that if you are trying to make a full deflection shot of an enemy soldier crossing your field of view left to right, you actually need to aim a little in front of them for the bullets to hit.
This is all well and good apart from a soldier can zig and zag and change direction without any slowdown of speed better than an NFL wide receiver can. Visually, trying to aim at someone that can change the complete running direction at the same speed means that trying to aim at them is a little unrealistically difficult. Many times, I’ve tried shooting someone, got a few shots on target, got through an entire clip because of their erratic on-screen movement and didn’t kill them, only for them to pop back out of cover and take me out instead.
The other gripe about multiplayer is about 5% of the time when I’m shot, I feel like it wasn’t my lack of action or ability that made it so. For example, on my screen, I start firing first, get hits first, yet they turn and kill me in what appears to be the first shot they land. Again, this feels frustrating and is the bane of any online multiplayer. I don’t know if it’s lag or some form of cheating. Even so, it doesn’t happen that often, and I have to also add this is one of the cleanest and best day one FPS multiplayer shooter experiences I’ve ever had that, with a little work, could be flawless.
So, those are the nuts and bolts of the game, but what makes BF6 special and the best FPS game I’ve played in years?
It’s all about how the game makes you feel through its immersion.
BF6 does such a fantastic job of enveloping the player into the world and all its moving parts. You’re holding a point, nervously waiting for the enemy to arrive. You can hear the rumble of an enemy tank approach. Explosions go off, buildings fall, in-game player characters’ voices scream. Bullets ping by your head. A voice cries out for a medic. A boom erupts, and a shell lands close by, putting you into a stunned state. Through the falling debris and dust, the enemy soldier leaps into your view. You press the trigger on your weapon and hear the click of the firing pin engage, and the roar of bullets deafens you. Your bullets land, and you hear the satisfying “thwack” and then “ching” take them down.
Suddenly, an enemy tank smashes through the wall you didn’t think was destructible. As it moves forward, its turret turns to face you. You panic but hear someone shout “RPG!”, and just before you thought you were a “gonna”, the tank in front of you is suddenly boiling with fire, and BOOM, its turret blows up from its body in a mass of fire, metal and chaos!
You sigh with relief, get back to your position and nervously wait for the next attack. You have just fired up the game, and this happened in just the opening couple of minutes of the first match. Strap in, you are in for a wild evening!
THIS is the Battlefield experience. Call of Duty games seem so anemic and bland compared to what you get each and every match in Battlefield. I’m 54 years old. I haven’t got the reactions of an 18-year-old kid anymore, but despite that, I can still find a place, still find a role to be effective in this game for my team somehow.
This immersive gameplay, in both the single-player and multiplayer, is what makes BF6 special. There is literally something in the game for everyone and any ability for hours upon hours of gameplay. I, at times, don’t fancy playing matches with vehicle battles and prefer smaller, squad-based matches. BF6 has that CoD side of competition in multiplayer too. It only has Team Deathmatch, King of the Hill, and Domination modes, but they are awesome, nonetheless. However, where BF6 goes above and beyond CoD is through Portal.
Portal is a tool that allows players to create their own matches and modes as they like. So that means, already, some creators have made Call of Duty maps in the BF6 universe for everyone to play. Day 1, you could play the classic CoD map Shipment squad match in BF6. There is a genuine feeling of excitement for what the creators will make.
Very strangely though, it took me a few days to actually access Portal games as PS5 users were getting messages of “purchase” rather than join (you can’t purchase anything, anyway).
For everyone’s information (the game doesn’t tell you this), to access Portal content, you have to go to the game Settings option, then System, then click the icon “Show Player Created Content” to On, and boom, you’re in.
Although there have been times in BF6 where I’m swearing at the screen, the amazing moments BF6 delivers shortly afterwards make it all worthwhile. At any one moment, a cinematic Michael Bay-esque sequence of ridiculousness can and does happen. These moments make you laugh out loud, sit back and go “wow”. This is so much fun. One minute you’re Mr. Bean, the next, you’re John Wick!
Right, that’s enough time typing, I need to get back and consume my daily dose of online suckers in BF6.
Summary
No, the game doesn’t have the best single-player campaign, and there are a few design and technical quirks that have me scratching my head in frustration. But Battlefield 6 gives you gameplay moments like no other in both its single-player and multiplayer modes. It’s utterly immersive, utterly engrossing, utterly addictive and hilarious fun.
You feel like such a badass playing the game, and that feeling is priceless. It’s games like Battlefield 6 that make me want to have a gaming console in the first place. If you have any interest in the FPS market of games, you owe it to yourself to get involved in this one.
Developer: Dice
Publisher: EA
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: 10th October 2025
