War is bad..no wait! War is fun! Battlefield V Review

Introduction

With Battlefield V, the series finally goes back to the roots. World War 2. With so many Battlefield releases previously, we have to wonder, does BFV keep up to the legacy?

One stormy Night in Norway

Gameplay

The game keeps the chaotic vibe the series got players used to, even though the intro puts you through a series of soldiers that keep dying and trying to present war in a very serious tone, intent on demonstrating the futility of war but it's actually a very colorful way of presenting the game and the destruction that you can cause. The game launches with 8 maps, 2 set in France, 2 in Holland, 2 in North Africa and 2 in Norway so you got everything covered from rural Europe to cities to desert and snowy lands. The maps are beautifully designed, with as much destruction as possible on all of them. While they seem few, it should take a while to make them feel stale.

my trust toolbox always helpingh me build things!

The formula is simple so far. You got the Allies(Brits) and the Axis(Germans). You have 4 classes, Assault, Medic, Support and Scout and for each you have 2 sub-classes, one unlocked at start and one that unlocks at a higher class level but it's only brings a difference of two perks. You have a small customization system but it's a real letdown. Trying to keep it a bit realistic meant a lot of sacrifices only to end up barely realistic anyway. you can choose a face paint, head item, torso clothing and pants. It's quite simplistic and they mostly look very similar. You can change your characters which instead of letting you customize the character face as you please you choose from some predetermined faces that have names. Of course you get to have either a male or female character and while probably DICE intended to promote diversity with this, from what I noticed we ended up with mostly guys playing female character, sooo it's still a win...I guess? as for weapons, you got quite a few WW2 weapons and some from WW1, some more popular others less popular. you unlock them by leveling the class which is better than the clunky system from battlefield 1. Of course plenty of weapons are missing from different world war 2 nations but I suspect those will be introduced together with the nations. as a change from Battlefield 1 you can put skins on different of your weapons but they are few and mostly unrealistic and you have to grind for them while your side weapon(pistol) can't be customized at all. Vehicle customization isn't there yet, will arrive at a later point so guess for now we have to play the card without it. And last but not least each weapon and vehicle has 4 perks level, imagine a talent tree in an MMORPG, you get to pick a few perks instead of others and follow along that line. It's an interesting doodad but ultimately it doesn't bring much to the table. If I'm being honest, overall customization in Battlefield was nailed in Battlefield 4 while 1 and V feel more of a downgrade.

Company Screen

Ok then, on to the campaign. We have 3  war stories with a 4th one coming later trying to promote different different WW2 situations with a bit of resemblance to real life units/situation. The first one covers an initiate in the SBS the second campaign covers the norwegian resistance and the german plan to extract heavy water out of Norway for their nuclear program and the third one covers the Senegalese Tirailleurs. the stories are nice, a bit cheesy and pretty good as a tutorial with a bit more freedom than multiplayer offers.

Yelling for help instead of dying is a nice mechanic and can be especially useful when the team is low on tickets

Now the signature mode of Battlefield. Multiplayer. Keeping in line with the predecessors, the game is as messy and as hellish as ever, buildings can be easily destroyed, land can be scarred due to bombardment,explosions,etc but for now there are no Behemoth events like in Battlefield 1 or map changing events like in Battlefield 4. As for the Game modes you got Breakthrough, Conquest, Domination, Team Deathmatch, Frontlines and Grand Operations. All being an interesting addition as it can present the map objectives in multiple ways. Yet what remained from Battlefield 1, and I would've preffered they returned to old battlefield style is vehicle spawn system which makes tank combat usually resumed to 2 tanks and 3 planes and it's all about how fast you click the vehicle button in the main base when it's available. While smaller vehicles still spawn, this totally feels like a downgrade versus the old system.

Build all day!

A nice new addition is the ability to create Fortifications. They can be built by any class, doesn't require resources although the basic support class builds them somewhat faster. Of course, you can't build them anywhere but in certain points of the map, and they are predetermined what goes where and while they don't really change the course of the battle they can make life harder for your enemies and easier for your team. It's a nice way to give the maps a different vibe and for once build something instead of destroying everything.

I built this car! Interesting "fortification"

Graphics

As we've got used to previous Frostbite Engine Battlefield games, they look a-mazing, raising the bar every time. everything is detailed and sharp and it really makes blowing up everything more fun. But there is a drawback here as well. The facial animations in campaign aren't the best and while certainly not as catastrophic as Mass Effect Andromeda, they could've worked a bit more in making the characters and their expressions feel a bit more natural.

That bell has his own gravity field!

Sound

From the sound of the V1 Rocket, to weapons, tanks and vehicles everything feels quite realistic. Also to note that even in story mode and in multiplayer, every character sticks to their native language and if you want to understand you need subtitles. While it's certainly impressive and a bit more immersive, some might hate the voices as they rely on audio feedback rather than reading something.

Tanky, tanky, boom, boom!!

Wrap-up

While keeping the battlefield formula fun with the destruction being more interesting which each new Battlefield game, this one falls kind of short on customization options. while certainly ww2 wasn't as diverse in equipment as the modern military, especially when it comes to camouflage, weapon paint, weapon mods, it still could've had a bit more than it currently has. Vehicle customization isn't here yet but hopefully that might fix a bit the staleness of the current system. Also I sincerely hope the weapon diversity increases as for now plenty of wonderful ww2 guns are missing and could be interesting to see them added. 

The ruins are so nicely represented and make this map feel kinda messy to navigate.

So while falling a bit short here and there, the game does manage to keep up to it's name and most definitely a Battlefield game that should be added to the collection.

Overall Score 8.5/10

•     Graphics 10/10
•     Audio 9/10
•     Features 6/10
•     Gameplay 9/10

Game details:

Developer: EA DICE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: Windows, Xbox One, Playstation 4
Release Date: Nov. 20, 2018
Launch Price: 59.99 EUR