Image via Batlefield Studios
I’ve made no secret of my love for Battlefield 6, and I’m back to tell you just how good Season 4 was as we enter Season 5. The developers are listening and delivering on what players want, and that’s demonstrable in how much fun it’s been to play for the last dozen or so weeks.
There’s a bit more to what made Season 4 great other than “Ooh planes! Top Gun! Damn, I love flying planes and shooting things in games,” but that’s the gist if you wanted a quick summary. The more complex explanation is that this game has been improved upon with every season released over the past year, and it feels like we’re only just getting started.
What Made Battlefield 6 Season 4 So Great?
I adored Battlefield 6 Season 4 for two big reasons: naval warfare and planes. I think the Battlefield Studios collective hit the nail on the head by bringing a fan favourite map back from the depths with this one and pinning most of the focus on fighting at sea.
The freedom Tsuru Reef provides was unprecedented. You could implement all sorts of new plays on land by vehicle or foot, take to the sea with a boat to capture objectives, and then hop into the sky in a fighter jet or helicopter to truly mess up your enemy. The number of kills I racked up sitting in the gatling gun seat of a helicopter is unreasonable, and I’d do it all again.
Of course, the focus I think most of the mainstream will have known the season for is its Top Gun collaboration. Yes, I think it was good, but not due to basic fan service. We got new skins based on the actors from Top Gun: Maverick, which you can still buy in-game, but you could earn new skins and cosmetics based on the IP by playing fighter jet-focused modes.
This live event doubled down on what Battlefield 6 is really good at: giving players free stuff. We’ve all paid for this game, so it’s nice to be rewarded for playing with new cosmetics we can rock on our tanks, helicopters, and weapons. I think this is nice in all areas of live-service games, but to make it such a big part of a high-profile IP crossover was a really great move on the developers’ part.
More than anything, though, Season 4 felt like a homecoming for Battlefield 6. The game’s a year old now, and I’ve been playing it a little longer than that. The excitement of jumping in throughout this past season has felt tantamount to that initial launch hype that’s barely ebbed over the past twelve months. It’s been like coming back to that game you played with your friends a decade ago and finding it’s just as fun as you remember, but also has a bunch of new activities to dive into.
Why Is Battlefield 6 Season 5 So Exciting?
While I haven’t played as much of Season 5 as I’d have liked to at the time of writing, I’ve played enough to capture that it feels like the start of something special. It might only last for a season or so, but this is a strange time of potential for Battlefield 6. Potential for success and growth, and huge potential for failure.
First, I’ll address the elephant in the room that the Battlefield community has been half raging and half not caring about: ungrounded skins. For a while now, there’s been a Medal of Honor skin available in the in-game store that doesn’t really fit the style of grounded skins that the Battlefield Studios collective has been keen to stick to. I imagine that since publisher EA owns the IP, there’s been some downward pressure to make the most of it in the game for those who might want it. Honestly, I’m not alone when I say that it misses the mark.
While, of course, a WWII skin doesn’t meet any of the requirements for a modern-day grounded military skin, it’s hard to say that Titanfall and Dead Space do either. Dataminers have uncovered skins that look to crossover with these IPs, though take that with a pinch of salt because we don’t know anything for sure. I’m not including images so that we don’t get a takedown request, but you can see a Dead Space hint at the end of the trailer above, so I’m sure they’re real.
The issue with these skins is that they’re mostly grounded, but bear a helmet that’s obviously useless for modern combat. A big part of the appeal of Battlefield 6 for me and many others is that it’s not packed with dumb skins like Call of Duty and Fortnite are. Still, I’ll admit that I’m sold on anything linked to these IPs, and if the skins are earnable for free, I’m less bothered about their battlefield inaccuracy. It’s worth noting that we also have a gas mask-touting soldier in the official Season 5 Battle Pass who looks more like he belongs in Trench Crusade.
With that out of the way, I need you to go and play Battlefield 6 right now if you own the game. Season 5 adds two maps based on iconic locations. You’ve got Vegas, which is absolutely incredible for many reasons, but top of the list is that the best Rainbow Six games were set there, and it’s a brilliant setting for any first-person shooter. The second map is Area 51, which is pure silliness, and I love it. This is a game that boasts grounded combat, and here you are driving around a secret military base, shooting up everything in sight, and making it all collapse.
This season also brought Rapid RedSec. This is a game mode where you play in a trio with two others and fight in much shorter battle royale matches as the circle closes in far faster than in the standard game mode. I can see its inspirations and am cautiously optimistic about it, but it needs to be handled delicately if it’s going to become something the fan base latches onto and welcomes.
Battlefield Studios risks ruining all the positive reputation Battlefield 6 has earned with risky IP crossover skins. That might come at a time of great change, as the game’s focus on eSports becomes clearer and a push for a bigger competitive scene is on the cards. I don’t know how this is going to go, but I know I love the game and want to see it flourish even more. The question is whether everyone else enjoys what this season has to offer.
Still here? Good.
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