EA’s flagship shooter has a bit of a comeback to make in 2021. After the fifth entry’s struggles, Battlefield intends to come back anew next year. Battlefield 5 has been around, and received a sizable amount of support before ending all updates this April. However, it’s no secret that Battlefield 5 just didn’t live up to expectations for both fans and media. The game’s incremental content approach was an impressive concept on paper, but in practice, the game had far less to offer in terms of map selection and gameplay. However, Battlefield has more than just its predecessor to improve upon in 2021.
Last year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare scooted into Battlefield‘s territory with the revamp of Ground War. Rather than just being a big-team-battle variant of Domination, Ground War took things a step further by introducing sizably larger environments with a few extra capture points, as well as numerous new vehicles as well. Minus any of the Battlefield-specific mechanics, Modern Warfare‘s Ground War was very familiar for Battlefield fans. However, assuming Battlefield 6 is still on the way for 2021, not only will the game have to improve upon Battlefield 5‘s disappointment. It also has to contend with the other massive shooter franchise, now more than ever.
Assuming Battlefield 6 follows all the rumors discussing a modern setting, the truth is the game will be competing with Modern Warfare‘s Ground War over the franchise’s former stomping ground. Ground War emulates all the trappings of Battlefield‘s most iconic Conquest mode with a Call of Duty twist. Some even argued it was just a blatant inspiration, but that didn’t stop Infinity Ward from taking over during a time where Battlefield was commercially suffering. To some extent, Black Ops Cold War‘s mode makes a similar effort, but the significant difference in map design means it’s far closer to a traditional Call of Duty experience instead of Battlefield.
For one thing, Modern Warfare‘s iteration of Ground War utilizes the Verdansk sandbox in a similar fashion to how Battlefield maps are designed. Black Ops Cold War features standalone large-scale maps that can isolate portions for smaller game modes, and then utilize the full map for Combined Arms. These maps are far less sandbox-style and moreso linear map design, akin to that of traditional three-lane Call of Duty maps. They’re much more narrow, and don’t really have much room for flexibility in terms of vehicle usage, at least in comparison to a Battlefield game. Ground War follows the Battlefield sandbox approach, minus the flexibility of destruction.
Ground War will end up being a much tougher act to follow compared to Black Ops Cold War‘s Combined Arms modes. The many sub-regions of the Verdansk Warzone map have expanded Ground War far beyond any Combined Arms map. Even though Ground War didn’t really have Battlefield‘s signature destruction mechanic, it more than made up for it with proper vehicle balancing, intelligent sandbox design, and a significant jump in player count that Call of Duty had never really attempted previously. Most would tout Warzone‘s 150 player count as impressive, but it’s not often talked about how Ground War touted 32 vs. 32 players at launch.
Unfortunately for Battlefield, Ground War carries a lot of positive similarities between it and Battlefield‘s Conquest mode. Putting aside destruction as a defining difference, many of Ground War’s maps play out a like Battlefield 3‘s maps like Flood Zone or Siege of Shanghai. Lots of verticality, with the ground floor littered with armored vehicles and nimble jeeps, both maps reward teams with commanding footholds on capture points. Not to mention Ground War and Conquest have the same overall objective: capture points, reach the point goal (whether it’s draining tickets in Conquest, or acquiring more capture points in Ground War).
Battlefield‘s absence from the limelight for the last few years has undoubtedly hurt the franchise in a significant way. The impact of Battlefield 5 wasn’t drastic enough to kill the franchise’s legacy or anything like that, but fans still anxiously await an official announcement for Battlefield‘s future. In a way, Modern Warfare‘s Ground War showed that there’s still a vested interest in the game mode that Battlefield popularized. Pair that with the sorely missed chaos found in classic Battlefield games, and the franchise does have a proper platform to make a comeback. Battlefield typically releases in the fall, so hopefully mid-2021 will bring good news for the series’ future.
Battlefield 6 is in development.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply