Alright, writing this after spending roughly 10 hours in the early access build of the game. Please note that I spent almost all my time in the All Out War / Conquest game modes. I have not played very much of the Hazard Zone or Portal game modes. Here's my impressions at release:
Negatives:
- As of launch, crossplay causes an error that won't let you join a match. It needs to be disabled.
- No scoreboard except for squad leaderboard. I thought this wouldn't be too bad but it actually sucks not having it.
- No All Chat. I get that people can be toxic but if you're playing a game where you can stab someone in the liver, you're old enough to ignore toxic players.
- Performance has dropped with the most recent patch. Was getting 60-90 fps and now 45-60 fps (i7-7700K, RTX3070, 64gb DDR4 Ram, NVMe M.2 500gb SSD)
- Physics issues - The meta to avoid a bottleneck at the elevators or an aerial assault at the top of a skyscraper is to drive a hovercraft up the side of the building... for real.
- Collision/gameplay issues. Can't revive players next to walls/objects.
- In BFV if a squad leader wasn't giving orders and the team was asking for it, it would reassign the leader. It does not do that here.
- I miss Squad Requisition Points, that was a good system.
- Squad leader deployable options are limited to vehicles, loadouts, and the AI dog gunner. I'd like to see airstrikes and UAVs added.
Positives:
- Fun, chaotic gameplay.
- Massive maps. Breakaway is absolutely gigantic and is one of my favorites.
- Vehicles need some balancing but overall are fun to pilot and ride in.
- The specialist system. I know people don't like it since it replaced the classes of the previous games, but it feels new, fun, and I like the gadgets, especially the wingsuit.
- Evolving weather effects are great and shake up the battle a bit. I know people say they're sick of the tornados but they're really cool and I only get them like 1/5 matches.
- You will have lots of "only in Battlefield" moments and that's what it's all about!
I can't say that this is a bad game. It's a ton of fun, it's chaotic, and they're taking steps to innovate. If they stick with this title like they did with BFV, continuing to add content and build from the core gameplay, this will be a huge win for EA. As it stands now there are a lot of periphery items that need to be improved, but I can look past them because, in the end, the "only in Battlefield" moments are absolutely worth it. They'll just need to giddy-up on the patches ASAP!
Also, I've noticed many of the folks who are ripping this game apart are STILL PLAYING IT. Peak Battlefield fans all around! See you on the Battlefield!