Battlefield 6 Review: Excellent multiplayer shines despite boilerplate single-player effort

There’s something refreshingly nostalgic about a big Battlefield game going against a big Call of Duty game heading into the Christmas season, with both series offering Hollywood single-player action and their own brand of multiplayer fun.

With Activision‘s series being by far the most popular historically, it would have been understandable had EA and Dice decided to chase the Call of Duty dollar. Instead, EA has delivered the game that the community has been asking for, with rock-solid fundamentals, lots of diverse content, and excellent visuals. While the game’s campaign won’t live long in the memory, it rounds out an incredibly complete shooter package that we’ll happily spend a lot more time with.

Battlefield 6’s single-player campaign is fine. It’s a visually impressive hop around cities that you’ll become intimately familiar with during multiplayer, but there’s nothing offensive about it, nor is there anything particularly thrilling.

Watch our Battlefield 6 review video…

Battlefield 6 knows where its bread is buttered. I lost count of how many times I’d be stopped so I could watch a building artfully burst into pieces around me. Destruction is probably the number one differentiating factor that brought so many fans to the series, so it’s nice to see the campaign double down on it, much as the multiplayer suite does.

The single-player really does feel like one big tutorial for the multiplayer offering, after all. You’ll even have two chances to be revived by your teammates in single-player, should you be knocked down. If nothing else, it’s a good way to check out the game’s weapon suite and dial in your sensitivity settings before taking things online.

The story is about as toothless as you’d expect, but the performances are serviceable and heightened by excellent visuals, both in the environments, effects, and character models. Once you’ve finished the single-player, if you even decide to play it, you’ll never think about it again. You’ll be too busy thinking about Battlefield 6’s excellent multiplayer.

Battlefield 6’s multiplayer excels in scope. There are plenty of different modes, a good variety of maps and weapons, and an overall feeling that you can have many disparate experiences every time you load up the game. The game is also great at offering experiences for all types of players, as well as pointing you in the right direction depending on how much time you have to play. Shorter skirmishes, all the way to massive map-destroying epics, are rewarding and feel like they’re all supporting your individual class progress.

Conquest, perhaps the most well-loved Battlefield mode, is as over-the-top and epic as ever. This is aided by excellent maps and a refreshed destruction model that’s core to the ebb and flow of combat. While nothing is ever as ridiculous as the days of Levelution and skyscrapers crashing into unsuspecting snipers, destruction is far more dynamic.

“Shorter skirmishes, all the way to massive map-destroying epics, are rewarding and feel like they’re all supporting your individual class progress”

While Levelution was extremely cool in 2014, it’s fair to say that after a while, everyone had seen those animations. The dynamism of Battlefield 6’s destruction model means that there are so many buildings on the map that I assumed couldn’t be blown to bits, but absolutely can. I’m sure there are plenty I’ve yet to discover.

On one occasion, when attempting to capture a point, I was being pinned down by a volley of coordinated snipers, holed up in a blasted-out cottage. The solution? Hop in a tank and flatten the whole thing, including the snipers. It was such a Battlefield moment. Moments like that are constant, but never forced. The joy of rounding a corner halfway into a long match and seeing the remnants of what was clearly an RPG fest is always enjoyable.

There’s nothing massively innovative about Battlefield 6’s multiplayer, but it’s extremely good at what it does. What’s also very noticeable, especially for those who play both Battlefield and COD, is the commitment to tone – at least, at launch.

There are no American Dad crossovers. No Jason Voorhees. Sure, there are a few humorous stickers and emblems, but it’s all very reserved. This is something that the Battlefield community was very clear on pre-release, and hopefully will be a signal to EA to keep Battlefield as grounded as possible (or as grounded as a game about jousting with fighter jets can be.)

The game’s multiplayer portion is also a visual and presentational treat, with hugely detailed environments and impressive effects. There’s always a push and pull in a game like this over whether massive explosions and hyper-realistic maps are necessary or a distraction, but Battlefield 6 threads that needle.

Battlefield 6 feels like exactly what the franchise needed after 2042. Multiplayer (which is the reason the vast majority of fans are here) is rock solid, rewarding, and – crucially – unambiguously fun. This is the most fun we’ve had with a military shooter multiplayer shooter in years, and it feels like the evolution of Battlefield 4 we’ve been waiting for.

Those “only in Battlefield” moments come thick and fast as helicopters crash inches in front of you, while the building to your left collapses, as a medic sprints across the road to pick up your downed allies. If Battlefield Studios can nail a cadence of long-term support for Battlefield 6 and maintain a strong relationship with its player base, there’s no reason this game couldn’t run and run.

As publisher EA heads towards an uncertain new era, Battlefield 6 is delivering at the perfect time. Whether it’ll knock Call of Duty off its perch when Activision’s next entry is released next month, we’ll see, but it’s the first time since 2013 that it feels like a real possibility.