Battlefield V Xbox One Review

Posted on: 2018-11-30

Our rating:

Content overall is not there... The only thing that makes this game stand out are the graphics, but I can’t give a good score with visuals alone - it’s like a pretty painting, yes it looks nice but it lacks substance and soul.


Battlefield V Xbox One Review

The Battlefield series has been the Ying to Call of Duty’s Yang as they were once World War II shooters back in the day where they both moved to the modern era, until we came full circle with World War II again. Battlefield V’s reveal trailer was met with unpleasant reception to put it politely, as a lot of people were questioning its accuracy in the multiplayer space, where I shrugged my shoulders had another coffee and went back to sleep. Honestly the feature of female combatants didn’t really bother me as you can be flexible with the truth in that sort of environment, however if it was in the singleplayer narrative outside of resistance fighters then yes I would question it, but fortunately the story mode is more accurate and authentic.

Battlefield V Xbox One Review

Battlefield V’s story mode takes you through three different fronts, with a forth German campaign being added on the 4th of December. First up is a war story about a female Norwegian resistance fighter trying to stop the manufacture of atomic weapons, she is tasked with sabotaging their heavy water supplies. Secondly we follow the exploits of a French African platoon who are tasked with protecting France as the last line of defence from the Germans. Lastly there is the British campaign, where you play as a convicted felon who is tasked with destroying German air reinforcements and supplies. 

These campaign stories aren’t necessarily bad, but they are short, insanely short. What kills this is that they are extremely well produced and engaging, however when you are getting invested in one war story it ends. This feels unfinished, which is a shame because DICE can produce really good story campaigns my favourite being the Battlefield: Bad Company games.

Battlefield V Xbox One Review

Gameplay is left mostly unchanged from Battlefield 1, but the inclusion of a substantial amount of automatic weapons makes more sense given the time period. You shoot at people and they shoot back, there are new animations added such as being able to dive out of windows, crawl on your back while prone with the advantage to fight back and your character physically picking up ammo and medical packs to add to the immersion. These traits do make you feel like you are in the battlefield (no pun intended), but they do get in the way of fluidity of gameplay as sometimes they will not trigger and I was not sure if I picked up ammo as I didn’t really look at my ammo counter in the heat of a firefight.

It seems that removal is the major theme of this game, as they have taken one of the best and key modes out of the multiplayer Rush. Rush has been a staple since Battlefield Bad Company 2 and now it is absent. Instead they have replaced it with Tides of War, which is a campaign style of mode where it will take place over several in game days with a drawn out battle. What I like about this is that you can tip the next battle in your favour, where you have destroyed a certain amount of objectives or killed a certain number of enemy infantry. This is a double edge sword because even if you have been winning battles consistently, it can quickly turn around and you can lose. All the other standard Battlefield modes like Conquest are still present, but there is a lack content in terms of modes and maps, map rotation is noticeably repetitive where I was almost playing the same maps three times in a row.

If I could rate game alone on its visuals this game would be a flawless 5 out of 5, once again DICE have shown that they can push graphically fidelity at high framerates.  Character models are detailed and beautiful with excellent facial animations; the detail is so good that you can see the pours in their skin in cinematic scenes. The environments look fantastic with the baron deserts of Northern Africa to the cold tundra of Norway, as it is torn apart by gunfire as you roll down the ice laden hills. The graphics are truly something to behold and it is something that DICE get right with every release.

Battlefield V is a game that is lacking; I don’t think I have played a game that is this unfinished. The campaign is engaging but it is criminally short, with the German campaign locked off which made me ask several times when playing it “Why was this game released now”?  Content overall is not there, with certain modes taken out. The only thing that makes this game stand out are the graphics, but I can’t give a good score with visuals alone - it’s like a pretty painting, yes it looks nice but it lacks substance and soul.

3/5

Battlefield V Xbox One Review



Article by:

Sam Coles - a.k.a. The Bristolian Gamer

Sam has lived in Bristol all his life. A keen cyclist he speeds around the city but video games are his bread and butter. Whether the old Nes and Snes games or the XBox One and Playstation releases he loves them all. Sam runs his own gaming blog called Bristolian Gamer where he had been reviewing indie games, doing retro reviews and venting his anger at the industry when it does wrong since 2010. Sam joined the 365Bristol team in December 2014.