Battlefield 2042’s Hands-On PC Preview
October 7, 2021Rain falls up, helicopters tumble around end over end, even the user interface — home to a map and your weapon details — begins to fail you, appearing and disappearing in bursts of crimson static.
In the heart of Battlefield 2042’s tornado, all sense of direction is lost.
The rolling mayhem of the waterspout and its deadly debris was easily the standout change witnessed in a recent press preview for Battlefield 2042. That isn’t to say that the latest iteration of DICE’s first-person shooter masterpiece isn’t replete with changes, it’s just that a funnel that can literally sweep you off your feet in the middle of a gun battle also tends to figuratively sweep you off your feet in a match.https://www.youtube.com/embed/sAxqOs0I858
Designed, I suspect, to be the sort of dangerous, unstoppable force meant to repel ground forces and air units, instead, the pure magnitude and design splendor of the natural disaster had the opposite effect. Players rushed to the tornado, diving headlong in helicopters, whipping their tanks at top speed into its base, parachuting, and free-falling into its vortex. Approached correctly, one could be yanked off their feet, whipped round and round, higher and higher, and then gently descend at a safe distance via parachute. That is, if they were lucky enough not to be tagged by the tumbling debris that whipped around the wall of the storm.
Death by tornado, at least in Battlefield 2042, is really death by massive steel containers, tumbling choppers, building debris, or a lucky shot by another wild-eyed tornado chaser.
Over time, lots of time, and lots of play sessions, the storm will become another built-in game-changer, working as it was designed: To be avoided or used tactically. But it may take a while.
The press preview is the same as the beta release: a single map and single-mode and four specialists, each with their own backstory and, most importantly, gadget and playstyle.
To read the rest of this interview, which first ran on Sept. 30, 2021, visit the Epic Game Store.
