Zero Hour is a Step in the Right Direction, But is Battlefield 2042 Doomed to Fail?

Battlefield fans tingled with excitement after viewing the launch trailer of the latest addition to the long-running franchise: Battlefield 2042. Developers DICE and publisher Electronic Arts promised to pull out all the stops to make Battlefield 2042 the best Battlefield yet. Did they achieve their goal and live up to their promise? Definitely not; Battlefield 2042 is by far the worst installment of the franchise to the point it does not look, feel, or play as a Battlefield should. However, the recent launch of Zero Hour is a step in the right direction, but it may be a case of too little too late.

Had DICE built on the visuals and atmosphere of Battlefield 1, and combined them with the movement and fluidity of Battlefield V, the Swedish developer would have had a game that was a hot favorite to win the coveted Game of the Year award with the best Vegas betting online sites. As it stands, DICE has itself a game that has one of the worst-ever ratings on Steam and one that Microsoft took the unprecedented step of issuing refunds for Xbox players.

What Is Wrong With Battlefield 2042?

Up until this latest release, Battlefield games were a perfect mix of a gritty simulation with arcade-style moments. Players chose from one of four or five main classes, such as Assault, Support, Engineer, and Recon, and their characters looked like there were in the army or special forces. In all its wisdom, DICE removed classes and replaced them with specialists, each with their own specialty.

These specialists have an almost cartoon quality about them, are far too similar, and until the most recent update, came out with the most annoying quips ever.

Then there are the maps and the fact most are vast open spaces, void of cover and atmosphere, and a vastly reduced level of destruction. Battlefield veterans are used to being able to destroy buildings with explosives, and while this is still possible in Battlefield 2042, it is on a scale nowhere near past titles.

Throw into the mix game-breaking bugs at launch that includes terrible hit registry, the completely pointless tornados, being unable to aim down your sights if you have previously been in a vehicle, and many more, and it is easy to see why less than 1,000 concurrent users were playing the game in March only four months after launch.

Can Zero Hour Save Battlefield 2042?

Credit where credit is due, DICE has made vast improvements to how the game plays and feels. It may have taken five months to create an in-game leaderboard and another month or so to finally launch the Battlepass that tens of thousands of people pre-ordered in November 2021, but there has been progress.

The new map, Exposure, is a great map and akin to the Battlefields of old. It combined several outdoor areas in addition to some hotly contested indoor areas and feels much like a modern version of the Monte Grappa classic from Battlefield 1. The map has proven popular, with Steam player tracking seeing a massive increase of up to 10,000 players at once during peak times. While this is a far cry from the 100,000 at launch, it is a step in the right direction.

If, and it is a big if, Electronic Arts continues funding DICE and allows them to create new maps with the thought and planning of the new Exposure map, if DICE reworks the launch maps and then actually gives players more weapons and vehicles, there is a small chance Battlefield 2042 could be dragged from the doldrums and saved. DICE only has to look at how Hello Games turned No Man’s Sky from a damp squib to one of the best games available today to see that modern games can be turned around and turned into classics.