Battlefield 2042 isn’t being fully released until this Friday, but many of those playing early haven’t been pleased with the release version. Server issues, unexpected gunplay quirks, glitches, and UI design have been singled out for criticism by many in the community.
A cursory look at Reddit right now reveals headlines like “Do not buy Battlefield 2042“, “Battlefield 2042 is completely unplayable“, and “This game is a major step back for battlefield“. Unfortunately for DICE, many of these posts are being written around completely different topics of complaint – we’ve listed some of players’ most consistent problems below.
Server Problems
Battlefield launched last Friday as an EA Play trial, as well as offering the full version to those who’ve paid more for special editions or the EA Play Pro subscription. Unfortunately, many players found the new game to be unplayable because of an error when loading into servers, with Battlefield’s support Twitter account acknowledging the issue. Almost a full day later, the account said the problem had been “significantly reduced”, but many players reported requesting refunds within that time.
Gunshot Bloom
Perhaps the most consistent issue for players right now is the level of gunshot “bloom” to the game – a term for how shots will deviate from your exact crosshair aim, often used as a way to promote precision burst of fire rather than constant trigger-holding. While Battlefield games (like many shooters) have used bloom to some extent before, the level to which shots deviate in 2042 has caused a huge amount of discussion among players since the full version arrived.
For many, the amount of bloom now turns landing shots into as much a matter of luck as skill, a point of huge frustration for many players. You can see examples of the effect in the videos below:
Glitches
We’ll get the big one out of the way first – hovercrafts can essentially climb buildings and fly, and are seemingly strong enough to be able to take down helicopters in a head-on collisions:
It’s a common enough sight that flying hovercraft have begun to become a meme among the community, with some going as far as to say that they should be kept as-is for comedic value alone.
Unfortunately, it’s far from the only glitch being reported. One particularly serious problem sees players getting downed and becoming unable to be revived, but also unable to die and respawn. The only meaningful way out of the issue is to be either fully killed by an enemy (which can be difficult in a chaotic 128-player match), or to quit the match entirely.
Other, less frequent problems reported by players include clipping through scenery into out-of-bounds areas on the map, being stuck in a crouched state or unable to switch weapon, and even being able to shoot yourself from a vehicle while your character model is still climbing into the vehicle.
UI Complaints
The UI for the game, both inside and outside of matches, has been criticised by many players. Some issues revolve around overblown complexity, with gun customisation receiving the brunt of criticism here. Others revolve around a lack of information compared to previous games, from the game not indicating how many players are being waited for before a match begins, to making it a more fiddly experience to choose a spawn point.
In-game, many have complained about opaque HUD elements that can inadvertently cover up parts of the screen in tense situations, while large pop-in banners that indicate who has majority control of areas in matches have been criticised since the game’s beta.
With Battlefield 2042’s full launch coming up this week, many players will be hoping to hear DICE or EA comment on the issues and perhaps promise changes in an early patch. So far, there’s been no official word on players’ concerns – we’ve contacted EA for comment.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.