Battlefield 2042 Season 7 Turning Point preview: What's in a name?
Nominative determinism is a fun concept. It's the idea that you can push something to certain outcomes with the right name. Marvelous Nakamba's done well for himself as a Premier League footballer, for example, while Demon's Souls Stockpile Thomas is pretty good at, uh, stockpiling.
It's with that same spirit that Battlefield 2042's seventh season, Turning Point, arrives on March 19. Still, can a game that's already over two years old have a Turning Point? I played some of the new season to find out.
A haven for destruction
Battlefield 2042's launch woes were well documented, often by this very site. I enjoyed it a little at launch, but soon found myself pulled away by other, more polished shooters, or pushed away by baffling design decisions.
As a result, being thrown headlong into Haven, Season 7's new map, meant taking a little time to remember my combat training from, uh, November 2021.
This South American town is gorgeous to look at, with one half of it being a sort of market town, and the other is an industrial area with a lot more space. Brave flankers can traverse either, and thanks to the series' signature destruction it wasn't long until half the houses were blown to bits anyway.
Click to enlargeStill, it's a sniper's paradise, with long streets running from one end to the other, and plenty of sneaky spots to hide in. One flag, in a crashed airplane, is a nightmare to capture because it's so open, but doing so makes it a great forward base that opens up some sneaky routes through the sand dunes around it.
It's great, and while the bullets are flying, helicopters are roaring overhead, and a tank is backing you up, it's easy to remember just how bloody fun Battlefield as a series has been for all those years.
Click to enlargeThere's still nothing quite like it, and while the team at DICE may be sticking with Turning Point, I'd recommend Season 7: Timely Reminder as a backup option. And this is playing with 64 players as a default - I can't imagine the carnage in Portal with 128.
That comes alongside a trio of new weapons. The AK 5C is a great new all-rounder assault rifle, while the SCZ-3 is an SMG that's ideal for ambushes between buildings. An LMG is also coming, and though it wasn't playable during my preview I expect it'll likely follow the same robust shooting model. I found at launch that hit detection could be pretty wonky, and I'm really pleased to report that Battlefield 2042's snappy gunplay now feels like pretty much the other side of the coin to Call of Duty's faster gameplay - and I mean that as a genuine compliment.
Quality of Strife
Click to enlargeOther bonuses included here are amendments to visual weapon recoils and the deploy screen (which DICE tells me will make things more streamlined), but what I was really struck by was the thinking behind a big map change.
Hourglass is a map that's seen a rework a couple of seasons ago, but the removal of its Stadium location wasn't a popular one with everyone. Rather than roll back the change, though, DICE stuck to its guns and the compromise is that the Stadium map will be its own standalone experience instead.
Click to enlargeAdding a new infantry-only map gives me shades of Battlefield 3: Close Quarters, an expansion pack I adored back when I was playing on my Xbox 360, so I'm all for the opportunity to mix it up without those pesky tanks rolling over me.
It's another indication that DICE is listening to a community that's stuck by the franchise through a period that could easily have been the end of it otherwise.
Their patience is being rewarded, too, as Turning Point will add a new aerial bomber called the XFAD-4 Draugr that drops 'precision-guided ordinance', which does sound like a lot of fun.
Final Thoughts
Is Turning Point a bit of a misnomer? Yes, maybe, but while I may not have played for years, the new map and various improvements have pulled me back in by the bootstraps.
Here's hoping it marks a turning point for Battlefield 2042, because from my short time with it, there's still something special here.
Previewed on PC.
