‘Battlefield 2042’ Enters Its First Season

‘Battlefield 2042’ Enters Its First Season

EA’s latest shooter, Battlefield 2042 (2021), starts its first season of content: Zero Hour, available today. But will the expansion be enough to save the dying title?

Ever since its release date back in November, Battlefield 2042 has struggled to gain a footing within the gaming community. A steady stream of additional content and updates, like we’re getting this June, could be the revitalization the Battlefield franchise needs, but EA isn’t exactly known for its consistency. Rumor on the street has it that EA is slowly abandoning the title, and it’s hard to say otherwise.

The new Battlefield 2042 updates and season are a step in the right direction. The game has been infamously buggy, even unplayable to many. It fell short of EA’s sales predictions upon release, quickly becoming one of the worst reviewed games on Steam. Players feel insulted by the apparent lack of effort from developer DICE’s part.

The rumor that EA plans on leaving Battlefield 2042 with the bare minimum can’t be verified, in fact, the company has outright denied it through an official statement. But as it is, EA will need to put some action behind their words to prove their community wrong. All eyes are on the upcoming season, Zero Hour, to see if there’s any truth to the company’s promises.

‘Battlefield 2042: Zero Hour’, The Strengths

Zero Hour offers one new map, a new specialist, and some hardware. It’s currently the first of four planned seasons for Battlefield 2042 and releases after an initial delay from EA. DICE prolonged development to tackle some of the numerous technical issues plaguing the title. And so fans are left to wonder, has the extra time paid off? Does Zero Hour deliver as a first season?

The new map, “Exposure”, takes place on, in, and around a Canadian mountain range in the aftermath of landslides. “Exposure” has three levels to it, emphasizing vertical gameplay. There are plateaus, exposed military bases, and helipads at the mountain summits.

All things considered, “Exposure” is a fresh and exciting map. It streamlines a massive amount of space; traversing it is actually pretty fun. And the setting proves itself to be visually impressive. But its the other aspects of Zero Hour that weighs the season down.

‘Battlefield 2042: Zero Hour’, The Flaws

Ewelina Lis, the new specialist, alongside the additional weapons and vehicles, are overall mediocre additions for a first season. Lis’ player-guided rockets are a fun gimmick, yet she suffers from a long-standing issue: lack of presence. Battlefield 2042 seems uncertain about the role of specialists within the game, many players would rather do without them.

And the new hardware is a mostly bland mix. The crossbow weapon is a nice touch, but it’s only that: a touch. Battlefield 2042 needs much more than a touch to get back on its feet. It needs a pull from beyond-the-grave.

Hopefully the next seasons will be more memorable than Zero Hour. And hopefully EA learns from their pattern of mistakes, their pattern of development abuse. This strategy of releasing unfinished games and patching them to a playable state quickly tires the community. It’s up to EA production teams to hear out the fans, to deliver on promises of improvement. And it’s up to us to hold them accountable.

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