My friend was drifting a few meters in front of another squadmate and myself. With the storm blazing at our backs, it was only a matter of time before he encountered another enemy squad fleeing toward the safe zone. Simultaneously realizing our mistake, we both made a beeline to our isolated soldier whose shouts for help over my headphones forming an eerie contrast to the still environment of the pre-fight battlefield.
But this is no savior story. By the time we got there, it was too late. Another squad of four had barrelled down the hill and eliminated our teammate, breezing their way from one lopsided fight to the next.
While Battlefield V comes out of the gate strong, there are plenty of areas that need improving, some of which are sure to turn players off. Still, with Firestorm, Battlefield V has become my go-to battle royale game. Here is what I like and dislike about Firestorm after playing around 10 hours of the game mode.
Before you jump into Firestorm, you'll be asked to play either by yourself, in solo, or with a squad. At launch, there is no option to play in teams of two, or duos. DICE, the studio behind the franchise, said duos would be coming to Battlefield V sometime in April, but for a "limited time." I can't quite wrap my head around why such a popular way of playing battle royale wouldn't become a permanent fixture, especially since it doesn't fundamentally change the mode.
As rewarding as it is to play in a squad of four, I'm much more likely to team with one friend rather than three at any given time. Yes, you can fill your squad with random players so you're at least not at a numbers disadvantage, but there is no guarantee that they won't go lone wolf on you. My advice to Dice and Criterion seems obvious: If you've done the work to bring duos to Firestorm, don't get rid of it.
The other issues I've run into before even launching Firestorm are long wait times. While the game has gotten faster at pairing you with other squad members, my average wait time to get into a round is around 3 minutes. That might not sound so bad at face value, but when you drop into a swarm of enemies only to have your squad obliterated in seconds, the last thing you want to do is wait around to redeem yourself.
The map, named Halvoy, is visually breathtaking if a bit too conservative. At ten times larger than any Battlefield map, it'll take you dozens of hours to get familiar with every area of the battlefield. But don't worry, the map isn't so large that you won't encounter enemies. That's especially true because Firestorm limits the size of the map before the round even begins. Not only does that keep the action flowing fast, but it also means that every round feels different.
As expected, Firestorm looks outstanding. The nearly photorealistic environments are a big reason why Firestorm feels like a fresh battle royale experience. But I can't help but wish Criterion took more risks when designing the battlefield. It feels all too familiar, like a mish-mash of Battlefield V's Conquest maps. There are a few exciting points of interest, like the massive dig site called Pluto (warning, this Firestorm's Tilted Towers --- drop here at your own risk), but I wish there were a wider variety of environments in this gorgeous Scandinavian island.
Looting feels a bit more difficult in Firestorm than in other games because you're required to look directly at an object before you can pick it up. That becomes a real problem in the middle of a firefight when every millisecond delay could be life or death.
Worse yet is how an enemy's weaponry and gadgets pile on top of each other once they're eliminated. This glaring oversight makes it nearly impossible to sift through the clutter to grab the stuff you actually need. Which brings us to the other main problem with Firestorm: the inventory system. There are simply too many button presses required to move ammo, weapons and gadget around your backpack.
Ammo is especially problematic because there are six different types, but you have limited space to carry rounds. If you have a rifle but no room to carry AR ammo, then you have to drop a different type of ammo from your inventory. This is similar to Apex Legends, but that game smartly displays a warning icon when you hover over ammo you don't need.
I can't count how many times I finished off an enemy, picked up their ammo-less gun and aimed it at another enemy only to fall victim to the ammo depletion TV trope. Another annoying mechanic requires you to reload a weapon every time you pick it up, even if you dropped it by accident.
Beyond those frustrations, gunfights in Firestorm feel as good as ever. There is a real meatiness to the weapons that you don't get in arcade-style games like Call of Duty or Fortnite and the game's exquisite audio adds another layer to the sensory overload provided by the beauty of the map. While the gameplay in Firestorm will feel familiar to Battlefield players, powerful gadgets, like impact grenades and artillery strikes, add some spice to gameplay that is starting to grow stale.
Overall, Firestorm is a welcome addition to Battlefield V, and one can only wonder where it'd stand in this growing field had EA and Dice make the right decision to release it at launch in lieu of the game's underwhelming single-player mode. Regardless, whether you've moved onto another game or never experienced the franchise before, Firestorm offers plenty of reason to return to the Battlefield.
Credit: Electronic Arts
