Battlefield V is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts. Battlefield V is the sixteenth installment in the Battlefield series. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 20, 2018. Those who pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition of the game were granted early access to the game on November 15, 2018, and Origin Access Premium subscribers on PC received access to the game on November 9, 2018. The game is based on World War II and is a thematic continuation of its World War I based precursor Battlefield 1.
Pre-release reception of the game Battlefield V reddit was mixed, with the announcement trailer causing backlash from some fans of the series for the degree of historical inaccuracy regarding the game’s depictions of female soldiers. Upon release, Battlefield V received generally favourable reviews from critics, being praised for its gameplay, firestorm mode and design but criticized for its shortage of content at launch and lack of innovation. The game sold 7.3 million copies by the end of 2018 but was a commercial disappointment for Electronic Arts.
On April 23, 2020, it was announced that support for the game would continue until summer of 2020, when the game would receive its last major update.
Gameplay –
Battlefield V is focused extensively on party-based features and mechanics, scarcity of resources, and removing “abstractions” from game mechanics to increase realism. There is an expanded focus on player customization through the new Company system, where players can create multiple characters with cosmetic and weapon options. Cosmetic items, and currency used to purchase others, are earned by completing in-game objectives.
The game features several new multiplayer modes, including the “continuous” campaign mode “Firestorm”, and “Grand Operations”. The Grand Operations mode is an expansion of the “Operations” mode introduced in Battlefield 1, which focuses on matches taking place across multiple stages to simulate a campaign from the war. In Grand Operations, each round will have specific objectives, and performance in each stage will influence the next.
If the final day ends with a close margin of victory, the match will culminate with a “Final Stand,” with players fighting to the last man standing on a continually shrinking map. Similarly to Battlefield 1, the game features a collection of single-player “war stories” based on aspects of World War II, with voiceovers in each war story’s native language. The game also features a cooperative mode not seen since Battlefield 3 called “Combined Arms,” where up to four players can undertake missions together and features dynamic missions and objectives so missions cannot be played the same way each time.
The battle royale mode is built around the franchise’s “core pillars of destruction, team play, and vehicles. The name “Firestorm” refers to a literal storm of fire that constricts players similar to the popular Battle Royale game mechanic of restricting the play area. Furthermore, this particular game mode was not developed by EA DICE themselves, but has been outsourced to Criterion Games and features the biggest map created by the franchise to date. It is playable by 64 players, which can be divided into up to 16 squads with a focus on teamwork.
Game Episodes –
**Spoiler ahead**
As in Battlefield 1, the single-player campaign is divided into an introduction followed by episodic War Stories, three of which were available at launch: “Nordlys” takes place from the point-of-view of a Norwegian resistance fighter taking part in the sabotage of the German nuclear program, “Tirailleur” tells the story of a Senegalese Tirailleur during Operation Dragoon, and “Under No Flag” puts the player in the shoes of Billy Bridger, a convicted bank robber and explosives expert conscripted into the Special Boat Service to take part in Operation Albumen.
The fourth campaign, “The Last Tiger,” was released on December 5, 2018, which depicts the struggles of a German Tiger I tank crew during the Ruhr Pocket in the closing days of the war.
My Country Calling –
The introductory episode of Battlefield V, titled “My Country Calling” or “Prologue”, is a tutorial required upon first launching up the game. In it, the player learns the basic mechanics on how infantry, tanks, and planes, as well as setting the tone for future war stories. The prologue begins after Battlefield 1’s “Storm of Steel” left off, before cutting to a black screen with white text, commenting on how society was quick to forget the horrors of the First World War.
The prologue then jumps forward to London 1939, with Neville Chamberlain’s declaration of war on Germany being played on the radio. The narration then begins before the player steps into the shoes of a British paratrooper, during a night raid at Narvik Docks, 1940.
Under No Flag –
In the spring of 1942, convicted bank robber William Sidney “Billy” Bridger, the son of another infamous bank robber, Arthur Bridger, volunteers to join the British military in order to avoid jail time, and is assigned as a demolitions expert to a Special Boat Service team led by George Mason (Craig Fairbrass). Billy and Mason infiltrate occupied North Africa in order to sabotage German airfields. However, things don’t go as planned at the first airfield; one of Billy’s bombs (“safecracker specials”) fails to detonate, much to Mason’s anger, forcing Billy to commandeer an anti-aircraft gun to destroy the final plane.
Mason is wounded, and after an argument with Mason about whose fault it was that Mason could have been killed, Billy and Mason steal a German’s car and drive to the second airfield. However, due to Mason’s wounds, Billy is forced to infiltrate the airfield alone. Billy is able to destroy the objectives, but detours to a nearby bunker to collect medical supplies for Mason, and uses the radio there to call HMS Sussex for evacuation. After destroying the base’s radar stations.
Nordlys –
In the spring of 1943, in Rjukjan, Norway, a British commando unit was killed attempting to infiltrate a German occupied facility and Astrid, the Norwegian resistance fighter assisting them, was captured. Meanwhile, Astrid’s daughter Solveig fights her way into the facility to rescue her.
However, Astrid refuses to leave, insisting that the facility must be destroyed first since it is producing heavy water for Germany’s nuclear weapon research. The pair manage to sabotage the facility, but much of the heavy water is evacuated by truck. They attempt to pursue, but are cornered on a bridge by German forces commanded by Leutnant Weber.
Entrusting Solveig with the mission to destroy the heavy water, Astrid pushes her off the bridge to prevent her from being captured. Narrowly surviving the fall, Solveig carries on the mission, pursuing the trucks and destroying all of them. Unfortunately, the Germans have already loaded Astrid and some of the heavy water on board a U-boat, and Solveig is unable to board it.
Tirailleur –
In the autumn of 1944 after the Allied landings at Normandy, Senegalese soldiers are sent to help liberate France from German occupation. One of these soldiers is the young recruit Deme Cisse, who meets fellow soldier and older brother Idrissa upon arriving in France.
However, Deme quickly experiences discrimination from the French army, with the Senegalese being blocked from fighting on the frontlines and instead assigned to perform menial tasks such as filling sandbags. Finally, the Senegalese are allowed to participate in an assault on a heavily fortified German position by moving to destroy a set of anti-aircraft guns defending the area. The Senegalese are ambushed on the way to their objective, but they are able to capture and hold a German strongpoint.
The Last Tiger –
In the spring of 1945, veteran Tiger I commander Peter Müller and his tank crew participated in the defense of the Rhine-Ruhr against invading American forces, with orders from High Command that all German soldiers must fight to the death. After surviving a series of heavy engagements, the Tiger is forced to take cover from Allied bombers. At the behest of Schröder, the crew’s young and fanatically patriotic gunner, Müller has young loader Hartmann scout the ruins ahead for a passage through. A large American tank column suddenly appears, forcing the crew to leave Hartmann behind.
Development –
DICE unveiled the first details surrounding Battlefield V on May 23, 2018, with more information to be unveiled during the EA Play press conference near E3 2018 in June. DICE has stated that, unlike Battlefield 1, it does not plan to use paid downloadable content, or “loot boxes” for non-cosmetic items within Battlefield V; new content will be added to the game for all players over time (which, itself, will progress through the different stages of World War II), at no additional charge.
The decision to exclude these features was made following the outrage over the loot box system in Star Wars Battlefront II, another EA DICE title. The game was originally set to release on October 19, but was delayed to November 20 to enable the developers to “make some final adjustments to core gameplay. It is one of the first major games to make use of real-time ray tracing and DLSS, with help from Nvidia.
Sales –
In November, it was reported that Battlefield V sold fewer than half the physical copies that Battlefield 1 did upon its launch during the same period of time. The game sold 7.3 million copies by the end of 2018. On February 5, 2019, EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson announced that the game ultimately failed to meet sales expectations, blaming the game’s marketing as well as their focus on developing a single-player campaign instead of a battle royale mode, a genre which had gained recent widespread popularity. Wilson also highlighted Battlefield V‘s long development cycle, and release in a month of strong competition.
Reception –
According to review aggregator Metacritic, Battlefield V received “generally favorable” reviews for the PC and Xbox One versions and “mixed or average” reviews for the PlayStation 4 version.
The announcement trailer was met with a backlash from fans of the series who criticized the game for a lack of historical accuracy, authenticity and immersiveness. Complaints were given to the use of certain weapons, prosthetics, and body art as being very uncommon in that time period. Some fans were also frustrated with the portrayal of women in the game, specifically with the British woman featured in the trailer as women never participated in frontline combat in the armed forces of Western Allies and were mostly relegated to supporting roles.
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