New season kicks off next week.
The new map, Stranded, is even smaller than the already small Exposure that dropped with Season One.
That’s a good thing.
The biggest complaints about the launch maps stemmed from the fact that they were far too big.
The large scale was intended to accommodate the 128-player lobbies new toBattlefield 2042.
As a result, the maps felt barren and empty.
Stranded is the complete opposite.
It almost feels like an admission that DICE overstepped the mark with the gigantic maps.
But what particularly struck me was just how gorgeous the map looked.
There is still one elephant in the room: the lack of destruction.
It’s a signature element of the Battlefield franchise that’s still missing.
This was raised with DICE in a subsequent Q&A session, but was left unanswered.
The new specialist, Charlie Crawford, is stereotypical British geezer that is acting like inspired by Jason Statham.
As a support specialist, Crawford can revive teammates faster while replenishing their ammo.
Crawford’s signature gear, the Vulcan, is a mountable minigun with a ballistic shield.
The Vulcan is perfect for defending a position and providing cover fire.
It can also be taken out with one or two well-aimed rockets.
Onto vehicles, and Season Two comes with two new four-seaters: the EBLC-RAM and the Polaris RZR.
Meanwhile, the RZR is a lightweight buggy that quickly get you between objectives.
Three new weapons are also coming with Season Two.
First, the AM40 assault rifle has a high rate of fire so feels more like a submachine gun.
It’s pretty good for close combat although I found myself running out of ammo quickly.
Next, the Avancys is a light-machine gun and probably my favourite of the three.
It’s pretty accurate, has a large ammo capacity and fast rate of fire.
I would probably stick to a standard frag grenade.
Speaking of Portal, the new season against contains no new content for the mode.
Eurogamer did ask DICE whether there was any plans for additional content, but again, no response.
But Portal is sorely in need of content.
This largely sums up the state of the game.
Despite my positive impressions of what’s to come, Battlefield 2042 is in dire need of more content.
At the current pace, the game won’t feel complete until the end of Year One updates.
