With Battlefield 2042 back in the news with its newest season, hopefully, things will look up for the struggling shooter. Battlefield 2042 had a ton of issues, but still, most found it playable thanks to the many great features. As the game enters its first season, called Zero-Hour, players will get treated with a new specialist, new weapons, and a map. While some are calling this new season a breath of fresh air for the game, others may have a harder time going back.
However, this new Battlefield 2042 season has changed a lot, and the good news, the changes are for the best. Even though the game still has issues, the game seems to be taking on new life. Because of that, new and old players may jump back in. There's a lot in the Zero-Hour update, so here's an idea of what changes have happened.
5 Less Clunky Movement
This complaint can be traced all the way back to the first beta of Battlefield 2042. Players noticed how differently they moved from the other Battlefield games, and in turn, the gameplay felt harder. The series has always been about fluidity of movement, which helped players survive much longer. However, Battlefield 2042 features specialists now, and the movement made it harder for most of them. Since some specialists rely on movement more than others, the clunkiness made handling these specialists particularly difficult.
However, with the new update, things look much better. With less clunky movement, players can actually fight better and get to objectives more easily. Having fluid movement also allows for more aggressive play, letting players feel immersed in what they're doing. The fluid movement in older Battlefield games worked well to make the chaos manageable, and now that has returned to 2042.
4 More XP Events
The Battlefield games have never been much of a grind, since everything the player does is awarded. In Battlefield 2042, however, killing other players used to be the only way to gain experience points. Thankfully, in Zero-Hour, this has changed. The game now leans into the XP payout of the older Battlefield game, so that players can level up quicker.
Since players will level up often, unlocking gadgets and other items has ecome much easier now. And if players have a preference for what specialists they like, upgrading them is doable now after each match. The XP events help players get more out of Battlefield 2042, because they don't need to grind as much.
3 Better Netcode
The netcode players a crucial role in all multiplayer games, and for massive shooters like Battlefield, this is even more important. Having a good netcode allows players to hit others without any lag, while bad netcode gives the opposite experience. Initially, even if players changed the settings, they would still be not in sync with the action they're doing, which makes gameplay frustrating. Now, as DICE has fixed the netcode, players can know their shots will land.
As more and more multiplayer games follow Battlefield's style of gameplay, netcode becomes a mandatory element. With a better netcode, input lag seemingly goes away. This aspect plays a huge role in Battlefield 2042, because if players are in a firefight, having everything in sync is matter of life and death.
2 Sixty-Four Players
One of the main selling points for Battlefield 2042 was the increase from 64 players to 128 players. On paper, this seems like a massive improvement and allows for those iconic Battlefield moments to play out more often. However, in practice, it's a different story. Since players engaged with more enemies, this gave Battlefield 2042 a feeling of unorganized chaos. The interesting part is that Battlefield 2042 also offers the classic 64-player match, and in some cases, that was more popular.
For the Zero-Hour update, DICE has gone back to their roots by leaning into the 64-player matches for all conquest modes. While the 128-player matches still exist for both the older maps and the new map, players can expect that from here on out, all the maps will be strictly 64-player. This makes Battlefield 2042 feel like a proper Battlefield game. Even though 64 players feel small, the maps in Battlefield 2042 are better suited for a lower player count. Now, those Battlefield moments can happen organically.
1 More Vehicles
Vehicles have always been such an important aspect of Battlefield games, and part of what separates the franchise from Call Of Duty. One of the main complaints was how sparse they were and how infrequently they spawned, forcing matches to be one-sided. For the Zero-Hour update, players can use vehicles more often, and in turn, have more fun. While Battlefield 2042 features the ability for players to call in vehicles, finding one is usually the easier option.
Vehicles impact each match quite a bit, so if there are enough to go around, matches end up more balanced. Just like decreasing the player count, having more vehicles spawn increases the chances of having those cinematic moments that Battlefield players love so much.
Battlefield 2042 is available now on: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC.