Highlights
- Battlefield 2042's scoring system rewards objective play, giving points not just for kills but also for actions that contribute to the team's success, such as revives and repairing vehicles.
- Call of Duty should improve its scoring system to prioritize objective play and encourage players to focus on winning rather than just racking up kills.
- Players should be rewarded more for capturing and defending objectives in Call of Duty, as this would discourage selfish gameplay and create a healthier gaming experience for fans of objective modes.
For years, Call of Duty and Battlefield have been pitted against each other in a competition to determine which franchise is the superior military FPS. While that battle has died down a bit in recent years due to the struggles of Battlefield 5 and Battlefield 2042, it was a legitimate debate when games like Battlefield 3 went up against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Even though Call of Duty has taken a firm lead in this battle, it will likely never reach its end. Despite this rivalry, both games can learn from each other, and Battlefield 2042 has one important lesson to offer.
To be clear, there are several things that Battlefield could learn from Call of Duty, and vice versa. Battlefield could deliver the long-teased Dinosaur mode to provide a CoD Zombies-like experience, and it could certainly benefit from Call of Duty’s theater mode to let fans capture and edit their “only in Battlefield” moments. As for Call of Duty, it could use Battlefield’s destruction, server browser, and, perhaps most beneficial of all, its scoring system.
What Players Need to Know Before Giving Battlefield 2042 a Second Chance
For players looking to get back into Battlefield 2042 following the various improvements made to the game, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Battlefield’s Scoring Rewards Objective Play
While Battlefield 2042’s improvements to map design and specialists deserve praise, the game’s scoring system is particularly deserving of praise. Though it took some time for Battlefield 2042’s traditional scoreboard to come to fruition, it now shows players exactly how they are performing throughout the match. Further, instead of just highlighting players’ kills and deaths, it does a phenomenal job of tracking other statistics and providing points for those who play the objective.
Those racking up a bunch of kills in Battlefield 2042’s reworked maps will likely still find themselves at the top of the leaderboard, though that is not always the case. Sometimes, a player can find themselves as one of the highest scoring players simply because they take care of their teammates. A medic could have just a handful of kills and dozens of revives, yet end up placing higher than a pure killer. Similarly, engineers who repair vehicles and objective-focused gamers will score well, too.
While it is true that Battlefield has always been more objective-oriented and win-focused than the Call of Duty series, with “play the objective” baked deeply into its DNA, there is no reason for Call of Duty to do such a poor job of rewarding objective play. For years, players have pointed out the poor scoring system of game modes like Hardpoint, where they can spend several minutes on the objective yet still score lower than players who have not touched the point at all. Kill/death ratios have been an obsession of Call of Duty fans since its multiplayer content first took off, but the series can and should do more to make players care about win/loss ratios.
While there are other ways to force Call of Duty players onto an objective, like less kill-focused camo challenges and more streak progress for securing the point in modes like Domination, a scoring system change could be the biggest step in the right direction. For many, the prestige journey of Call of Duty is a massive draw, with the race to max level being a huge attraction in the first few weeks of each game. If players find that they are getting more points for capturing and defending an objective instead of running around the map and racking up kills, then they may be more inclined to help out.
Ultimately, Call of Duty’s many game modes will provide a healthier experience for fans if they are played properly. If players do not feel like they are being rewarded for their efforts when playing the objective, they will have little reason to keep doing it, and every mode will essentially become Team Deathmatch with a different name. Games like Battlefield 2042 that reward players for helping their teammates and trying to win are something that Call of Duty can learn from. Specifically, players should get significantly more points for playing to win in objective modes, as it would go a long way to discouraging selfish gameplay in Call of Duty.
Battlefield 2042 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
