Battlefield 6’s open beta is underway, and despite the first two days technically being an early access period, the wide availability of keys has seenhundreds of thousands of playersflock to the game already. This is the first timeBF6has been widely playable, as Battlefield Labs, its long-running playtest environment, has been invite-only since it began. Unsurprisingly, a lot of feedback is already flooding online spaces, and it’s giving me serious déjà vu.
In general, it’s tough to give these early critiques a lot of merit, simply because people haven’t spent a lot of time with the game. This extends to my ownhands-on preview ofBattlefield 6– I’m aware that my short time with the game can’t result in an adequate assessment of it. There is, however, one common complaint so widespread it can’t be ignored: some players aren’t happy withBattlefield 6’s maps.
Players Are Concerned About The Map Sizes In Battlefield 6
Are The Beta Maps Too Small?
Take a scroll throughr/Battlefieldor search for the game on any other social media site, andyou’ll find a lot of people sayingBF6’s beta maps are too small. Broadly speaking, it’s a valid concern.Battlefieldhas long been celebrated for its large-scale gameplay. Conquest, arguably theheart and soul ofBattlefield, typically spreads its 64-player lobbies over a decent area, providing a mix of close-quarter zones for infantry and open spaces to give vehicles room to maneuver.
The largest map in the open beta is Liberation Peak, which takes place in a mountain village in Tajikistan. It features a large suite of vehicles – tanks, attack helicopters, and jets – but definitely isn’t as large as many Conquest maps in the past. The other two maps, Siege of Cairo and Iberian Offensive, are both smaller, with no aircraft. There’s certainly a lot of infantry focus in the beta map pool, but are they really too small?
I personally don’t agree that they’re too small, but the number of vocal critics does point to the opinion having some level of popularity. Again, it’s tough to weigh the game’s merits completely with it only being in beta. Another thing to consider is that online spaces tend to be echo chambers; people enjoying the beta maps are likely busy playing, or simply uninterested in weighing in on the more negative-leaning conversations.
The Opposite Complaint Was Made About Battlefield 2042
A Very Valid Critique
The first facet of my déjà vu comes from the series' last entry,Battlefield 2042, where the most common complaint was that the maps were too big. To theBF6map critics' credit, this was a huge issue with2042, and also began in that game’s beta period. Only one map was available in the2042beta, Orbital, which turned out to be emblematic of the rest of the game’s launch maps.
2042ambitiously tried to double the lobby size to 128 players. It was ultimately a fault in the map design that let its larger lobbies down. Objectives were far apart, with wide-open spaces between them, and with so much room to maneuver, there was a lot of aimlessness in the game flow. The chief complaint aboutBattlefield 6so far is the exact opposite;some players feel there’s too little room for strategic positioning, so you’re always forced into participating in the biggest, most hectic firefights.
BF6 Open Beta Maps Remind Me Of Battlefield 3, So I’m Not Worried (Yet)
Operation Metro Was Quite The Ice-Breaker
The other side to my current bout of déjà vu is thatI’m acutely reminded of my first experience playingBattlefield 3. Its open beta also featured a single map, the now iconic Operation Metro, an absolute meat grinder that takes place largely in a Paris metro station. WhileBF6’s maps aren’t quite as constrained as Operation Metro, it’s a similarly odd first foot to put forward for aBattlefieldgame. It features no vehicles whatsoever.
TheBF3beta likely worried some players in the same way – would all the maps be so focused on infantry?Battlefield 3is an interesting comparison, not only becauseBF6has been heralded as a spiritual successor to it andBF4, but also because the new Siege of Cairo reminds me a lot of Grand Bazaar. They are both mostly made up of city streets and narrow alleyways, with only a few avenues for tanks to use.
BF3is also notable because itsOperation Firestorm map is coming backinBattlefield 6. This alone indicates that the new game won’t be solely comprised of smaller maps. What’s more,Mirak Valley has also been revealed to be the largest mapat launch, exceeding the already spacious Operation Firestorm.Battlefieldhas always been a mixed bag of map sizes, and it so far seems likeBF6will be the same, even if the beta pool appears to skew smaller.
From my experience so far, it’s clear that Siege of Cairo and Iberian Offensive are on the infantry-heavy side ofBF6’s launch maps, and I think Liberation Peak is a decent size – likely to be middle of the pack when the game launches. If the rest of the launch maps, excluding Operation Firestorm and Mirak Valley, are smaller than Liberation Peak, then that may be a cause for concern, but that seems unlikely.
It’s possible that Battlefield Studios chose these three maps for the beta in order to emphasize the return of classes. Squad play comes into play much more when you’re engaged in relatively close-quarters infantry fighting, so it’s a better environment to see how the classes are supposed to work in tandem. Some open beta players may not be thrilled with the maps that are available, but it’s practically par for the course in this series, resulting in plenty of déjà vu even thoughBattlefield 6is brand-new.
