Battlefield 6 Multiplayer Review: The Double-Edged Experience

My first impressions of Battlefield 6’s multiplayer were extremely positive, as it’s been a long time since we’ve had a solid military-themed shooter where every element of game design is polished to perfection. However, the more time I spent with the gameplay, the clearer the problems and unfortunate moments became — issues that not only overshadowed all the good sides but also managed to significantly spoil my overall impression of the project. In this review, I’ll discuss what’s wrong with Battlefield 6 and why the developers absolutely need to rework key elements to maintain a stable online player base.

I got a lot of positive emotions from the Battlefield 6 beta test and was one hundred percent sure that the release version would be one of the main online shooters of 2025. And when the game finally launched, my first impressions were extremely bright and cheerful. Of course, that’s not counting the story campaign, which by modern standards turned out to be very boring and technically rough around the edges. By the way, you can check out the single-player review here. But the more time I spent in Battlefield 6, the more I started to notice problems and flaws that fundamentally changed my perception of the game.

It’s worth noting right away that Battlefield 6 is indeed a solid multiplayer shooter that’s hard to put down. The endless dynamism and the feeling of real war, involving not just infantry but also a variety of heavy vehicles, make it incredibly engaging. Unlike the beta, where most battles took place on cramped and overly corridor-like maps, the release version has everything we loved about the franchise: huge maps, tanks, planes, helicopters, and plenty of room for maneuver. Sure, there’s nothing radically new, but the very fact that the series has regained its dynamism is already a significant plus.

However, despite the presence of diverse vehicles, you’ll spend most of your time in regular shootouts, as the core game design is almost entirely copied from Call of Duty. No more tactical planning or team interactions. Just chaotic shooting at enemies and desperate attempts to survive the madness unfolding on the map. The feeling that you’re playing Battlefield quickly fades when you see soldiers hopping across the map and sliding every second. The vast majority of players don’t even try to survive on the battlefield. Many just rush headlong into the thick of the action, aiming to rack up as many kills as possible before respawning at the nearest point. Capturing objectives and completing assigned tasks are always a secondary — if not tertiary—priority for them.

At first glance, shooting in Battlefield 6 seems quite enjoyable. The weapon design and their animations are done at a high level. There’s also noticeable recoil — you can’t just pick up a random rifle and start instantly landing headshots. You’ll have to get used to each weapon, otherwise most of your bullets will go anywhere but the enemy. You can improve the handling of rifles and carbines with various modifications, which are unlocked as you level up each gun. While in the beta you could upgrade weapons in just a few hours, in the release version it takes several days of continuous play to fully upgrade a sniper rifle. The developers recently released a patch that increases the amount of experience awarded per match, but this hasn’t really improved progression, since after level 20 the upgrade speed slows back down to its original rate.

Despite the fact that shooting in Battlefield 6 is implemented well in terms of tactile and visual feedback, in terms of gameplay, honestly, it’s terrible. First, hit registration is awful. Even though my ping rarely went above 30 on the server, the game often refused to register hits on enemies. It wasn’t uncommon for me to empty an entire magazine at nearly point-blank range, only to see maybe 3 out of 26 bullets actually register as hits. After 10-15 hours, I noticed that most players were running around with machine guns and shotguns. And that’s not surprising, since these weapons give you a guaranteed chance to kill an enemy, despite the faulty hit registration.

Second, not only did Battlefield 6 bring back the terrible ADS bloom system, but they broke it even further. For those unfamiliar: this is a mechanic that randomizes bullet spread. So, even if you’re aiming down sights and standing perfectly still, your bullets are very likely to go in random directions—anywhere but where you’re aiming. Because of this, you can easily get killed by someone with a pistol or SMG at close range, while your return fire from an assault rifle barely scratches them. Moreover, the chance for random spread increases while strafing and, most importantly, doesn’t reset after stopping. So, if you spend a few minutes running from the spawn point to an encounter, you’ll most likely die instantly, since your chances of out-shooting an enemy are extremely low.

Third, you can’t ignore the problems with the amount of ammo given and the lack of thoughtful balance. If you play as an assault or engineer, be prepared to immediately look for a friendly medic after a firefight just to beg for an ammo bag. Not only is there nothing to shoot with until you spend hours grinding, but there’s also simply nothing to shoot. And considering that 70% of your bullets miss, you’ll most often die simply because your weapon’s magazine is empty.

Since most modifications and weapons are locked behind hours of grinding, a newcomer or a player who spends no more than three hours a week on games will simply have to “suffer” with the starter weapons. Not only does ADS bloom prevent skilled gamers from “clutching” victories with headshots, but an unupgraded gun is literally uncontrollable. Without a proper stock, there’s no manageable recoil. Without a good sight, it’s hard to spot enemies who often blend into the environment. Without improved ammo, you’re forced to stick to close range so your damage doesn’t accidentally drop off at a distance.

In the end, the shooter aspect, despite its “rich” visuals, works extremely poorly. Because of all these nuances, shooting is simply uncomfortable. Yes, in the first five or six hours these problems might not be obvious due to the high pace and density of action. But as soon as the initial excitement wears off, the clear flaws become apparent. At the very least, you’ll definitely ask yourself: “How much more do I have to play to unlock a new gun?” And when you see the insane requirements for unlocking new weapons, you’ll most likely not even bother trying to do it on purpose.

As already mentioned, the movement system was clearly created with Call of Duty in mind. Infantry moves quickly across the map and can slide, run while crouched, and cinematically drag wounded allies out of the line of fire. Character control is very convenient. Because of the increased dynamism — especially compared to previous entries — movement in Battlefield 6 is the key to survival. Camping and picking people off from a safe spot, as before, no longer works. On small maps, crowds of players rush around headlong and most often shoot from the hip, just to somehow compensate for the flaws of the ADS system.

Class specializations in the release version are a bit different from what was shown in the beta. We still have assault, medic, engineer, and sniper, but their abilities and gadget sets are now more balanced. For example, the assault now has a spawn beacon, which originally belonged to the sniper. And that makes sense, since snipers usually aren’t in a hurry to rush to contested points. The medic, thanks to the defibrillator and ammo bag, has become the most popular class among players. And the sniper also has a remote-controlled drone, which is not only convenient for spotting enemies but also for reaching hard-to-access places from which you can kill entire squads while remaining completely safe.

Yes, the maps in Battlefield 6 are completely broken, and any savvy player can climb onto the roof of a building and start smashing a drone with a sledgehammer. In reality, there are plenty of ways to get into developer-restricted areas, and this completely ruins the gameplay experience. Even in the beta, I was surprised at how players from China managed to get onto the rooftops in Cairo and shoot everyone who entered the capture zone. But that was just the beginning — because in the release version, people are now climbing onto the bridge in New York and mercilessly wiping out anyone running around the map. You can also use a helicopter to land on certain buildings and capture points directly from there. On the mountain map, a sniper can get under the map’s textures and become invulnerable, since that spot simply can’t be shot through. And trust me, this is just a small sample of the many exploit spots on the maps.

The battle arenas themselves are just like the shooting mechanics: beautiful on the outside, bad on the inside. The environments are detailed and well-crafted. It’s clear the developers took into account the problems of the previous Battlefield and tried to avoid empty spaces. Every corner of the map, every room in a building, and every street is filled with interesting details and visual flourishes. Additionally, many elements of the environment can be destroyed completely. However, not all buildings on the map are destructible, so there’s no real impact on game design, unlike in something like The Finals. Overall, only the map’s appearance and sometimes the conditions for firefights change. For example, a well-placed grenade launcher shot can destroy a sniper nest or create cover for your squad.

From a gameplay perspective, the maps are bland and unbalanced. Because of the clutter of small objects, vehicles can only move along designated paths and roads. As a result, tanks constantly drive right onto engineer-placed mines, with no way to avoid them. And there’s no time to shoot them to clear a path, since the enemy team will endlessly shower you with rocket fire, turning your vehicle into scrap metal. On the Liberation Peak map, it’s impossible to win as the attacking side, because there’s a hill that’s always swarming with snipers, making it impossible to even crawl to the objective. The Mirak Valley map is unplayable in all available modes. In “Breakthrough,” attackers have too few covers to protect them from enemy raids. In “Conquest,” the points are so close together that the whole match turns into a classic free-for-all slaughter. And problems like these exist on almost every map. Because of this, by your tenth hour, you’ll already know for sure whether you’ll win on defense or lose on attack, depending on the map you get.

Vehicles in Battlefield 6 are just as controversial as everything else. On larger maps, you can try out most of the vehicles, but on medium and small maps you usually have to go on foot. Tanks, despite their intimidating appearance and powerful cannons, are actually destroyed faster than the civilian cars scattered around as decorations. The developers tried to balance their power and survivability, but in the end, a tank can contribute to victory only if it’s driven by a real ace with three engineers on board, all ready to sacrifice themselves to patch up the armor. In all the matches I played, I only rarely encountered experienced players who could spot mines in time and predict the appearance of enemy squads with rocket launchers. Most of the time, teammates would just hop into a tank and get it destroyed before even reaching the capture zone.

Jeeps and light vehicles are absolutely useless in Battlefield 6. No one in their right mind even tries to drive them. Not only are they destroyed at the slightest sneeze, but the gunner gets shot before he can even aim. On top of that, ADS bloom makes bullet spread so chaotic that killing anyone with the machine gun is already a special achievement. The best you can do with a jeep or quad bike is quickly get to a capture point or distract enemies while your squad tries to flank. On the plus side, tanks, cars, and other ground vehicles handle very nicely, which is definitely a big plus.

You won’t be flying planes and helicopters much. The maps in Battlefield 6 are just too small for this type of vehicle. Additionally, air vehicles are extremely vulnerable to guided missiles, making them very easy targets. Helicopter controls in the sixth installment are quite tricky — especially with a keyboard and mouse. Because of this, pilots are almost never useful in battle. Aces are rare, and newcomers usually crash straight into the ground, right on the capture point. But that doesn’t mean planes and helicopters are useless overall. On the contrary, in skilled hands, these vehicles make the biggest contribution to victory: air support, flushing out snipers from cover, and clearing objectives of enemy fortifications. If only Battlefield 6 added a flight school and clearly explained how to fly helicopters effectively, these vehicles would be much more useful.

Most of the classic Battlefield modes have returned in the sixth installment. Unfortunately, many of them are unplayable due to poorly designed maps and unclear balance. For example, before the patch, vehicles didn’t spawn in most matches, which naturally led to losses. “Breakthrough” works badly on many maps, with enemies constantly spawning near capture points, making it nearly impossible for attackers to secure a position. In previous games, maps had logic and well-thought-out combat scenarios, but in Battlefield 6 it’s often just a monotonous and exhausting run from point to point.

This is definitely a big step backward, since previously the conditions for capturing points were always changing, offering both teams new experiences and a chance to win. The “Conquest” mode, where both teams fight for control over territory, is too chaotic and mindless. Players usually don’t communicate with each other. Squads ignore the main objectives and don’t interact, focusing instead on racking up as many kills as possible to complete the next challenge for a new gun.

The “Assault” mode, designed in the spirit of Counter-Strike, is the most popular on the servers. This isn’t surprising, since it’s the shortest mode and lets you level up your weapons faster than in the others. The most interesting and perfectly suited to the pace and dynamics of Battlefield 6 is the “Escalation” mode. In it, you fight for a large number of control points, which gradually decrease over time, making the final minutes of the match extremely tense. The changing conditions force you to experiment with tactics and use your entire combat toolkit.

It’s important to note that, despite the huge number of problems and obvious drawbacks, Battlefield 6 is still fun to play. Yes, the maps are full of holes, vehicles are made of cardboard, and the challenges and progression are a real grind. However, the gameplay, dynamism, and overall fun in matches keep you glued to the screen and, most importantly, entertained. In Battlefield 2042 I mostly yawned from boredom, searching for real enemies among crowds of bots, but in the sixth game I was constantly in firefights, pulling teammates out from under heavy fire, and leading a whole squad of desperate cutthroats when defeat seemed inevitable. Battlefield 6 generates all sorts of situations that can easily tilt you or, on the contrary, give you a burst of energy.

Just recently, the “battle royale” mode Redsec appeared, which is essentially no different from Call of Duty: Warzone. You run around an empty map, collect loot, and try to survive — boring, in a word. It’s obvious the mode was slapped together in a hurry to attract gamers with free access and convince them to buy the main game. I only managed to play a couple of matches in Redsec, and overall it’s a very rough and dull Warzone clone with an ugly map, broken sounds, and wild imbalance where one tank can wipe out almost all opponents. On top of that, ADS bloom makes the shooting even more random, so shooting in this mode is even more frustrating than in the main game.

The visuals in Battlefield 6 are very pleasant. There aren’t any cutting-edge technologies in the game, but the level of detail in the locations, the animations, and the overall atmosphere are top-notch. Unlike the single-player mode, where the graphics were just awful, every aspect of the visuals in multiplayer looks very solid. Yes, the lighting is sometimes a bit unnatural, but you hardly notice it since the fast pace of events doesn’t give you time to calmly walk around and admire the scenery.

In terms of optimization, everything is in order. The game runs smoothly on most setups and delivers stable frame rates. Despite the obvious issues with hit registration, the servers are stable, with no disconnects or lag. The much-hyped Javelin anti-cheat turned out to be as worthless as Easy Anti-Cheat. There are plenty of cheaters in matches, especially on Asian servers. Aimbots, wallhacks, and infinite ammo — at least one player in every match is using something. Mandatory Secure Boot just gave gamers more headaches, but it did help reduce the influx of dishonest users.

Even though Battlefield 6 has the most stable launch version in the series, there are still plenty of bugs and glitches. The flickering black bars from the beta haven’t gone anywhere. The inability to change attachments during a match is still there. Getting stuck in textures, jerky animations, and other issues have made it into the release version in full force. Sometimes, vehicles just stop spawning in a match, or infantry will respawn inside a tank’s hull with no way to get out. Minor rough edges don’t really interfere with gameplay, but the much bigger problems with cheaters, hit registration, and “holey” spots on the map are so irritating that sometimes you just want to close the game and not come back until EA finally releases at least some kind of patch.

Battlefield 6 is a decent multiplayer shooter and a worthy competitor to Call of Duty, but I just can’t call it a revolution, let alone a triumphant return to the series’ roots. At its core, this is a completely different game, with more recognizable Call of Duty features than those from DICE’s previous projects.

Harsh progression limits, unclear hit registration, and terrible balance in every aspect prevent the sixth installment from becoming the best in the series. Yes, the gunplay and overall dynamics are top-notch, but playing this on a regular basis is just too stifling and exhausting. The abundance of cheaters and people unlocking attachments in bot modes prevents you from fully enjoying the gameplay.

The project has potential for further development, but whether EA will actually develop it is a big question. Judging by the first battle pass, the publisher’s priority is monetization, and only then fixing the many flaws that the sixth installment has.