Last week I was: putting off playing Battlefield 2042 just to earn cool cosmetics in Battlefield 6.
This week I've been: slogging my way through the Road to Battlefield event in Battlefield 2042, remembering why it's my least favourite game in the series.
What do you do when your competitive shooter looks so detailed that it's hard to see other players, let alone differentiate them from the background? Well, you add a massive, immersion-breaking orange diamond above them, of course, and you make it visible at basically all times.
Since the days of Battlefield 1942, the series has always had a spotting system. In Battlefield 2142, we first saw the introduction of '3D spotting', which highlighted enemies on the HUD and the minimap. See an enemy? Manually press the spot button to mark them with an orange triangle for all to see.
Though it was initially designed to call out targets for your team, spotting has increasingly become a crutch to compensate for low visibility and has subsequently been abused by players. In Battlefield 3 and 4, we had our fingers hovering over 'Q' at all times, ready to fan-the-hammer on the spot button whenever a moving sliver of grey crossed the screen. Battlefield 1 added advanced spotting from gadgets like the periscope, which gave targets a pronounced outline that persisted through cover.
In a surprise shift for the series, Battlefield 5 actually pulled back a lot of the power from spotting, opting for a simple, non-tracking ping system and leaning more towards specific tools for more detailed spots. This was carried on in Battlefield 2042, as well.
Frustratingly, Battlefield 6 has thrown this out of the window to adopt an even more aggressive form of 3D spotting that I didn't believe was possible. Battlefield Studios might have changed the iconic Dorito-like triangles for diamonds in BF6, but we're back at square one. No—we're one step backwards.
Now, if you're looking close to an enemy (read: if there's one on your screen, at all, basically), they'll be highlighted with an orange diamond, even if you can't see them. You could be hiding in a bush across the map or making a break for it through the smoke plume of an explosion, thinking you're being stealthy, while you've effectively got a discoball sparkling above your noggin.
The big issue is that you quickly become reliant on the spotting system; It's remarkable how often I could kill somebody in the Battlefield 6 beta without actually seeing them. I was shooting at the suspiciously human-shaped blob under the all-important diamond more than I was actually scoping out and targeting players themselves. If I didn't see a diamond automatically pop up on my screen, then I already knew the area was clear.
While this type of automatic pin doesn't reveal players to allies (only the manual spot can do that), the only way to play Battlefield 6 right now is to assume everyone can see you, which kneecaps sneaky flanks that are key to Battlefield, especially on larger maps.
Sure, the fancy volumetric fog and more detailed explosions and destruction in Battlefield 6 do make it almost impossible to see enemies at times, but, frankly, I'd rather contend with that than what we have right now.
However, there's actually a middle ground that'll fix both issues. In fact, it was already done in Battlefield 5. Following complaints that, thanks to the toned-down spotting system, it was often hard to see players, DICE eventually tweaked character shaders to make soldiers more visible in very dark and very bright environments. In practice, it made players pop out a bit more, without hurting the visuals or undermining the improved spotting system. Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, and Rainbow Six Siege have all implemented versions of this highlighting technique in recent years.
Player visibility is a surprisingly complex issue, but reining in BF6's overactive 3D spotting and adjusting soldiers' looks would go a long way in improving the combat flow.
It's even more important for the bigger BF6 maps that we've yet to get our hands on, like Mirak Valley, as these open environments will no doubt exacerbate spotting issues. I've no doubt that we'll see waves of people complaining they're getting spotted and shot across the map while trying to flank, finally giving us an unwanted and unnecessary Achilles heel of the large maps we've been craving.
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