If you told the entire Battlefield 6 playerbase to submit their number one complaint to a suggestions box, the first slip of paper you'd pull out would definitely say "not enough big maps."
"Too much close-quarters in my all-out warfare game, gosh darn it," is a drum that we've been collectively beating since the first beta, and nearly two weeks since launch, it's still true. But I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel: the coming arrival of two sparkling new fields of battle that Battlefield 6 sorely needs.
- Where: A golf course community in California
- Size: Comparable to Mirak Valley and Operation Firestorm
- Vehicles: Transports, tanks, helicopters…and golf carts
- Release date: November 18 (Season 1 Phase 2)
Blackwell Fields
- Where: An oil field in California
- Size: Comparable to New Sobek City
- Vehicles: Transports, tanks, helicopters, jets
- Release date: October 18 (Season 1 Phase 1)
As Rory wrote in his hands-on impressions today, Eastwood is an "instantly iconic warzone" that looks and feels like nothing else in Battlefield 6. The juxtaposition of a pristine, uber-wealthy California community torn to shreds in real time by choppers and RPGs is as unsettling as it is undeniably cool.
Eastwood might also be Battlefield 6's most destructible map yet. I played two full Conquest rounds during a preview session and didn't find a building that couldn't be razed to its foundation—that is, except for a central country club facility that can have most of its walls caved in, but won't totally fall down. It's not an especially vertical map either, which is a nice change of pace considering all three of the larger launch maps feature huge towers.
Blackwell Fields isn't as flashy at first blush, but I ended up enjoying it just as much as Eastwood. It takes place in a dry oil field in a central Californian desert during golden hour, a locale that looks freakishly similar to oil fields I can literally see from my apartment here in Bakersfield, California. DICE did its research.
It shares the same general shape as New Sobek City with its rectangular footprint, but it trades verticality for dramatic slopes. It's the most hill-y map yet with an abundance of natural cover, which made for some thrilling tank warfare. Those hills are also sniper havens—nicely timed with the arrival of the Mini Scout sniper rifle—but thanks to a new armored transport truck, it's now viable to quickly cross a map on something other than your own two feet.
As I test drove these two new locales, it really felt like I was playing a more complete version of Battlefield 6. They complete the puzzle of its wonky map lineup—a lopsided pile of small-to-medium warzones that gave everyone the impression that EA was prioritizing the Call of Duty crowd.
Eastwood and Blackwell recontextualize that narrative. Realistically, both maps could have been made available at launch instead of 18 days (for Blackwell Fields) and 38 days (for Eastwood) later, so why weren't they?
These plans are typically made months ahead of launch, so maybe BF Studios underestimated how strongly people would feel about large maps when putting together Season 1. The devs did seem caught off guard about the complaints coming out of the lopsided beta.
Or maybe for some reason, BF Studios wanted to stack its first post-launch season with the strongest possible lineup—perhaps to coincide with the surprise drop of the battle royale mode sometime soon?
In any case, it shows how slavishly adhering to the "quick season 1 follow-up" schedule popularized by Call of Duty's annual releases can be more annoying than exciting. Had Blackwell and Eastwood been launch maps, BF Studios might've had to wait longer to have a Season 1, which would've attracted its own naysayers declaring Battlefield 6 an "abandoned game." Just another reason why full-priced games that also have strict seasonal drops are a messy business.
Still, BF Studios should've erred on the side of variety. If it were really tuned in to what the people want, it'd drop Blackwell and Eastwood right now.
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