Timely in telling a tale of distrust in global powers and unchecked military might, the Battlefield 6 single-player campaign thematically has its heart in the right place. It’s often spectacular, but the campaign’s uneven execution and familiar structure don’t pierce the upper echelons of the many first-person shooters before it.
Playing a Battlefield or Call of Duty just for the single-player campaign is like going to a big-name concert only to see the support act. There have been a lot of good support acts over the years, but they’re not what most people have paid to see.
Instead, to continue my convoluted analogies, the single-player component of these games is akin to an entrée before the main course. Testing one’s skill in the fires of multiplayer combat is the main drawcard.
My lack of aptitude for online warfare sees me sojourn to any single-player modes before dabbling in packed multiplayer lobbies, before realising I’m way out of my depth. In this instance, I liked a lot of what the Battlefield 6 campaign tries to do, more than what it actually does.
Bombastic in nature, its set pieces take full advantage of the game’s stunning visuals. In doing so, Battlefield 6 feels like a playable Hollywood movie, albeit without the emotional pull of the most heralded wartime films.
Saving Private Ryan or Dunkirk this game ain’t, but Battlefield 6 has its thrills while flexing an impressive level of technical prowess.
Geopolitical tensions
Told through a series of flashbacks recounting several critical missions, Battlefield 6’s campaign details the conflict between NATO soldiers and Pax Armata, a private military group that encroaches on the former’s turf.
Conceptually, it’s an interesting examination of authority and the perils of blindly following orders from people with dubious intentions. Except that it’s a fairly paint-by-numbers narrative dressed up in cutting-edge visuals and convincing acting.
Alternating between playable soldiers who specialise in one of Battlefield 6’s classes – Assault, Recon, Engineer, and Support – each character you inhabit constantly questions why they’re fighting. They doubt the mission yet push on because it’s what they’ve been trained to do.
This doubt forms the majority of how deep the campaign contends with its timely themes of the military-industrial complex and nationalism, which is disappointing. Even though the dissonance between the soldiers’ opinions and their actions is half the point, the story doesn’t engage with it on a deeper level, aside from an exposition-laden conclusion.
A refreshingly diverse cast of characters isn’t immune to military cliches, either. If you swapped the lines barked by Battlefield 6’s characters, or read the script without the names attached, it’d be impossible to discern any meaningful characterisation beyond their combat specialties.
Battlefield 6 campaign is a technical stunner
Fortunately, Battlefield 6’s action does most of the campaign’s heavy lifting. Each mission is more than a simple corridor shooter, providing plenty of flexibility to flank enemies and approach objectives from multiple angles.
This is where Battlefield’s destruction technology comes to the fore. Cover is only ever temporary, being one well-placed explosive away from turning to rubble. The same goes for buildings; what was briefly an advantageous sniper’s nest could quickly crumble beneath your feet after sustaining enough gunfire.
But that also means you can flush foes out in much the same way. In some instances, taking down a watchtower can be easier than pinpointing a turret gunner from a distance. It’s quite the spectacle, seeing structures ripped to shreds, debris flying everywhere, while hearing the thundering boom of explosions around you.
In that sense, the Battlefield 6 campaign successfully primes you for what to expect when playing multiplayer. And it does so with some of the most striking visuals I’ve seen on a PS5 Pro.
When playing to its strengths of non-linear mission design, such as a late-game attempt to take down multiple anti-air structures, Battlefield 6’s campaign shines. However, its downbeats are sluggish, like an extended tank sequence set in Cairo. Tanks aren’t nimble machines, but even that section felt slow and dull.
Battlefield 6 knows what it’s about, and that’s strategic large-scale multiplayer battles. Its single-player campaign is a valiant effort to recreate that feeling, wrapped in a contemporary story relevant to today’s geopolitical climate. However, it only dares to contend with its themes superficially.
At its best, though, the campaign is a great technical showcase with enough satisfying explosions to last its several-hour runtime.
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