Now that the Battlefield 2042 release date is drawing closer, it’s time to take a look at the most anticipated game mode yet: Portal. We first got a look at Portal back at EA Play in July, today we’re taking a deeper dive into the unique game mode that’s going to portray the largest undertaking in FPS gaming yet. Portal, if you’re unaware, allows you to combine classic content from Battlefield 3, Bad Company 2, and 1942 with the latest and greatest from 2042 into one chaotic game mode.
Battlefield 2042’s Portal is set to deliver the best of the franchise’s most iconic games
There are a few default experiences available at the launch with Battlefield 2042 Portal. These allow you to relive “classic maps alongside their classic factions, equipped with the weapons, gadgets, and classes that brought them to life.” This comes from the fact that Battlefield 2042 brings back iconic maps and other aspects from Battlefield 3, Bad Company 2, and 1942.
If you choose not to use a prebuilt mode, create a game mode essentially from scratch. At the beginning, you’ll choose the game mode that you want to play from Conquest Large, Conquest, Rush, Free-for-All, and Team Deathmatch. Each can be customized and tweaked with modifiers and toggles in the game’s Rules Editor. Next up is map rotation, which includes the 128 player maps in Battlefield 2042 as well as a selection of classic maps to choose from. There’s quite a few maps to see, so we’ll outline them in a list below.
Small maps:
- Discarded: Recycling Yard
- Hourglass: Al Salam Park
- Breakaway: Platform
- Kaleidoscope: Data Center
- Manifest: Caju Operations
- Orbital: Crawlerway
- Renewal: Fields
- Battle of the Bulge: St. Vith
- Arica Harbor: Town
- Valparaiso: Village
- El Alamein: Axis Airfield
- Noshahr Canals: Container Area
- Caspian Border: Gas Station
Medium maps:
- Discarded (medium)
- Hourglass (medium)
- Breakaway (medium)
- Kaleidoscope (medium)
- Manifest (medium)
- Orbital (medium)
- Renewal (medium)
- Battle of the Bulge
- Arica Harbor
- Valparaiso
- El Alamein
- Noshahr Canals
- Caspian Border
Large maps:
- Discarded (large)
- Hourglass (large)
- Breakaway (large)
- Kaleidoscope (large)
- Manifest (large)
- Orbital (large)
- Renewal (large)
Next up, you’ll choose the game mode details, which is where the fundamental rules of the game mode are set. This can range from the number of human players you want (and whether that number is symmetrical), game time, Reinforcement Multiplier, per-squad character limit, and more. But, that’s not where the customization ends, as gameplay modifiers are also available to edit including friendly fire, extreme weather events, stationary weapon emplacements, aim assist, and more.
Now that your core gameplay is ready to go, it’s time to change how your soldier behaves in the game. There are nine toggles that you can turn on or off, including prone, strafe while sprinting, sprint, aim down sights, health regeneration, traversal sprint, slide, and squad revive. Changing which of these features is available in-game can really help you to fine-tune your experience and create one-of-a-kind modes that you and your friends can enjoy.
There are also vehicle customizations, user interface tweaks, AI options, and more to really change how the game is played. However, the next thing we want to focus on is how teams are managed in the game. The final subset of rules you’ll have to set up is related to the actual gameplay experience. This includes which era of Battlefield you’ll be playing in, what characters will be used, the weapon selection, which attachments are available, the gadgets you can choose from, and much more.
You can spend as much or as little time in the game customization stage as you want before diving into a match. The great thing is that you’ll be able to save these customizations so once it’s done, you just have to fire it back up and reload the mode instead of spending time rebuilding it.
Electronicsforward’ Take
I’m getting more and more excited about the launch of Battlefield 2042. The idea that I can re-create one of the franchise’s most iconic games, Battlefield 3, and play it with friends today on an updated engine and new maps? That’s thrilling to me personally. While the entire Battlefield 2042 game looks fun, I’m most excited for Portal to come, what about you?
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