Battlefield V....

My initial impression of BF 5's original trailer made me think of it more as Call of Duty than Battlefield. That trailer split the playerbase of the franchise. It was also a time where EA had a high from BF1 (for the franchise) and in all honesty had their heads up their posteriors going into the next games development. Such overconfidence bred contempt which is why (I think) BF 5 has had such a troubled history. It's only really now that it seems 'more playable'. Still splits the fans of the franchise never mind bitter veterans of BF5.

Thanks to the free trial this weekend I got to play about 2 hours of the single player and run a few multiplayer matches. I enjoyed the single player story and action. Multiplayer play's better than I'd imagined(from what I'd seen previously and with youtubers etc). Everything was new to me but still familiar.

I've now seen for myself three main problems which the community have complain about and which had stuck out to me beforehand.
The 'Time to Kill' was a problem and yes I think it still is a problem. You die/get killed so, so fast, it feels like a very twitch based shooter experience. Maybe feels that way more than it actually is. Either way that 'feeling' is un-battlefield to me. Everything seems a lot more lethal. I'd say playing as a medic is a pain. It's a class I've avoided so far.
Another problem is the leveling system of the weapons; I hate it. A player with skill can be completely trashed by a player with a better leveled up weapon. Small details matter in a game that plays out 'this quickly'. I now appreciate BF 1 so much more in these intricacies. I mean yea you can get killed fast in BF 1 and it can be just as annoying but at least the rest of the time you feel like you have a chance to react.
I now also see what players meant by hard target acquisition. Multiple times I saw and fired on  muzzle flashes before I recognised a players outline, even when they were not in cover. Part of that is down to my unfamiliarity of the game/map and the player models(image recognition). You could say it's part of the games realism and simulation; But as detailed as the franchise has been in those areas, it's never been into that much detail. This is a fluke of coincidence rather than any real meaningful difficulty curve a la simulation.

It's been an interesting experience. There's a lot to like and a lot that is both new or a return to previous BF games. I'll probably play it again with the next free weekend but I won't be paying for it. It's good parts are good and it's bad unbalanced parts are 'subject to potential change'. That fact vastly outweighs any good parts because those might be changed as well(imho).

Going back to BF 1; BF 1 does feel like it's got a playability edge over V. More than 'just' being a better more thought out game. It's hard to describe. They are like two cars going down a road. BF1 is doing 40, BF 5 is doing 100. Both get to the same destination along the same road but BF1 gives you time to enjoy the journey.

A Casual Carebear