Portal
Portal is the biggest element of compromise in Battlefield 2042. Yet it’s also potentially one of the biggest developments for the series in a long while.
First and foremost, Portal is a server browser and a game mode editor.
Players can design their own game modes tweaking and amending to suit their own tastes.
It gives players immediate access to the Hardcore mode that chunks of the community think should be the standard/only way to play Battlefield. More than simple value tweaks and modifiers, it’s got a set of tools that allows for whole new game modes. The recommended test version was a VIP mode that scores points for killing a specific player, and I ended up playing a gun game mode that cycled through the whole set of weapons after each kill.
It’s a cool set of tools. Especially so in an era where a community can easily be brought in from somewhere like discord or a stream. They can run a few games in whatever form they want then leave without having to pay hosting costs for a server.
I don’t have the technical skill to design fun game modes, but based on what I was able to play though already, the editor is incredibly robust.
A free browser based option for building modes and easily sharable codes lower the barrier to entry and allow for collaboration too, which is essential for these game modes to proliferate.
Secondly, Portal is there to make sure that a wide variety of Battlefield fans have something they want.
Featuring two maps each from Battlefield 1942, BF3 and Bad Company 2, Portal also allows players to play those games in the new 2042 engine.
It’s not a perfect recreation. Everything is still within the core 2042 engine and structure. So flag capture points become sectors, and the actual movement will be the same. But the classes from each individual game can be selected, or the server can allow for a mix of all available playable types. There’s even little details like recreating the lense flare from BF3 or having the end of round music match the relevant game.
My heart did in fact skip a beat when the 1942 music started playing post a match of El Alamein.
Some might argue that a straight remaster would be the better option. For the fans of the campaign in Bad Company , I’m sure they’ll continue to demand it regardless. But this is less a remaster and more a promise.
Portal has been promised updates along the live service of Battlefield 2042. It’s not guaranteed to be every map from each of the relevant games, but more should be coming.
What Portal therefore offers is a self-contained platform for the Battlefield Community. You never have to stop playing BF3 or Bad Company 2. You just have to move over to the live game.
Is it slightly cynical in its attempt to entice older players over the line? Absolutely.
Is it a way of uniting a fractured playerbase in one place, giving them the tools they want to ensure the games they love are still remembered?
Also yes.
For all the time that I needed to spend a good few minutes scrolling past servers designed solely for XP boosting, the ability for players not satisfied with the way 2042’s main All Out War modes to simply start their own server with the rules they wanted makes it invaluable.
Don’t like 128 player matches? Drop it to 64. Disappointed that Conquest and Breakthrough are the focus? Every map in Portal has a Rush/TDM/FFA layout by default. Hate the default 2042 weapon options? Switch it back to the Bad Company 2 weapon sets and all their attachments.
Dice have offered two ways to play in All Out Warfare and Hazard Zone. What they’ve done with Portal is finally acknowledge the Battlefield Community (like all communities) is pulling in a dozen different directions at this point.
The main game will never please everyone. This is more true in Battlefield 2042 than in any other game in the franchise due to the alternate direction the scale invites. So giving players options and robust tools to make their own decisions is the next best thing.