I played Battlefield 6 early and the game has returned to its roots in the best way

After getting hands-on with Battlefield 6 at a preview event in London, I'm delighted to report that the series is reverting from Battlefield 2042's divisive evolution and is returning to what it does best, in the best way possible.

Battlefield 6's predecessor was extremely underwhelming for Battlefield players. The quest for innovation went too far, moving away from the destruction, realism, and magic that made the series so popular. However, with its upcoming FPS title, EA has instead recognised what players loved about the older titles and doubled down on what made players love Battlefield games in the first place.

You've seen the first reveal trailer, and you've seen the multiplayer reveal trailer, but after playing it for around two hours at a preview event, here's my take on how Battlefield 6 is shaping up before launch.

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Battlefield is back

Battlefield 6's movement feels more realistic and, therefore, slightly more stodgy than Call of Duty's extreme omnimovement, yet it still feels responsive and not at all cumbersome. This is in part thanks to new movement features like the ability to crouch while running, lean, and peek with weapons, and the fact that when you slide, there's very little visual recoil and crosshair movement. It feels really, really good, and I can't wait to play more in the upcoming Battlefield 6 beta.

Gone are the operator-style choices, with Battlefield 6 bringing back the classic and iconic Class system, with four classes: Assault, Recon, Engineer, and Support. Each class has its own unique signature trait and signature gadget, with the Assault class featuring a stim that temporarily increases sprint speed and reduces explosion damage, while the Signature Trait is reduced fall damage and no movement speed penalty after falling. It's certainly a more simplified system, but it absolutely works.

The gunplay feels great overall, with satisfying feedback and mechanics, particularly with carbines and sniper rifles, although I didn't really gel with the assault rifles that were on offer during my gameplay session, as they felt a little bit too slow, but without the payoff of being more powerful.

It doesn't feel like Call of Duty, but that's a good thing. Battlefield shouldn't feel like Call of Duty; it has its own unique combat identity and movement mechanics. Instead of trying to copy competitors, Battlefield 6 feels like a spiritual successor to Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4, two of the most popular games in the series. And, unlike Activision's latest, there's no Nicki Minaj or Seth Rogen in sight.

The thing that Battlefield does better than anyone is destruction, and thankfully, there's even more destruction than ever before. Not only can you blast off the side of buildings and bridges to eliminate or get enemies in the open, you can also slam a sledgehammer into the floor of a building and take out a team below, or take out the roof and surprise them from below.

The only thing I couldn't quite work out is which buildings feature this mechanic, and which don't, as I found there was one specific building in the Empire State map where this was possible, a townhouse-style building that features heavily in the trailers, and it was unclear if other buildings could be destroyed in this way. Maybe it was due to the lack of time I had with the game, or the fact that I was playing an early version with limited maps, but it's something to keep an eye on at launch about how far that specific feature goes.

The maps I experienced all felt special and have the ability to be all-timers. Empire State, Siege of Cairo, Liberation Peak, and Iberian Offensive all looked and played great. And, thanks to them being huge maps that have cut-down areas for certain game modes, and they've been tuned particularly for those specific modes, none of the maps felt out of place in Squad Deadmatch or Domination, as the playing area has been designed specifically for those modes.

Battlefield 6 is chaotic, loud, and destructive; it's a quintessential Battlefield experience that takes everything that made the series so popular and turns it up to 11. If you loved Battlefield 3 and 4, you'll love Battlefield 6. But, you don't get on with Battlefield generally, it might not be for you, because it's unapologetically Battlefield, and that's exactly what the series needed.