First person shooters are a big part of the gaming experience, and depending on your tastes, there is bound to be one that is great for you.
We could be talking about battle royales, intense story-driven shooters, or the exhilarating high brought about by mass battles and teamwork.
Call of Duty has been around as a yearly affair, but now, EA and DICE are finally unleashing Battlefield 2042 this November, with an Open Beta taking place immediately.
Needless to say, anticipation is high for this esteemed name in the genre. Based on our limited time previewing the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta, which will be available for all from Oct 6 to 9, fans and newcomers alike are going to be real happy.
Jumping in with a squad of four, we took to land, air, and sea and experienced the large-scale combat that the series is famous for through Conquest mode.
With a capacity of up to 128 players, an all-out war for control of key sectors across the map can easily turn from a quiet affair into absolute chaos in an instant.
Despite it being just a medium-sized map, playing on orbital already saw huge distances that players can cover on foot or in vehicles.
Areas with thick vegetation give way to urban sprawl, full of architecture that promotes defensive measures and aggressive attacking. Rather than a huge map with not much to do, there is plenty of action awaiting at every corner within clusters found in each sector.
How you want to experience that action is entirely up to you, with four Specialists getting their boots on the ground in the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta. While you are getting access to all the weapons and kits in the game, these archetypes come with their own signature abilities.
The Assault class is nimble, which allows for faster movement while aiming, and comes armed with a grappling gun. Get up high in an instant and set yourself up to ambush others or to take the enemy by surprise.
The Support class can heal teammates from a distance, while her combat surgeon trait lets her revive others to almost complete health at a faster speed.
Then we have the Recon class, which can deploy a recon drone for better visibility at any given time. He also comes armed with a movement sensor, which can give you an early warning if any enemy comes near.
Lastly, the engineer can throw out the SG-36 sentry gun to provide support fire. Staying near to it boosts the capabilities, granting spotting and targeting bonuses.
There is enjoyable seamlessness to everything that is going on in the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta, whether you are spawning from a recent death or getting into a vehicle of choice from the get-go.
Once you are into Conquest mode, which usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes for a match, you can see the entire war unfolding before your very eyes.
With kills and deaths happening at a quick pace, players can drop in at captured sectors, or with party members to keep the fun going. The weapons in the current arsenal all feel weighty and handles with a certain level of authenticity, with each shot a satisfying delivery of a fatal symphony.
While there was a mixture of human players and AI bots to make up the numbers, the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta was still full of crazy moments and exceptional battles.
Cohesive teams are always going to have an advantage, but sometimes, you just need a lone wolf in a tank to turn the tide.
Get yourself into the vehicles, and the quality remains. The ability to spawn into vehicles or call them down from the air is excellent, and It definitely pays to have more allies along for the ride so you do not have to contend with multiple controls.
That said, even a solo flight can be fun as the battle rages on all fronts.
You get tanks and armoured carriers driving into the mix, throw in gunfire and missiles from the air, and combine that with support fire from the seas, and it is no surprise that Battlefield 2042 continues to refine the formula that has firmly established the franchise as an awesome time.
With various classes fulfilling different roles, and the ability to customise your weapons on the fly, there is very little taking you out from the action, and that matters.
As if that was not enough, the orbital map also gave us a first look at a centrepiece Levolution event, with a huge rocket readying for launch.
Once the game decides to start the launch sequence, teams will have a total of six minutes to destroy the rocket and witness transformative destruction. The debris will cause total mayhem, and it is all gloriously played out on-screen.
There are also opportunities for extreme weather, where storms or tornadoes descend upon the battlefield to change things up.
The former is a visual feast, twisting the map with a darker ambience, and offering players the duality of chaos below the clouds and relatively calmness above that is ripe for exciting dogfights.
As for the latter, its randomness in movement and destructive power kick the tension up a notch.
There is certainly much to take in for the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta, but this would be comfortable and familiar fare to fans of the series.
The cohesiveness of the different ways you can play, the gigantic play areas, and the moment-to-moment action are quintessential Battlefield.
Enhanced with even better visual fidelity, sound design, and control, everything bodes well for the game's November launch.
However, it can be a tad overwhelming for someone new to the series, which is perfectly understandable.
After all, you should not be jumping into Conquest mode without getting your feet wet in other areas of Battlefield 2042, but maybe you should, there is no better way to learn than to get your hands dirty.
Our time spent in the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta has us excited for the full experience. EA and DICE have continually polished their crown jewel of a shooter, and after a long wait since Battlefield V, the world is ready once more.
For all that we have seen and played thus far, November is going to be a great month for shooters.
READ MORE: Battlefield 2042 Standard Edition gets free upgrade to Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5
This article was first published in Geek Culture.