Hiya and welcome to a different entry in our “The Large Query” collection, by which we current an argument to you, the Eurogamer neighborhood, for additional interrogation. This week: Name of Obligation: Black Ops 7 vs Battlefield 6, or is there a 3rd choice ready to strike?
Why this query? What yr is it once more? Briefly, Battlefield is taking over Name of Obligation and the winner would not appear inevitable for the primary time in a very long time. It is a story as outdated as time: plucky underdog from an enormous mega corp takes on the reigning king from an enormous mega corp, whereas additionally combating towards a fair pluckier underdog from one other mega corp. Such whimsy! What we’re saying is, which first-person shooter are you choosing this yr? Battlefield, Name of Obligation – or is it Arc Raiders, or one thing else totally?
Battlefield 6 is sweet, Black Ops 7 has had a combined beta reception, and other people appear enthusiastic about Arc Raiders
Off the again of a lot of missteps Battlefield has been rocky, unable to capitalise on a Name of Obligation franchise that has managed to plough via all the pieces in its path although gamers appear more and more nonplussed with every new launch. Whereas CoD nonetheless appears too massive to fail, Battlefield would not have that luxurious, and this yr issues appear to be heating up.
In Eurogamer’s Battlefield 6 evaluation we are saying “Battlefield 6 clearly understands what makes the collection particular,” awarding it 4 stars. That is nice information, however are the 2 video games actually combating one another? Properly, type of.
EA put out a Battlefield 6 trailer starring film-star Zac Efron that completely takes a jab at Name of Obligation, and in a transfer that positively is not an try and preserve folks away from Battlefield 6, Activision is working a Black Ops 6 free trial over BF6’s launch interval. I feel we will name this a minimum of a spat, even when it isn’t a full-on struggle.
There’s one other recreation on the horizon, too, although, within the form of Embark’s Arc Raiders. You won’t see this as competitors to both of those established mega video games, however Black Ops 7 has been censoring the identify Arc Raiders throughout its beta. Bizarrely, Battlefield 6 would not get the identical remedy. Releasing on October 30, proper between Battlefield 6 (out now) and Black Ops 7 (14th November), Arc raiders is making a last-ditch try and tempt gamers with one last check weekend, beginning seventeenth October.
It is also, notably, from a barely completely different subgenre of first-person shooter, because it’s technically an extraction shooter reasonably than your normal variations-of-team-deathmatch job like BF6 and CoD. That is notable as a result of the FPS scene has felt stale for a while now, with apathy rampant amongst its core playerbase. It has been some time since one thing to the tune of PUBG, Fortnite or Apex Legends got here alongside and correctly shook up the style, and extraction shooters, whereas common, have by no means actually made the step up from ‘massive area of interest’ to ‘correctly mainstream’. Arc Raiders is likely to be the one to do it. A enjoyable twist to all that is that Escape from Tarkov, the largest extraction shooter on the market, is lastly leaving its lengthy working ‘early entry’ interval subsequent month too.
So what’s your alternative? Taking part in all of them is the straightforward (however costly) choice. I would lean in direction of Black Ops 7 as I anticipate it will have the marginally higher marketing campaign (I am outdated and wrestle with the tempo of multiplayer shooters nowadays), however realistically I will be enjoying Child Steps – most likely for one more six months or so.
-Tom O
The large query, then: Name of Obligation: Black Ops 7 vs Battlefield 6, or is there a 3rd choice ready to strike?
