Battlefield Mobile enters Open Beta Test

Electronic Arts decided to make a Battlefield “port” for mobile devices. So far, the game was in CBT, with extremely limited access to users, but from today on, almost anyone can jump in the Open Beta Test. I am saying “almost” because despite the OBT tag, Battlefield Mobile seems to be region locked. Upon closer inspection, the game also seems to be in Alpha stage, and overall impression was not outstanding.

The Battlefield Mobile Experience so far

So how can a software piece be both in Alpha and in Open Beta at the same time? It can’t. Either my sources lost their marbles, or someone from EA messed up. Let’s all agree this is a pre-release version and if you can download it from the Play Store, go ahead, otherwise just wait. It’s not worth the trouble and here is why.

The game latency is horrific, at least in Western EU where I currently am. One second you get 20ms, but that can jump anywhere between 150 and 500 respectively. What’s worse is that there is no region selection and I have no idea where the servers are physically located.

Network latency is not the only problem. FPS inconsistency and dramatic drops (to 15 fps or below) are very common. I tested the game on a Snapdragon 860 phone with 8GB of RAM and it was clearly not enough, so forget about playing on mid-range devices (at least for now). Lowering the graphic settings made no difference whatsoever, and I believe the drops are caused by the CPU calculations as EA decided to cram up 16vs16 and 8vs8 player maps only.

Actual gameplay

There is something strange about the controls EA implemented in Battlefield Mobile. If you aim down the sight, once an enemy player gets in your crosshairs, the gun will fire. BUT, there is a slight delay, just enough to lose your target and completely reveal your position. If you don’t aim down, and simply press the firing button, the gun will automatically enter the scope and fire. This way, you lose ammo and precision aiming is a nightmare with all the lag you are getting. I don’t think hip fire is possible at all, or it may be a feature that needs to be unlocked.

Graphics are in my opinion far worst compared to CoD Mobile. The maps look bland no matter the setting you choose in the options menu. To me, every single setting looked way off. I very well know how Grand Bazaar and Noshahr Canals from Battlefield 3 should look like, and this ain’t it.

Here are four examples in each graphic setting. Can you see a difference at all?

There are multiple game modes available now. This includes Conquest, Rush, Team Deathmatch and two Skirmishes, Domination and King of the Hill. More modes will be released gradually.

The leveling is not that bad, but you do start with only one gun for all classes, and you begin unlocking one by one. So, classes at the beginning make no sense at all. Everyone has the same gun, sidearm and knife. This will probably be changed in the final release.

Should you try it?

Honestly, it’s up to you. Battlefield Mobile is not finished yet, nor it claims to be. There are multiple bugs and glitches, including the inability to spawn anywhere except the starting point, falling off the map etc. Progress will be deleted when the game launches, so if you are hoping for an early start, no dice.

As a big fan of the series (even BF 2042), I really hope EA manages to sculpt a good game out of this piece of clay. I have no idea if they have a release date yet, but usually when a game enters OBT, full release is not far ahead.

The game will be available on Android and iOS, but the current OBT runs on Android only. If you wish, you can tap the download button and see if you can download it or not.

Dejan B. – “Battlefield Mobile enters Open Beta Test”