Let’s be honest, the bar for Battlefield 6‘s campaign was, to put it mildly, on the floor. After Battlefield 2042 launched as a multiplayer-only affair, the collective groan from a big chunk of the community was audible. We wanted a story. We wanted those big, cinematic, single-player moments that break up the endless grind of online matches. So, when EA and DICE announced the campaign was back, it felt like a promise. A course correction. A sign they were listening.

They brought back the single-player, but maybe they shouldn’t have.

What we got is a strange, beautiful, and ultimately hollow experience. It’s a campaign that feels like it was made from a checklist of what people think a military shooter campaign should be, without any of the heart or creativity that makes one memorable. It’s a technical marvel that, sadly, forgot to be fun.

First, the Good Stuff: It’s a Heck of a Light Show

Before I get too deep into the weeds, let’s give credit where it’s due. Visually and audibly, this campaign is an absolute monster. The sound design is, without a doubt, world-class. The ear-shattering crack of a sniper rifle, the deafening roar of a building collapsing, the sheer chaos of a firefight – it’s all incredibly visceral. If you have a good sound system, you’re in for a treat.

And the destruction! Man, when the game lets loose, it’s a sight to behold. Watching entire structures crumble into dust and rebar is pure, unadulterated Battlefield. The gunplay also feels fantastic; every weapon has a satisfying weight and punch to it that makes the simple act of shooting feel great. There are moments, like a frantic battle on a crumbling New York bridge, where the sheer spectacle is enough to make you say “wow”.

If you’re just looking for a playable Michael Bay movie to turn your brain off for a few hours, it absolutely delivers on the eye and ear candy.

Okay, Now for the Bad News: The Story is a Slog

Here’s the thing. A pretty game is nice, but a campaign needs a story you can actually get invested in. And this is where Battlefield 6 completely falls apart. The plot is a predictable, jingoistic mess straight out of 2008, pitting your elite squad against a generic evil private military corporation called Pax Armata. It’s a seven-hour “cliche bombardment” that feels like a straight-to-streaming action flick you’d forget by the time the credits roll.

The characters are even worse. I just finished the game, and I honestly couldn’t tell you a single personality trait for any of them beyond their class role: Assault, Engineer, Recon, Support. They’re cardboard cutouts who speak exclusively in tired military jargon. The game tries to have these big emotional moments, but they never land because you have zero connection to these people. Who are they? Why should I care? The game never gives you a reason.

A Game That Forgot What It Was

What’s truly baffling is how the campaign abandons everything that makes Battlefield unique. This is the franchise of massive sandbox maps, tactical freedom, and emergent, player-driven moments. Yet, for most of its runtime, the campaign funnels you down tight, linear corridors that feel more like a bad Call of Duty impression than a Battlefield game.

It’s so painfully on-rails. The most exciting set pieces are often ripped from your control and shown in a cutscene. You’re less of a supersoldier and more of a passenger on a very loud, very explosive theme park ride. This problem is made worse by the enemy AI, which is, to put it charitably, brain-dead. Enemies just stand out in the open or pop out of the same piece of cover repeatedly, turning firefights into a tedious game of whack-a-mole instead of a tactical challenge.

The Final Insult

Perhaps nothing sums up this campaign better than what happens when you finish it. After the credits roll on the brief, five-to-seven-hour story, the game presents you with a pop-up. It suggests you can now uninstall the single-player portion to save hard drive space.

Just think about that. The game itself encourages you to immediately delete a huge chunk of it. It’s a quiet admission from the developers that they know what they made: a disposable, one-and-done experience. It validates the feeling many of us had – that this campaign was a rushed, low-priority afterthought tacked on to avoid the backlash 2042 got.

Ultimately, the Battlefield 6 campaign is a massive missed opportunity. It’s a beautiful, hollow shell that makes you ache for the glory days of Bad Company 2 or even the flawed-but-memorable campaigns of BF3 and BF4. If you already own the game for its multiplayer, you can burn through it in an afternoon. But for the love of god, don’t buy this game for its story. You’ll be left with nothing but a pretty screensaver and a deep sense of disappointment.

Overall Rating 2 out of 5