GazzaGarratt

Well, its international break again and good time to take stock. Prem wise not sure how Sunderland have managed it, but they keep on flying high. Home form is so crucial and its a very intimidating place to go. So many teams having a stutter. Man City a small resurgence, Liverpool free falling. For once it does keep it very interesting week to week for sure. Can't see Wolves or Burnley staying up currently. Not enough in their teams for me. I'm loving watching Moyes take Everton up the table though. Decent team, some good English talent in them. I hope they make Europe. Championship...ahh, well i'm trying hard not to think about it. Blackburn are in a sorry state, on and off the pitch. I don't know how the next few years will go tbh. I was probably hoping we could somehow be forgotten and sneak up the table. You never know as its far too early. Frank Lampard's Coventry City (IYKYK 😉) have been excellent upfront. Unless they start to bottle it, they should be now clear favourites...although their defence really haven't been tested and are pretty poor back there. I fancy Middlesborough still. Losing a Manager and still winning, thats tremendous value for money. A very good squad too. I think everyone else maybe in false positions. Lots of teams aren't performing well but have gathered points. I still wouldn't have put Sheff Utd, Southampton and a few other big names down the bottom though. Maybe Sheff Weds could pull off the unthinkable and stay up?

I'll stick to the maps in this thread, cos its the thread for it 😄 I can definitely see some of those concerns coming through on specific maps. New Sobek City - This one has the most vertical issues. Like you said, the fact people can find cubby holes on sides of buildings with no standard stairs you ropes to get you there is very odd. I think thats where obviously vehicles, well, helicopters I mean, get you there but also having an Assault class with deployable ladders. I still don't think thats a good enough answer though as you should be able to have stairs to 95% of all high openings. This desert map is nearly as bad as Operation Firestorm. Also, the vertical issue compounds the problem by way of allowing people way higher to also control the point. I don't think that is a good design at all. Operation Firestorm - Way too open. Far too wide for snipers to take you out. New Oilfields Map - Like Matt says, ridges around but too vast of an area wide open and no cover. Lighting also not great. On the flip side, I do find these enjoyable so far: Manhattan Bridge - Great point (usually C) on top of building. Can be blown up quite abit and can change the way a game flows given the advantage point but also can easily focus too hard on it. Middle 4 way point very good with lots of ways to attack it. One of the further points, E, can have different fights, given the pipes that are destructible but give good cover, and the zip line across the top of the point but doesn't allow you to control the point. Iberian Offensive - Nice lanes to flank teams across both sides. Tanks can make differences at both end points and at D but its good that 3-4 points aren't affected so a change of how you tackle each point must be taken into consideration. Spawn Beacons can really help on this map, possibly underused so nice to see how it can flip a game and area. C can have great cover points, but also largely destructible which can change how you play attack/defence on this. Liberation Peak - Large peak that separates E from B,C,D definitely adds something to this game and how different ways you can approach winning the game. Vehicles can help change a game but also a good defence strategy across either the bottom control points, or capturing high end grounds D, E and F. Snipers can make a difference on the Peak when C and D matter in whatever game mode you're playing. Theres obviously more, but just wanted to highlight some bits I really don't like on maps, and some that I do.

We've played a bunch of multiplayer games over the past week and must admit, the gunplay still feels seriously good and I'm really enjoying playing escalation. We don't win every game, but definitely win more than we lose and I do think it brings out the strategy in some maps on what we need to do to turn a game around. So many Escalation games finished 3-2 and they also swing backwards and forwards a hell of a lot. Its a shame some older fans of the game aren't feeling it, but I really don't feel the same (currently), and I'm enjoying the Support role a hell of a lot. Its nice to see us balance the overall squad whoever is on as some play engineer alot to combat the tanks. I hope the player base doesn't just drop off a cliff, sometimes some patience as whilst its defo not perfect, its really solid for a BF game. I'd go as far to say that its the best BF game I've played (I didn't play BF3 and a few before that).

Mate, kids are....kids. They are unique, freaky and mental all rolled into one. Real reason is H is going out so means just me around if they need anything or Dax wants to play a game. 😘 I'm playing on PS5 but believe its crossplay. Its only £32.99 and only just launched.

I'll see if I can jump on, just may have kids to sort. Lol, I am a magpie, I do love looting shit. Although, I really do love a tactical game where we can find a clever way to get in and get out. I absolutely LOVED The Hunt, which is basically this way of playing. I need to get to grips with controls and the sounds of the world because that'll help more and more when identifying if we're going into a hot PvP zone where there could be high player counts and potential harder enemies to fight.

Man...now you've made me look back at my early article posts....those days....❤️🖤

Its been around for some years as this is what I really tried hard to use right at the start before switching to manual ways of collecting the stats each week. EA actually stopped Pro Clubs Head from getting the data for a while in the API, which was a real shame but I think back then it was also because it would only keep the last 5 or 10 games we'd played and it would wipe previous games. I still used it for the team names we played back in the day (if you see some of the early articles stats pictures, the names were cut from there so we'd get the badges and full score 🙂).

Is anyone bothered about delays anymore? Because I'm not. I know we're supposed to have less patience as we get older, but surely give all the time you need to make a game fully complete. 🤷‍♂️ That way, we also don't have to crunch staff either.

That looks like Pro Clubs Head?! Is it finally back working again?? If so, thats awesome. It won't pick up all the stuff we see and where we give assists where its probably the game not crdeting the player, but nice one for finding this as its still some fantastic stats to see! Also shows how MoMs and ratings are defo linked to goals and clean sheets for a GK. We did pretty well last night too, 2 whole promotions in one night 😄

I'll definitely take WRC24 thanks very much. Cheers for sharing @slamminbones! ❤️

You mean Battlefield, right? I've played far more CoD than BF. Like years. Is that a bad thing in Battlefield? I get that you want games to stick to some sort of 'DNA' here, but I don't think this really hurts the game. That's a fair point, as I wouldn't know this given my experiences lie more with CoD than BF. It doesn't 'feel' like CoD to me though. Its not about twitch movements, KD, and CoD really doesn't have any squad co-ordination whatsoever. The way they've put the control points out there, it definitely has pulled me in. We had a game last night where they were taking us out with lone snipers on the mountain, so it was a nice tactic to try and get C and D, whilst we had 1-2 of us on cover fire to try and get rid of those annoying snipers. I agree with this 100%. That being said, maps and gunplay dictate all FPS games we've ever played. We usually drop them when the maps kill people's love for the game or the gunplay is too all over the shop for us.

The Codified part I think its more about the gunplay for me, but thats a benefit in my eyes as I've never felt BF shooting has been a smooth experience. Now it feels great. I can't probably comment on the differences in older BF Maps to these maps - I just take it for what it is in this game. The destruction works well in quite a few of them. Siege of Cairo has certain parts that really can make you feel immersed in the battle for a control point. If they want to change one thing, its the lighting on the desert maps - or add a few more buildings that help people on foot get from A to E abit easier without being sniped all the time. There definitely seems enough vehicles on each map to help the charge. If I was being critical from a BF POV, I'd more angle my thoughts towards size. There probably isn't a truly epic/large map at launch. Its either that, or they've made sprinting far quicker with a knife. I'm happy as I don't feel like this game has running simulator in it, but I appreciate that can weirdly annoy others.

I am praying its as good as the first series. A great watch.

Saw some interesting news that not long after their latest DLC has just come out, they've confirmed the game will have no more updates and make the latest DLC free to play. That means a curtain will call at some point in 2026 or 2027 surely. Mad to think its been out for 5ish years or more and its not had enough backing to finally be turned off at some point soon. Hard to take on a WoW alternative game these days.

Okay, so I have to admit, MOST of the maps I really do like. I equally like that the capture points are slightly different with each game mode. The only ones I've struggled with which seem to be consistent with others online are the 2 desert ones. I think its down to the sheer scale of how open it is, coupled with how bright you stand out when running from one control point to the other. You can see how vehicles can really help dictate how well you do on these maps. On the 2 new maps incoming - I've only played Black desert one. The lighting on this with the sunsetting looks cool but has annoyed me in parts as I think you stand out in certain places to the enemy. Needs a few more plays to see how it really feels. The other one looks similar to what Battle Royale is based on and the buildings on that work really well for cover so that looks promising. My best maps are hard to separate. Manhattan Bridge, with C on top of the building that can get continually destroyed is cool. I think that's up there with Siege of Cairo and Iberian Offensive. Cairo is really cool finding different ways to flank the opposition whilst tanks always converge through the map on to C. Thoughts all?

Its only £32.99 on PS5. I've liked the look of this from the start. What are the missions like when you go into a raid? I still think The Hunt Showdown is one of the best PvPvE games out there and more should play that too. This one has bosses on ever map you load into that rotate so it would be cool if Arc Raiders ends up with a similar thing to The Hunt.

Whilst the first thing he says he has a point that the overall gaming state is really poor right now so this shines out easily, however me playing a BF game this much tells me that the gunplay is the best i've ever tried in a BF game. He's playing solo in a team oriented game outside of that, so the rest of it doesn't make much sense. FGers over the past 2 weeks are continually coming top squads and my win % is at 70, so it can't all be that bad. We have to evolve and move with the times, whether we like it or not from a gaming viewpoint. Games won't deliver all the content we used to get because the demand is needed yesterday and the overall player base gets bored if you don't iterate and keep making small patches over time. I don't blame them if they have made stuff and drip feed it out. Annoying for us oldies, but not for the new generation - if that keeps the player base high, which allows us to play more and dominate more then I'm all for it. BF6 so far has been a pretty decent revelation in the current drought of good games. They've spent time making the gunplay and movement solid and for that I have to commend them on it. Escalation is a fantastic game mode and really does give you lots of tight games without the worry of dying loads. First game in ages that has brought so many FGers back to online gaming and you can't ignore that from a positive POV. They must be doing something right 🤷‍♂️

That's a pretty good survival rate there Philly after nearly 200 raids!! Have you mastered the art of sitting silent in a dark corner? Is there another full reset coming or this is now how it stays as a full game?

Its a great collection you have there although my missus would've thrown me out for those cables on show! 😅 Some awesome Mega CD options there that i've never seen or played. Nice man! Hope you enjoy your stay at FG ❤️

Never really got into these Fallout type games. Not sure why. Maybe too much magpie'ing for me me to do which means i'd never get anywhere in the story 😄 Let us know what you think if you guys pick it up.

Nice little watch that. I think its a real hard game to keep playing without it evolving too much. Those mods did look pretty hilarious though. I always watch these and think its ace again...but I know whenever we played it, I never even had anything like the kit he gets in minutes lol

Given I have two kids, I have the following which I have streamlined now as used to have quite a few more over the years. I look out for the cheapest packages where possible. - Netflix (Basic package with 2 screens and ads. £5.99) - Disney Plus (Basic package with ads. £4.99) - Spotify (Family package for all of us £19.99) - Amazon (Prime for quick parcel deliveries which also gives you Prime Video. £8.99) - Sky TV (This is luxury one. We have sports and movies as sports is on 24/7 virtually all the time and Dax will watch some movies with us. Currently £70. This depends on what they do for existing customers, although frustratingly gives new customers for about £30-40. Been with them for 17 years) Its a funny one subscriptions. I really do dislike them, but what I try and do as you can see is play the system for what it is. Ads don't last long and we use them as loo breaks or to get a cuppa. £5 sometimes doesn't even get you a coffee in todays world. If I needed to, we'd drop Sky too if money became the most urgent issue in our house. Playstation I don't class as a sub, even though it is. Always paid the annual basic one to play online. Anywhere between £40-60 once a year. We shouldn't need to, but at least I get my money's worth with this one too.

I do agree with this take too, as much as I love that its coming to PS5. Games are in a sorry state of late. Thankfully, BF6 can hopefully bring the waves back again. Back to Halo. Original Co-creator seems to really like the look of it...

I'm ecstatic btw! It really does look a great upgrade graphics wise. I think only Halo fans on PS5s will make this a hit though. Can't believe the turnaround for Xbox, looks like they want to hit the medium/high end of PC players I guess. If this opens the door for Halo 1 or even Halo 2 multiplayer to eventually come to playstation, then I'm all for it. Some of the best gunplay we've ever had and should feel relatively new given its been so long.

I saw when he made it initially in beta for free to download but I was worried it would take the shine off the golden old days! Let us know how you get on Philly 😎 Soccer Rivals was the one me and @Findmartin played to death on my Amstrad CPC 464. A board game styled management game, loved every minute of it!