Summary
For years,Call of DutyandBattlefieldhave been pitted against each other in a competition to determine which franchise is the superior military FPS. While that battle has died down a bit in recent years due to the struggles ofBattlefield 5andBattlefield 2042, it was a legitimate debate when games likeBattlefield 3went up againstCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Even thoughCall of Dutyhas taken a firm lead in this battle, it will likely never reach its end. Despite this rivalry, both games can learn from each other, andBattlefield 2042has one important lesson to offer.
To be clear, there are several things thatBattlefieldcould learn fromCall of Duty, and vice versa.Battlefieldcould deliver the long-teased Dinosaur modeto provide aCoDZombies-like experience, and it could certainly benefit fromCall of Duty’s theater mode to let fans capture and edit their “only inBattlefield” moments. As forCall of Duty, it could useBattlefield’s destruction, server browser, and, perhaps most beneficial of all, its scoring system.
Battlefield’s Scoring Rewards Objective Play
WhileBattlefield 2042’s improvements to map design and specialists deserve praise, the game’s scoring system is particularly deserving of praise. Though it took some time forBattlefield 2042’s traditional scoreboardto come to fruition, it now shows players exactly how they are performing throughout the match. Further, instead of just highlighting players’ kills and deaths, it does a phenomenal job of tracking other statistics and providing points for those who play the objective.
Those racking up a bunch of kills inBattlefield 2042’s reworked mapswill likely still find themselves at the top of the leaderboard, though that is not always the case. Sometimes, a player can find themselves as one of the highest scoring players simply because they take care of their teammates. A medic could have just a handful of kills and dozens of revives, yet end up placing higher than a pure killer. Similarly, engineers who repair vehicles and objective-focused gamers will score well, too.
While it is true thatBattlefieldhas always been more objective-oriented and win-focused than theCall of Dutyseries, with “play the objective” baked deeply into its DNA, there is no reason forCall of Dutyto do such a poor job of rewarding objective play. For years, players have pointed out the poorscoring system of game modes like Hardpoint, where they can spend several minutes on the objective yet still score lower than players who have not touched the point at all. Kill/death ratios have been an obsession ofCall of Dutyfans since its multiplayer content first took off, but the series can and should do more to make players care about win/loss ratios.
While there are other ways to forceCall of Dutyplayers onto an objective, like less kill-focused camo challenges and more streak progress for securing the point in modes like Domination, a scoring system change could be the biggest step in the right direction. For many, theprestige journey ofCall of Dutyis a massive draw, with the race to max level being a huge attraction in the first few weeks of each game. If players find that they are getting more points for capturing and defending an objective instead of running around the map and racking up kills, then they may be more inclined to help out.
Ultimately,Call of Duty’s many game modeswill provide a healthier experience for fans if they are played properly. If players do not feel like they are being rewarded for their efforts when playing the objective, they will have little reason to keep doing it, and every mode will essentially become Team Deathmatch with a different name. Games likeBattlefield 2042that reward players for helping their teammates and trying to win are something thatCall of Dutycan learn from. Specifically, players should get significantly more points for playing to win in objective modes, as it would go a long way to discouraging selfish gameplay inCall of Duty.
Battlefield 2042is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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