[GameSpot] - Battlefield 2042 Brings Back Bad Company 2 Content In Ambitious Portal Mode

[343iBot]

As part of EA Play Live, EA and developer Ripple Effect announced Battlefield Portal, and it sounds like one of the more exciting new additions to Battlefield in years.

Battlefield Portal is a new "community-driven platform" that lets players create their own Battlefield fantasy. It features fan-favorite maps from Battlefield 1942, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3, in addition to the seven maps from Battlefield 2042 at launch. Using what's described as a "powerful creation suite," players can create their own gametypes and play around with various settings. They can even use a logic editor to more specifically tune things.

Weapons, vehicles, and equipment from each of the games is available in Battlefield Portal. So you can have World War II soldiers doing battle against enemies from Battlefield 2042's near future. You could have a knives vs. defibrillators battle, if that's what you want.

"Battlefield Portal is truly a love letter to our passionate and long-time fans," Ripple Effect's Justin Wiebe said. "We've created a set of tools that really gives the community the chance to create their own signature Battlefield experiences, while also bringing back these iconic Battlefield classics for our veteran players to revel in and our new players to experience for the first time."

Of note, the six maps from previous Battlefield games that are featured in Portal cannot be edited--Portal is not a map-editor.

The six maps from the past games are listed below, along with a rundown of how many vehicles, weapons, and gadgets from across the games players will have access to. All descriptions have been written by EA:

Maps:

• Battle Of The Bulge (Battlefield 1942)
• El Alamein (Battlefield 1942)
• Arica Harbor (Battlefield: Bad Company 2)
• Valparaiso (Battlefield: Bad Company 2)
• Caspian Border (Battlefield 3)
• Noshahr Canals (Battlefield 3)

Weapons:

• 40+ Weapons from 3 Theaters of War
• M1 Garand, Panzerschreck, G3, M416 and more
• Plus the inclusion of Battlefield 2042’s All-Out Warfare Arsenal

Vehicles:

• 40+ Vehicles from 3 Theaters of War
• The Spitfire and B17 Bomber make their return alongside modern hardware such as the Quad Bike and Little Bird
• Plus the inclusion of Battlefield 2042’s All-Out Warfare array of vehicles

Gadgets:

• 30+ Gadgets from 3 Theaters of War
• Reconnaissance items such as the MAV and Radio Beacon will be available as gadget selections alongside the Defibrillator and EOD Bot
• Plus the inclusion of Battlefield 2042’s Gadgets

Armies:

• Classic Factions will be making their return in Battlefield Portal as you remember them, allowing you the ability to mix and match between 7 different armies from the Classic titles as well as Battlefield 2042’s Specialists
• Armies such as 1942’s UK, US, and Germany as well as Bad Company 2’s US and Russia will feature exclusively in Battlefield Portal

Soldiers

• The return of Factions to Battlefield Portal, we will also mean that we are bringing back soldier archetypes as you know them to be within their relevant titles. As an example, Battlefield 3’s Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon roles make their return in Battlefield Portal

Going forward, all of the new content that comes to Battlefield 2042 over time through its post-launch plan will come to Portal as well, so players will have new characters, maps, vehicles, and weapons to tinker with.

Battlefield Portal is one of three pillars of the multiplayer-only Battlefield 2042. The others are All-Out Warfare--which includes the classic Battlefield multiplayer modes like Conquest and Rush--as well as Hazard Zone. This has been described as some kind of a "high-stakes" multiplayer experience, and EA and DICE will formally announce it closer to launch.

For lots more on Battlefield Portal, check out GameSpot's recent preview, "Battlefield 2042's Portal Builder Lets You Create Your Own Madcap Multiplayer Mash-ups From Battlefields Past."

Battlefield 2042 launches in October for console and PC, and an open beta will arrive sometime in September. EA Play subscribers will get in first.

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