Battlefield Just Had A Spongebob SquarePants Moment And Everyone Loves It

Social media users recently got a surprise early look at what the next game in the Battlefield series will play like. And while the leaked footage suggests Electronic Arts and the four studios involved are poised to deliver the best game the series has had in over eight years, I can’t shake the pervasive feeling that it shouldn’t have taken this long.

As EA revealed in a highly produced developer diary last month, playtests for the eighth mainline Battlefield game are well underway. Some very brief clips in that presentation confirmed that the series was going back to modern warfare, with tanks, contemporary automatic weapons and urban destruction. And over the weekend, however, one of the lucky playtesters leaked extended footage of the game’s multiplayer in action.

What was shown was pretty darn incredible. It still has the intense, distinct heft of the series’ boots on the ground firefights. It reintroduces suppressing fire as a squad tactic. Speaking of squads, classes have also been reverted to the classic four of Assault, Engineer, Scout, and Support, making squad synergies more easily identifiable. Each of those classes will have unique persistent upgrades that make them more capable, similar to Bad Company 2. Even player counts have been reduced to the sweet spot of 32 v 32, unlike Battlefield 2042’s 64 v 64 player matches.

There are a handful of new features shown in the leaks as well. Players can drag downed teammates out of harms way before reviving them, a maneuver teased but eventually cut from 2018’s Battlefield V. The final tier of field upgrades grants players an active ability that acts similar to a scorestreak in Call of Duty. And the respawn screen allows you to ping items on the map for other squad members to see, making a player’s every moment in a match count towards the greater goal.

It’s very early in the game’s development. A lot can change between now and release. But what was shown so far is catnip for Battlefielders. A few minor graphical issues aside, EA could probably release this today and I’d wager most fans would embrace it like a long lost brother returning home. Everything from the actual gun handling to the player UI, harkens back to 2013’s Battlefield 4, the peak of the series before a decade of spinoffs that ranged from excellent (Battlefield Hardline and 1) to disappointing (Battlefield V and 2042). And the fact that EA hasn’t ordered a takedown of the footage days after it leaked suggests all parties involved are reveling in the buzz these leaks generated.

As great as this is for fans, however, seeing just how closely the Battlefield Labs playtest aligns with Battlefield 4 leaves me asking: what exactly was the point of the last decade?

While I respect the developers’ interest in doing something new with the formula, I also think there were a lot of backwards steps along the way. For every great addition, like the fortifications of Battlefield V, there are missteps, like the removal of traditional classes in 2042. The changes meant to emulate what other popular games were doing great, like diversity of playable characters in Rainbow Six Siege or the creation of a Battle Royale mode, were especially egregious as it all got Battlefield further and further away from what it does best.

I can’t help but think of the classic SpongeBob SquarePants episode As Seen On TV. After barely being featured in a Krusty Krab commercial, SpongeBob decides to drop the fry cook shtick for greener pastures in the entertainment industry. He pulls up to his old employer with delusions of charming hungry restaurant goers with singing, stand-up comedy, and some sort of George Clooney-esque persona that doesn’t quite stick the landing. He spends the majority of this shift pissing off everyone in attendance until, by total happenstance, he drops a few Krabby Patties on his signature grill. When the people respond with cheers, he “saves his acting career” by doing the one thing his loyal customers have been asking for the entire day.

The positive reception to the Battlefield Labs leak feels like the franchise’s SpongeBob moment. After the disaster that was the launch of Battlefield 2042 and Battlefield Portal, Labs feels like its creators have stumbled into what players have wanted this whole time. It’s wildly frustrating that we had to watch them waste time and resources on battle royales, unnecessary changes to core mechanics, and underwhelming in-match weather effects. But it seems that after years of giving us the gaming equivalent of singing about “Stripped Sweaters” at the Krusty Krab, they’re finally back in front of the stove, cooking the way only they can.