Blog | Retro Game Players

Battlefield Portal Explainer Reveals an Absurd Amount of Customisation

EA and DICE have offered an in-depth look at how Battlefield Portal, the create-your-own-Battlefield-experience tool that will be available in Battlefield 2042, works. The details reveal just how flexible the system is, from allowing faithful recreations of fan favourites such as Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3, to Frankenstein-like mashups that bring in weapons, rules, and maps from multiple different legacy games.

Battlefield Portal will use a web browser interface, allowing for easy set up of custom modes. The Portal can be accessed even if you don’t own Battlefield 2042, meaning you can still create games and share them with friends that do own the game.

Creating an ‘Experience’ in Battlefield Portal requires completing a variety of steps, starting with choosing a game mode. Portal offers the classic roster of Battlefield modes; Conquest, Conquest Large, Rush, Free-For-All, and Team Deathmatch. These can be played on a variety of classic maps, and you’re not limited to the ‘right’ number of players for each one; for example, Noshahr Canals: Container Area can be played with 128 players (on PC and new-gen consoles), despite being designed for far fewer combatants.

Portal features 13 small maps and 13 medium maps, plus 7 large maps that can only be played on PC and new-gen consoles. Among them are fan favourites including Arica Harbor, Caspian Border, and Battle of the Bulge. The full list can be seen below.

Small Maps

Discarded: Recycling Yard
Hourglass: Al Salam Park
Breakaway: Platform
Kaleidoscope: Data Center
Manifest: Caju Operations
Orbital: Crawlerway
Renewal: Fields
Battle of the Bulge: St. Vith
Arica Harbor: Town
Valparaiso: Village
El Alamein: Axis Airfield
Noshahr Canals: Container Area
Caspian Border: Gas Station

Medium Maps

Discarded
Hourglass
Breakaway
Kaleidoscope
Manifest
Orbital
Renewal
Battle of the Bulge
Arica Harbor
Valparaiso
El Alamein
Noshahr Canals
Caspian Border

Large Maps

Discarded
Hourglass
Breakaway
Kaleidoscope
Manifest
Orbital
Renewal

With the mode and map locked in, Portal then allows much more granular tweaks. Gameplay modifiers allow you to toggle elements like friendly fire, aim assist, stationary weapon emplacements, and weather events, while soldier settings allow you to choose if players can go prone, strafe while sprinting, have health regeneration, slide, and revive members of the squad. These toggles help recreate experiences from legacy games, where things like squad revives were not part of the rules.

There are also modifiers for how vehicles are spawned or called in, and for what UI elements will be present for players; this means you can turn off things like the compass, minimap, and ally identification icons for a more ‘realistic’ game type.

Battlefield Portal also supports bots, which can be set up as PvE or PvP enemies. In PvP mode, these bots will be replaced by humans as they log into the server, but PvE bots cannot be replaced. Since the ratio of players to bots can be manually decided, and the sides made up of uneven numbers, it means you can set up a PvE game where a few human players go up against dozens of AI bots.

Completing the basics is the Restrictions section, which allows you to determine which eras of Battlefield will be present. This setting means you can set up one team as using characters and equipment from Battlefield 1942, and have them play against a team set up to replicate Battlefield 2042. This can be adjusted to fine tune the experience, with the ability to restrict which of the 75+ weapons the teams have access to, what attachments and gadgets are available, and what vehicles will be present.

The most ambitious Battlefield Portal users can also use a Rules Editor toolset to script out very specific parameters. EA and DICE have’t offered any concrete examples of what can be done in the Rules Editor, but rules can be scripted with conditions and actions, and - at least from the little that has been shown - can be used to affect things from inventory items to overall factions.

For more Battlefield 2042, check out the 10-hour free trial that's coming to EA Play and Game Pass subscribers. And despite fan criticism, DICE have doubled down on Battlefield 2042’s Specialists. You can also get a new look at Hazard Zone, the new game mode for 2042.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Posted in Uncategorized

Battlefield Portal Explainer Reveals an Absurd Amount of Customisation

EA and DICE have offered an in-depth look at how Battlefield Portal, the create-your-own-Battlefield-experience tool that will be available in Battlefield 2042, works. The details reveal just how flexible the system is, from allowing faithful recreations of fan favourites such as Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3, to Frankenstein-like mashups that bring in weapons, rules, and maps from multiple different legacy games.

Battlefield Portal will use a web browser interface, allowing for easy set up of custom modes. The Portal can be accessed even if you don’t own Battlefield 2042, meaning you can still create games and share them with friends that do own the game.

Creating an ‘Experience’ in Battlefield Portal requires completing a variety of steps, starting with choosing a game mode. Portal offers the classic roster of Battlefield modes; Conquest, Conquest Large, Rush, Free-For-All, and Team Deathmatch. These can be played on a variety of classic maps, and you’re not limited to the ‘right’ number of players for each one; for example, Noshahr Canals: Container Area can be played with 128 players (on PC and new-gen consoles), despite being designed for far fewer combatants.

Portal features 13 small maps and 13 medium maps, plus 7 large maps that can only be played on PC and new-gen consoles. Among them are fan favourites including Arica Harbor, Caspian Border, and Battle of the Bulge. The full list can be seen below.

Small Maps

Discarded: Recycling Yard
Hourglass: Al Salam Park
Breakaway: Platform
Kaleidoscope: Data Center
Manifest: Caju Operations
Orbital: Crawlerway
Renewal: Fields
Battle of the Bulge: St. Vith
Arica Harbor: Town
Valparaiso: Village
El Alamein: Axis Airfield
Noshahr Canals: Container Area
Caspian Border: Gas Station

Medium Maps

Discarded
Hourglass
Breakaway
Kaleidoscope
Manifest
Orbital
Renewal
Battle of the Bulge
Arica Harbor
Valparaiso
El Alamein
Noshahr Canals
Caspian Border

Large Maps

Discarded
Hourglass
Breakaway
Kaleidoscope
Manifest
Orbital
Renewal

With the mode and map locked in, Portal then allows much more granular tweaks. Gameplay modifiers allow you to toggle elements like friendly fire, aim assist, stationary weapon emplacements, and weather events, while soldier settings allow you to choose if players can go prone, strafe while sprinting, have health regeneration, slide, and revive members of the squad. These toggles help recreate experiences from legacy games, where things like squad revives were not part of the rules.

There are also modifiers for how vehicles are spawned or called in, and for what UI elements will be present for players; this means you can turn off things like the compass, minimap, and ally identification icons for a more ‘realistic’ game type.

Battlefield Portal also supports bots, which can be set up as PvE or PvP enemies. In PvP mode, these bots will be replaced by humans as they log into the server, but PvE bots cannot be replaced. Since the ratio of players to bots can be manually decided, and the sides made up of uneven numbers, it means you can set up a PvE game where a few human players go up against dozens of AI bots.

Completing the basics is the Restrictions section, which allows you to determine which eras of Battlefield will be present. This setting means you can set up one team as using characters and equipment from Battlefield 1942, and have them play against a team set up to replicate Battlefield 2042. This can be adjusted to fine tune the experience, with the ability to restrict which of the 75+ weapons the teams have access to, what attachments and gadgets are available, and what vehicles will be present.

The most ambitious Battlefield Portal users can also use a Rules Editor toolset to script out very specific parameters. EA and DICE have’t offered any concrete examples of what can be done in the Rules Editor, but rules can be scripted with conditions and actions, and - at least from the little that has been shown - can be used to affect things from inventory items to overall factions.

For more Battlefield 2042, check out the 10-hour free trial that's coming to EA Play and Game Pass subscribers. And despite fan criticism, DICE have doubled down on Battlefield 2042’s Specialists. You can also get a new look at Hazard Zone, the new game mode for 2042.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Posted in Uncategorized

Dawn of the Monsters Gameplay and Details Revealed

Publisher WayForward (also known as the beloved developer behind games like Contra 4, Duck Tales Remastered, and A Boy and His Blob) is partnering with developer 13AM Games on Dawn of the Monsters, a new co-op brawler in which you get to play as a Kaiju who stands up to other giant monsters and inadvertently trashes the fully destructible fictional city of New Toronto in the process. It is due out in the first half of 2022 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

There are four playable beasts: Megadon, Ganira, Aegis Prime, and Tempest Galahad. Each has Brutal Rage abilities, Cataclysm Attacks, and finishing moves. As you can see in the trailer above and in the screenshots below, Dawn of the Monsters has a unique comic book-like art style, and WayForward says that the kaiju designs are done by legendary Godzilla character creator Shiji Nishikawa and Godzilla comic book artist Matt Frank.

It won't be all boss fights across Dawn of the Monsters's 35 missions; there are over a dozen regular enemy types standing in your way as well, and you're able to bring one friend into the battle in co-op. You can also customize your kaiju.

Expect to see and hear more about Dawn of the Monsters next year as its release window approaches.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Posted in Uncategorized

Dawn of the Monsters Gameplay and Details Revealed

Publisher WayForward (also known as the beloved developer behind games like Contra 4, Duck Tales Remastered, and A Boy and His Blob) is partnering with developer 13AM Games on Dawn of the Monsters, a new co-op brawler in which you get to play as a Kaiju who stands up to other giant monsters and inadvertently trashes the fully destructible fictional city of New Toronto in the process. It is due out in the first half of 2022 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

There are four playable beasts: Megadon, Ganira, Aegis Prime, and Tempest Galahad. Each has Brutal Rage abilities, Cataclysm Attacks, and finishing moves. As you can see in the trailer above and in the screenshots below, Dawn of the Monsters has a unique comic book-like art style, and WayForward says that the kaiju designs are done by legendary Godzilla character creator Shiji Nishikawa and Godzilla comic book artist Matt Frank.

It won't be all boss fights across Dawn of the Monsters's 35 missions; there are over a dozen regular enemy types standing in your way as well, and you're able to bring one friend into the battle in co-op. You can also customize your kaiju.

Expect to see and hear more about Dawn of the Monsters next year as its release window approaches.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Posted in Uncategorized

Incredible Mod Turns Crusader Kings 3 and Mount & Blade 2 Into a Single Game

A developer has created a very smart mod that turns Crusader Kings 3 and Mount & Blade 2 into a single game, allowing players to strategize in the former and battle inside the latter.

For as much as Crusader Kings 3 does an impressive job at simulating the complex political and social structures of medieval rule, one particular element that it lacks is a battle simulator that allows players to jump into the action and see their forces battle it out in real-time.

Now, however, a developer has created Crusader Blade - a new mod that remedies that exact problem. Taking your armies from Crusader Kings 3, the Crusader Blade mod then uses the battle engine from Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord to allow you to fight against your enemies at ground level before sending the data back to Crusader Kings 3 to update your campaign.

The mod even accounts for scaling issues and factors in the size and scope of battles that each game can run. As it doesn't have to render conflict in real-time, battles in Crusader Kings 3 can sometimes be fought between tens of thousands of troops on the battlefield at once - a factor that Mount & Blade 2 can't quite manage.

Thankfully, the mod takes this into account. Taking a proportional approach to unit representation as it brings data from Crusader Kings 3 to Mount & Blade 2, the mod looks at both the size and composition of the armies set to go into battle and maintains this as it scales the forces down to a size that Mount and Blade can render on screen. Then when the battle is over, the mod applies a similar logic to sending that data back to Crusader Kings 3 - scaling up your losses so that they make sense in your campaign going forward.

If you're hoping to get a hold of the mod itself then you can do so by downloading it from Crusader Blade's itch.io page. While the mod has launched, its developers plan to keep it updated over time, supported by a Patreon. In order to run the mod, you will of course need to own both Crusader Kings 3 and Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord.

To learn more about both games, check out our 10/10 Crusader Kings 3 review, and our look at Mount & Blade 2's early access version, which we awarded an 8/10.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.