We’re coming up on about one year since the release of Battlefield V – Battlefield’s first dive into a World War 2 setting since Battlefield 1942, the first Battlefield released in 2002.

As we come up on BFV’s first year anniversary we are subsequently coming up on the one year anniversary of my review of BFV. In that review I detailed many of the game’s issues that stopped me from truly liking it as a long time fan of the series. It was mostly glitches that ruined the experience for me, but I also had issues with their odd treatment of the World War 2 setting and poor balancing. In all, the game was a lot of fun. In fact I’m still convinced Battlefield V is the best shooter on the market from a pure game-play aspect. Yes, even better than the recently released Modern Warfare. So has Battlefield V improved? Is it worth your time now?

It’d be redundant for me to tell you I think the game is fun. That much is already established. The focus of this review will mainly be on what has been added to the game since release, and finally if it’s still a buggy mess.

As far as new content goes, Battlefield V has been taking a “live service” approach. That means instead of paid DLC content players have to pay for, all new content is free. Weapons, maps, everything – all free. Sounds ideal, but it has its issues. As long as all of the new content is free, that means there is no obligation for the developers to add any new content because it isn’t being paid for. I think DICE has added a very fair amount of content for the good price of nothing throughout the year though. My fears the game would be abandoned have been relinquished. So what has DICE added?

Battlefield V’s multiplayer maps all take place in 1940 or 1941, following the early war combat in Europe and North Africa between Great Britain and Nazi Germany. This continues with the new maps added to game so far – with exceptions I will elaborate on. Between release and now DICE EA has added..

BATTLE OF HANNUT: Named “Panzerstorm” in-game, the Battle of Hannut was the largest tank on tank engagement in history at the time it was fought in 1940. It’s a large, vehicle focused map with plenty of vehicles to romp around in. If you like tanks, you’ll like this one. But don’t worry, if you prefer playing infantry then you have more vehicles to destroy. This map was added less than a month after release so I wouldn’t consider it “new” content, but it still counts.

GREECE: DICE EA added the Greek front as their first expenditure into another front in the war in Europe. It included two maps. One is “Mercury”, which takes place on the island of Crete. The island of Crete was fought over between the British and Greek forces defending the island and German Fallshcrimjagers, elite paratroopers tasked with taking control of the island. The other map is “Marita”, which details the fighting that occurred on the Greek countryside as the Axis advanced into the Balkans. Both maps are tailored toward infantry combat and symmetrical head-on warfare that have the opposing teams clash at a single point on the map.

AL-SUNDAN: “Al-Sundan” is the third map so far located in North Africa, focusing on the desert combat between the German Afrika Corp and the British “Desert Rats.” Like Panzerstorm it is very large and tailored for vehicles, but there are small, tightly packed villages spread throughout the map for infantry players to fight in that vehicles can’t maneuver very well. Pick your fights carefully and you’ll like this map.

OPERATION UNDERGROUND: A remake of the Battlefield classic “Operation Metro”, Underground is DICE EA’s World War 2 take on the map that first appeared in Battlefield 3. The map itself takes place in Hamburg in 1945. The Battle of Hamburg was the last major engagement of the war fought between British and German forces. Dice broke their trend of focusing on the early war with this map, taking us directly to the final days of the war as Germany made its desperate defense against the Allied forces. The map itself literally takes place inside an underground metro. If you have claustrophobia, this map isn’t for you. There’s very little space to maneuver and both your team and the enemy team are crammed together in a small, straightforward train station. As you can imagine this map is absolute CHAOS. That’s why it’s a fan favorite though..

THE PACIFIC: The cherry on top so far to DICE EA’s content flow for BFV without a doubt. Finally, after a year of the same thing, we’re finally deviating from Britain V.S. Germany. The Pacific content drop adds two new factions. The Japanese Empire and the United States of America. One of my biggest gripes with Battlefield V was the lack of faction diversity, so this is a very welcome addition. The Pacific dropped with two new maps, Iwo Jima and Pacific Storm. Iwo Jima is, well, Iwo Jima…the name doesn’t leave much to the imagination. The Iwo Jima map covers the U.S. amphibious land invasion of the island where soldiers were tasked with dislodging the dug in Japanese defenders. The battle of Iwo Jima was the only battle of the entire war where U.S. forces suffered more casualties than the Japanese, and the ferocity of the battle is well represented in game without a doubt. The other map, Pacific Storm, covers the U.S. island hopping campaign in the Marshall islands. The map itself is made of multiple small islands. So, expect to go island hopping on this one. You can swim between the islands, but expect to get mercilessly gunned down while swimming when you try. My recommendation? Take a boat.

Even more Pacific maps are on the way, with the Japanese invasion of Wake Island confirmed for December.

I’ve already written a disgusting amount of stuff so I won’t go into detail, but yes. New weapons and vehicles are also constantly being added. The gun selection is already great, so you’ll never really get bored when it comes to the weapons you’re using. And as I said, there’s always something new around the corner. 8 new guns and 2 new vehicles alone arrived for the Pacific update on top of everything else that was added throughout the year.

As for glitches, well, it took time. The soul-crushing glitches continued on for months. Sometimes new, debilitating bugs were created when updates happened. It seemed like whenever DICE EA added something, something broke. But as of now…I think we’re safe. The past month or two have been relatively bug free as DICE EA finally came down hard on the bugs plaguing the game. I’m staying vigilant, but for now the in-game experience is actually pretty smooth and bug free. At this point I don’t think I don’t have to elaborate on any bugs like in my last review because, currently at least, there aren’t really any to elaborate on. And there’s no point in talking about bugs that are fixed.

Has Battlefield V improved? Definitely. The content flow has kept me coming back weekly and the game is 10 x smoother now than it was at release. If you like World War 2 as a setting, this is a must-buy. Even if you don’t care for the setting, the gameplay is great. From the gunplay, to flying a plane, to blowing things up with tanks.. Battlefield feels like it’s at its best in BFV…It just took time to find its footing

Final Verdict – 9/10: So what’s holding BFV from a 10/10? Well, I’m still waiting for the USSR. A World War 2 game without the USSR is like making a movie about the American Revolution without Americans in it. I’m hopeful that in the future we will see the USSR, but I’m not holding my breath.