When Battlefield REDSEC, the finest mode in Battlefield 6’s battle royale-focused spin-off, isn’t a battle royale at all, you know something wasn’t quite right. Although REDSEC borrows ideas from past military battle royales that are more grounded, it doesn’t significantly alter what has already been successful. The otherwise thrilling multiplayer’s destructible environments and potent vehicles seem like a perfect fit for this genre, but REDSEC’s comparatively shallow execution hasn’t captured my attention the way Fortnite’s cartoonish chaos and thrilling events did, nor has it distinguished itself from games like PUBG or Call of Duty: Warzone. The squad-based, elimination-driven Gauntlet mode, which deftly expands the mission structure concealed within the battle royale’s streamlined familiarity, is where I’ve had far more fun using its map to push the boundaries beyond the necessary ever-shrinking storm.
You are familiar with the routine: in the quickly blinking eye of a catastrophic storm, you and a squadmate land on a large map. In the case of REDSEC, a fictional military installation in Southern California known as Fort Lyndon is surrounded by a final plume of charcoal clouds striped with bright scarlet. Your team must fight to be the last one standing while robbing Lyndon’s demolished stores and building sites of anything they can discover. I can’t blame EA for their obvious belief that if something isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
In fact, the turmoil of Battlefield 6’s multiplayer is lessened by the battle royale mode.
With each of the four classes providing something useful, Battlefield 6’s class structure works effectively in a battle royale. Although each class excels in its own way, I typically stick with the all-around Assault class that focuses on assault guns because it offers the best boosts for finishing REDSEC’s mid-match assignments. At first look, the Engineer class appears to be the most helpful since it can use its blowtorch to access locked special weapon lockers and repair vehicles much like in the main mode. However, each of the Recon and Support classes has advantages of its own, particularly when a squad consists of four players.
Aside from classes, the frenzy and thrill of Battlefield 6’s premium modes are actually lessened by REDSEC’s battle royale options, which disperse the chaos over a huge battlefield. Fort Lyndon is undoubtedly more than 50% larger than the typical Battlefield 6 map, but its 100-person lobbies are roughly 50% larger than the 64 players in an All-Out Warfare battle. REDSEC is not helped by this math. The large terrain gives you more places to escape and hide, which suddenly detracts from the frenetic adrenaline of frantic and intricate sequences with crumbling buildings and car showdowns. Because of this, REDSEC lacks many characteristics that distinguish it from other military battle royales.
No one will mistake the tacticool aesthetic for personality, even though its extreme “realism-ish” nature may appeal to anyone hoping to avoid being chased by Nicki Minaj or Homer Simpson. This seems like a battle royale version of any other high-profile military shooter.
Fortunately, REDSEC’s engaging mission structure makes the otherwise boring military doldrums enjoyable. They resemble the missions and bounties in Fortnite, except they include more varied tasks and better payouts. After the first few seconds of every match, your map menu automatically loads with three missions; but, as the round progresses, the number of possibilities may decrease. On the other hand, each mission’s benefits—as well as the dangers of drawing others—remain continuously valuable and well conveyed. They can offer useful items like powerful firearms, battle pass XP, weapon upgrade packs, and one-time powers like destructive airstrikes and UAV surveillance drones that disclose enemy whereabouts.
I adore how clear-cut REDSEC’s mission rewards are. Even though it doesn’t say what kind of weapon would drop from a task, guns that weren’t my favorite nonetheless had a significant impact. Those tempting prizes motivated me to lay the bombs and capture the waypoints necessary to acquire them, even with generally uncooperative squadmates.
Each in-game mission appears like clockwork after a few seconds, requiring only a few button clicks to expose the next target. This appears to be REDSEC’s secret sauce. These tiny sidequests, which are based on traditional military first-person shooter tasks like defending a placed bomb or retrieving a crucial file so you can send its signal back to home base, give the otherwise aimless pace of conquering the battlefield some order and direction. Some, like laying a bomb, will make your location visible on the screens of nearby adversaries with a large red marking and an equally loud siren to let them know where you are.
A fulfilling cleaver is transported to the military doldrums via compelling tasks.
However, there are alternative ways to obtain stronger equipment if your loadout isn’t battle-ready and you’re concerned about encountering other players. Weapons, armor, and other helpful things will sporadically fall from the sky in addition to the regular looting option. The most practical and appealing pickups are Custom Weapon Drops, which grant you access to one of your personalized weapons from Battlefield 6’s basic multiplayer games. Instead of merely giving one team their go-to sniper or assault rifle, I like that these drops only function once for each player. However, instead of rewarding squads that treat these drops like hard-push objectives and outperform the rest, it almost feels like a microcosmic participation medal.
Compared to some of its contemporaries, REDSEC doesn’t have as much action between eliminating enemy squads and looting military-themed chests, but each mission’s map-driven context does lend spontaneity and strategy to the ways you could complete a mission. A bomb-setting operation, for instance, might deter anyone from a dangerous diffusion that places them directly at the edge of the billowing wall of smoke if you are near the otherwise slow and unthreatening firestorm that is closing in on you.
The Gauntlet mode, on the other hand, builds each of these additional goals into fully functional game types, completely eschewing the storm. Eight distinct game types are created by pitting a few four-player squads against one another to score the most points on each objective. A few other situations are also added to the mix. The area control mode, in which each squad competes for a small hexagon-shaped portion of the map with a corresponding satellite dish to take over, is probably my favorite. There are 15 to contend for, so every round is a frantic struggle for supremacy that rewards various types of play based on the area of the map you’re competing for.
Additionally, Gauntlet deftly detects that some players only wish to play each mode, such as Deathmatch, and adjusts the scoreboard by adding kills and revives. Additionally, all scores double in the final minute of each rapid round to increase competition and prevent any side from winning handily. Reassigning high-performing players from otherwise losing teams to squads with disengaged teammates may also provide an additional motivation to perform well.
Over the course of the four rounds, the mode and goal will change. The two squads that do the worst out of eight will be eliminated each round until only two are left for a final confrontation that resembles a miniature Battlefield match. Gauntlet ends up functioning nearly more like a great mash-mash between Fall Guys and a squad-based, free-for-all version of classic Battlefield than it does the otherwise uninspired battle royale that houses it, as it rotates around various designated areas within Fort Lyndon.
Verdict
Apart from introducing a few intriguing tasks here and there, Battlefield REDSEC’s slow-rolling storm hasn’t done much to keep me wanting more after capturing a few wins across all three of its primary queues. Yes, it’s entertaining, but its adaption doesn’t work well with the epic scope and fast-paced nature of Battlefield 6’s normal multiplayer.
A. However, the Gauntlet mode that coexists with REDSEC’s Battle Royale just condenses and focuses the best elements from both Battlefield and Battle Royales in general into one of the coolest game modes I’ve seen from a military shooter in a long time, whereas Battle Royale only dilutes that recipe. While I might not be interested in playing more of its battle royale, I am definitely interested in more Gauntlet; therefore, I hope EA and DICE intend to develop it as part of their Battlefield 6 roadmap.
