Battlefield 2042, and its recently announced Portal game mode, offer longtime Battlefield players an exciting opportunity: to revisit older games in the series in 2042's updated Frostbite engine. Battlefield Portal is a new highly customizable game mode coming to 2042 on launch that will let players utilize maps, weapons, vehicles, and more from Battlefield 1942, Bad Company 2, and BF3. A wide selection of each of these classic games' assets has been remade in 2042, though this update to fan favorite Battlefield maps will not include new Levolution elements.
Levolution was introduced in Battlefield 4 as a major iteration on the series' signature destruction. While the expected amount of destruction from explosives remained throughout Battlefield 4, Levolution was the term adopted to include scripted, player activated events that could occur in the middle of a multiplayer match. Some were more mundane, such as lowering one end of a catwalk to create a ramp or raising bollards to prevent vehicle access to an area. More dramatic examples of Levolution include skyscrapers toppling or massive radar dishes crashing to the ground, changing the entire battlefield's landscape.
While the prospect of playing classic maps in Battlefield 2042 is exciting in and of itself, players shouldn't expect any drastic changes. All the 2042 maps and their Levolution elements will be useable in Battlefield Portal, but the classic maps will be more conservative remakes mostly aimed at revamping the visuals. Only the maps from Battlefield 1942 will come with significant structural changes.
When Battlefield 2042 launches, it will include two maps from Battlefield 1942 in Portal - Battle of the Bulge and El Alamein. These classic maps will receive the most treatment from the developers at Ripple Effect, including the new addition of destruction. Blowing up buildings and structures in Battlefield was added in the first Bad Company. Prior to this, such as in the original 1942, moderate damage could be done, such as blowing up a bridge so vehicles couldn't pass, but nothing as thorough as collapsing an entire building like in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
It is understandable that large-scale Levolution events wouldn't be retroactively added to maps from Battlefield 1942, but the added destruction is an interesting addition. In a briefing from EA, 2042 Senior Producer Kristoffer Bergqvist claims the remade 1942 maps attempted to more fully realize the vision of the original developers, but it is likely also a change to provide some continuity between all of Portal's maps. The destruction of Bad Company was made possible by the Frostbite engine, which didn't exist in 2002 when 1942 released, but having only two maps without such destruction in the latest Battlefield would be odd.
It will be fascinating to see how the additions change how the classic maps are played. The impermanence of some structures will no doubt render classic tactics obsolete, but won't change the game as drastically as full-fledged Levolution might have. Battlefield Portal appears to be the love letter to fans its been touted as, attempting to modernize classic content for Battlefield 2042, while not compromising the original designs.
Sources: Electronic Arts
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