Battlefield 6’s newest and largest map is good, but despite its vehicular carnage, I worry it will end up being nothing more than a curiosity

There’s been one thought I haven’t been able to shake during my time with Battlefield 6’s upcoming Tsuru Reef map – the game’s biggest yet, which arrives tomorrow with Season 4. Tsuru Reef is the item on a restaurant’s menu that you tell yourself you’ll try one day, yet you keep ordering the usual every time you visit. But just as that restaurant’s menu is richer for having this delectable curiosity, Tsuru Reef is an asset to BF6’s map line-up – even if I fear it’s only going to get played occasionally.

As part of a preview event, I spent three hours killing (and getting killed) across all of the map’s nine capture points. I got to play with the new toys, and, of course, indulge in naval combat. Tsuru Reef’s size is its most notable feature. Battlefield Studios was right to emphasise it pre-launch. Playing it, however, I’m left with a feeling that it may be overcompensating a bit.

Anyone who spent time with Battlefield 6 multiplayer at launch will tell you that the map roster was lacking. Not in terms of quality; the line-up has killer maps that stand toe-to-toe with the best of BF3 and BF4. Most of those maps, however, were designed to serve a particular type of experience: close-quarters combat that occasionally expands into larger – but not large – areas where vehicles can have an effect. It was almost like BF Studios was teasing the audience (which the developer suspected would include plenty of new faces) about what a Battlefield map is.

Since then, the game has evolved with the addition of larger maps, the biggest being the Season 3 remake of BF4’s Golmud, whose popularity highlighted a real need for maps of that size. But the developer clearly had something to prove, so while everyone was enjoying Golmud, the team was already deep into development on the next Big Map to trump all other big maps.

Tsuru Reef is the result of that focus: a map seemingly designed to be the advertising for Battlefield multiplayer; the thing you show a friend to convince them to play with you. The map is large enough to support ground, air and naval combat comfortably, with enough room for each to find a purpose without being too confined to a fixed role. With rare exceptions, almost every type of ground, air and water vehicle that exists in BF6 is available to use. There are so many vehicles in the pool, in fact, that some only become available a little later into the match, and others only spawn after capturing certain points on the map.

That large size gives way to the sort of throwback gameplay that lacks the tight progression and direction of modern Battlefield. I found it a little surprising how certain squads were content to just run between the two capture points that fit their preferred play style. Vehicles held ground from a distance, not daring to venture too deep into the road down the town where every inch is laid with mines. Snipers took great advantage of the many mountainous ranges, whose harsh shadows conceal anyone hiding within.

The two biggest winners of Tsuru Reef are the air and sea wings. The sheer scale of the map creates plenty of room for aircrafts to breathe. Jet pilots can hawk their targets from a distance, swoop in to claim the kill before vanishing into the clouds. Transport helicopters are given new life – so much that each team gets two to start. When the map is that big, you really appreciate a flying bus.

Driving a boat around the many bodies of water felt natural; BF Studios brought back BF4’s beloved server-synced waves, so a rising tide can really raise all boats. The shifting waves were fun to hide in, too, both in a vehicle and as a stranded infantry. Navigating the water as what’s essentially a wobbly tank was fun, but the novelty wore off faster than I expected.

Tsuru Reef is currently the game’s only map with naval combat, so we need more before we could diagnose what makes naval combat less fun this time around. As it stands, I suspect it has to do with the way capture points are designed.

The capture radius for some extends into the water, so it often feels like the game is artificially creating a role for boats to keep them busy. The rest of the time, attack boats tended to avoid direct confrontations with tanks and infantry, opting instead to pick targets from a distance – and they could. The most aggravating moments were the result of boat-mounted mortars. You simply moor your boat somewhere where you’re hard to reach, and shell your favourite spot for a few minutes until either an aircraft challenges you, or you have to wait for your ammo to recharge.

The moment-to-moment of infantry combat is made more engaging thanks to the well-timed recent gunplay update, which made it so players are less accurate at range, requiring everyone to pace their shots. I can’t imagine having to cross such massive distances with the old – very accurate – gunplay in place.

But it’s hard to deny how similar to existing maps the flow of infantry gameplay felt, despite the change of locale. BF Studios continues to follow an ethos of catering to every playstyle with each map. There are points with dense, complex environments for infantry to rule, and you can stick to those if you’re tired of getting killed by vehicles. This removes the impact infantry could have across the more sparsely populated areas of the map. In my time with Tsuru Reef, it became clear that if you don’t have an armoured vehicle with you, there’s no point crossing through certain areas.

Of the new weapons, the Bren 3 Carbine is my favourite. Like all three new weapons, however, I suspect it will shine brighter on other maps. Running around with a long barrel Bren 3 brought me back to the days of clearing the areas around the fort in BF4’s Operation Mortar with my ACW-R. The VSSM was easily the most fun to use, especially after equipping it with the – very expensive – full-auto mod.

Tsuru Reef does its job of accommodating every type of combat in a single map, so it’s hard to fault it for that. Watching jets whiz by after picking off a transport helicopter attempting to drop players onto a capture point, just as a tank rolls in to support the parachuting infantry while a different squad’s boat arrives ashore remains exciting, no matter how many times it happens. But similar moments can, and do, happen elsewhere, so you’ll probably return to your favourite maps once you’ve had your Tsuru fix.