Battlefield V's new Mercury map is all Greek to me
Not an assassin's Odyssey
If you're going to die (repeatedly) somewhere, it may as well be scenic, and I'm happy to describe Battlefield V's new map - Mercury - as a treat for the eyes. Released today in a free update, it's inspired by Operation Mercury in 1941, a German assault on the island of Crete. What this means is a large map that equally suits infantry, aircraft and armour. DICE reckon that fans of Guadalcanal from Battlefield 1942 might feel a pang of nostalgia playing this one. Below, an update trailer where they do that clever Battlefield thing where the guns are percussion.
You can see the full, official breakdown for this new map here. There's a lot of verticality, hard stone walls and buildings to help keep infantry out of the line-of-sight of prowling vehicles. Despite this, there's still plenty of room for tanks to roam and for planes to swoop around the periphery of the battlefield. If you're playing in Conquest mode, the five capture points run the gamut, including a cliff-ringed cove, a scenic house overlooking the entire map and a dense (if destructible) village. The next map will also focus on Greece, and will be named Marita.
EA have so far done a good job polishing up Battlefield V after launch. Last month, they rolled out a major update (full update notes here) which made an enormous number of small tweaks to the game, plus a few major ones. Probably the biggest change is to falling. When landing from a jump or vault, you can crouch to roll and reduce fall damage by 40hp. If you'd rather take the damage and start shooting immediately, you can stand upright and only have your aim shaken for a moment.
EA also boosted the XP payout of the Firestorm battle royale mode, increased the health of downed players, and increased the maximum armour plates to five (from three), which should keep teams alive longer. Dead squad mates in vehicles can now be revived, too. The most recent major update (notes here) made even more infantry quality-of-life improvements. You can now bind a button (either hold or toggle) to lean around cover manually, where previously automated.
The update should be live now. Battlefield V is available on Origin for £55/€60/$60, which seems especially steep for the UK. It's also available as part of the Origin Premier subscription.