As much as I hate to admit it, Battlefield 2042 has become one of my favorite video games. The gameplay is a lot better than when it first came out.

But the helicopter mechanics suck compared to Battlefield Hardline. I knew they couldn’t put helicopters in V or in 1 (which for those unaware were their WW2 and WW1 games, the two released in sequence after Hardline, which was basically cops vs robbers), so I was excited to have a more modern game with bigger maps and helicopters to fly.

Because flying helicopters is so fun. It’s hard, because they use simple physics to control the helicopters: the blades will pull the craft whatever direction is “up” for them.

In 2042 it feels like there’s training wheels on the helicopters, which makes it a little easier to learn to fly them without crashing, but it makes certain maneuvers impossible.

One thing I like doing in Hardline is tilting the machine so far forward that my lift becomes zero and I just plummet straight down. I’d do this to take cover behind a building, then I’d pull out of the dive before hitting the ground.

You can’t do that in 2042. Full forward on the stick doesn’t tip you forward far enough to lose lift. It just puts you at “full tilt”. I mean, you can crash into the ground but it’s really hard. And diving at free fall speeds isn’t possible.

Hardline’s helicopter just feels smoother. My hunch is it’s a way simpler model of the controls. It’s probably unrealistic as hell, but it feels more real because the game will actually let you just turn the chopper over.

It creates space to screw up and to do amazing things, which they’ve taken out of 2042. So you’re less likely to plant straight into a rock on your first flight, but also less likely to actually dodge a missile by outmaneuvering it.