Creating video games is not always an exact science. The triple-A sect of the industry has been laser-focused in recent years on creating the most larger-than-life experiences with the fanciest graphics, but a lot of actual game design tends to… go by the wayside. It’s for this reason and others that Battlefield 2042 is currently one of the lowest-rated games on Steam. But here’s a quandary for you: what if things were flipped? What if Battlefield’s priorities were more on gameplay, with graphics playing second-banana? Would that fix the problem? If the success of Clownfield 2042 is any indication, yes, yes it would.
Clownfield 2042 is a pretty blatant parody of Battlefield 2042 published on Steam by Riverside Sports. The game’s store page blurb is full of not-so-subtle potshots at Battlefield, including “Experience the intensity of All Out Clownfare on maps filled with mediocre weather and world events” and “Disrupt the game physics, break the rules of gameplay and enjoy the broken(sic) and unoptimized experience ever.”
Battlefield 2042 Parody Clownfield 2042 Receives Higher Reviews
But here’s the rub: in spite of itself, Clownfield actually seems to be doing better for itself than Battlefield. The game currently has a Very Positive rating on Steam with 88% positive reviews, as opposed to Battlefield’s Mostly Negative rating with 33% positive reviews. It does bear mentioning that the statistics there aren’t perfectly equal; Clownfield has only had 1,427 reviews, while Battlefield has had 84,129 reviews.
Even so, Clownfield is currently holding a spot on the Steam catalog’s New and Trending tab, fourth from the top of the list at time of writing. While the reviews are, unsurprisingly, full of jokes, memes, and general clowning, some users have noted that the game actually does provide a cleaner experience than its inspiration.
“VOIP? Yes. Scoreboard? Yes. Instant respawn? Yes. Hilarious fun? Yes. Better than BF2042? HELL YES,” writes one Steam user.
“it has less bugs than the original game no cap,” writes another.
It also helps that the game only costs one dollar. That’s certainly much less than Battlefield 2042’s $59.99 price tag, and with no crazy DLC packages.
The only really consistent complaint against Clownfield is that it seems to be having a problem with cheaters in online matches, though the devs announced earlier this week that they’ve begun developing anti-cheat systems. If they can solve that problem, they may have created a parody that successfully eclipses its source material. What a strange little world we live in.
