you are forced to approach the enemy
Yes, that’s the idea. If your gun is not good at long range, you do not engage at long range, you have to approach. That’s an important element of gun balance.
doing objectives is a death sentence due to lack of footsteps sound and vehicles.
I find the sound as improved considerably since release. Although in my case, I also realized 3D sound had not been working properly: in the settings, being able to select 3D sound is not enough, you have to check the text box in the top right to make sure it’s actually working (this on PC, I assume consoles don’t have this problem).