Battlefield 1 – REVIEW

DICE and EA Games plunges us into unknown territory with their most recent release, Battlefield 1. Battlefield 1 takes a 100 year step back in time and has us travel to an era that no other first person shooter game has explored: World War I. In the past twenty years games have covered WWII (extensively), Vietnam, the unending modern wars in the Middle East, and even the wars of the future. Battlefield 1 tells several compelling war stories in the campaign and the multiplayer brings me back to the glory days of how I felt when playing Bad Company 2. Quite possibly the best Battlefield game in recent memory, Battlefield 1 is exactly the game that we have all been hoping for. (This review is based on gameplay from the Playstation 4.)

Battlefield 1’s campaign is a bit of a departure from other games in the series. Before you even get to the Main Menu, you are put into the throes of front line battle where you are told that you are not meant to survive. It cycles through several characters, who all eventually die. After each death it gives the person’s name as well as their birth and death year, which I felt was a respectful way to move on after each death. The campaign is split up into six war stories that are told by six different peoples’ point of view. One story takes us through the missions of a tank driver tearing through the embattled countryside. Another story brings us up in the sky as pilots to take out German targets on the ground and in the air. Another story describes the heavily armored soldiers of the Italian Elite storm troopers known as the “Arditi” (translated to mean “the daring ones”). If you don’t know anything about this group of men I highly recommend doing some research. They are pretty amazing. The campaign has a good mix of massive action, vehicle combat, hand to hand trench warfare, stealth, and gun combat. Although I found each of the stories told to be compelling and the missions to be entertaining, I felt that there was a lack of historical detail. Historical notes seem thrown in at the end of each mission which help a little bit to explain what is going on in the war on a larger scale. It doesn’t necessarily detract from the overall experience, but I personally like to have my epic battles backed up with a bit more historical accuracy. That way you feel not only accomplished at the end of a mission, but humbled by the fact that real people had to endure these hardships. I’ve learned not to expect much from FPS games in terms of historical accuracy, so I still have to say that the gameplay and the story structure were entertaining and enjoyable.

A member of the heavily armored Arditi mowing through enemies.

A member of the heavily armored Arditi mowing through enemies.

Visually Battlefield 1 is absolutely gorgeous. I played through the game on the Playstation 4 and it may be one of the most visually stunning games (especially in this genre) that I’ve played on the console. The European countryside feels realistic and antiquated. I’m a sucker for details and the textures in the game are extremely well done. I’ve only played a few sections of the game where the environment has been broken or disjointed. One section of the game did not load any environmental assets and allowed me to walk on flat grass textures for an almost endless period of time before I got stuck in some invisible layer of brush. The way the trees and the grass sway in the wind was fantastic. The weather also changes frequently (especially in multiplayer) where it will rain and the environment will be muddy, fog will roll in and completely block your vision, or a sandstorm will blow in out of nowhere. I could have laid prone in multiplayer just watching the environment change for longer than I’d like to admit.

The multiplayer portion of Battlefield 1 is what truly shines. As of the time of this review I am level 23 in the multiplayer and have gotten a good sense of all the game modes, guns, and maps, but there is still quite a bit to unlock. The level cap is currently at 100 and to get there will take a considerable amount of time. I’ve put in about 25 hours at this point. At level 1 you start with a limited set of guns and gear for your loadout. More can be unlocked by spending war bonds which you receive with each level that you acquire. Spending war bonds will unlock new guns, new gear, and new grenades. You also have the chance to receive Battlepacks after each game session which are randomly distributed to four lucky individuals. Within each Battlepack are skins for your guns of varying degrees. The best skins you can get are legendary, which appear nicer than the rest. You can also scrap each of these lower level gun skins to save up for special Battlepacks that give you a better chance of receiving puzzle pieces so you can obtain exclusive in-game melee weapons. Apart from the weapons you can obtain through war bonds, there are elite weapons that you can retrieve during a game session such as a flamethrower, minigun, and Arditi armor. When you pick these up you can take a significant amount more damage. Weapons in Battlefield 1 are definitely far from what we expect when we play any of the newer futuristic games that Call of Duty has adopted. This is a good thing. The guns are less accurate, don’t have as many or as diverse of attachments, and it takes real skill because you are brought back to the basics of combat. As is expected of a Battlefield game there are large scale 32 vs. 32 battles in the game mode Conquest (well known to veteran Battlefield players). Conquest maps are larger than they have ever been. At times I feel like they can almost be too large, especially when you accidentally spawn on your base and there are no vehicles available. Flags can seem really far apart as well (although I’ve heard that the most recent update will remedy some of these situations). Scouts are definitely a great choice on some of these larger maps because there is nothing more satisfying than hitting a 300+ meter headshot. Other staples of the Battlefield franchise are vehicles and destructible environments. Your choice of vehicles consist of rudimentary tanks, jeeps, boats, motorcycles, planes and, new to this version, horses. Horses played a huge part in WWI and they have not been forgotten here. You can jump on a horse, take out your cavalry sword, and slash your way to victory (or not). Destructible environments are incredible. Take out stone walls, windmills, entire buildings, and even make impact craters in the ground. I really enjoy throwing dynamite around the base of a building that I know a sniper is hiding on the top of only to blow it up and watch it crumble on top of them. Other game modes for multiplayer include Domination, Operations, Rush, Team Deathmatch, and the newest game mode War Pidgeons. War Pidgeons has players going to locations where there are carrier pidgeons to be used to call in artillery strikes. The goal is to call in a certain number without the other team shooting down your pidgeon. Overall I find the multiplayer to be well balanced with very few server issues (thankfully after the Battlefield 4 fiasco).

A welcome addition to the multiplayer is the Battlefield Companion app available for iPhone and Android. On the app you are able to make changes to your loadoat, purchase new weapons, and view detailed stats of all your time with Battlefield 1. Although lacking in bells and whistles, the app is truly helpful with loadouts so you can sit down and take your time to decide how you want to fight or reading all the stats on the potential guns. I do wish that the app allowed you to open Battlepacks, rather than just tell you that you have X number unopened. Battlefield 4 and Hardline are also available via the same app.

In the Companion App you can change your loadout on the go.

In the Companion App you can change your loadout on the go.

Although the historical accuracy and detail was lacking in the campaign, the gameplay made up for it and was an absolute blast. Multiplayer is by far the best since Battlefield Bad Company 2 which is like the Golden Child of Battlefield games. The environments are huge, detailed and immersive and the game is visually breathtaking. Overall, I believe that Battlefield 1 is the new standard for modern shooters. Battlefield 1 is a MUST PLAY. 9/10

Battlefield 1 is available on the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

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