Firstly I just want to say well done to DICE for re-invigorating the historical World War based shooter. It’s almost a genre unto itself, with Call of Duty, Medal of Honour and a host of other titles wringing the neck of the Second World War setting some years ago. But instead of taking their cue from their competitors and sending their franchise literally into space (looking at you Call of Duty fanboys) DICE have gone the exact opposite direction and placed their game in the trenches of the First World War.
It’s brave to say the least. Trench warfare is not exactly known for its action by its very nature. So there is going to be a few liberties taken with the historical setting just to make a playable game out of this, but from the short beta time I’ve had with Battlefield 1 I have to say they are on the right track (forgive the tank based pun).
[caption id=“attachment_16714” align=“aligncenter” width=“600”]
The white horse is only bothered by the plane above him…[/caption]
The desert setting of the open beta has the now typical scale of a Battlefield map; it’s massive! Of course, when you’ve got an array of horses, tracked vehicles, jeeps and aircraft to get into a playable space, you’re going to have to scale things up, it’s still genuinely awe-inspiring stepping into such a giant area of combat.
The mechanics have been improved for this latest iteration of the franchise, with the ‘levelution’ concept being scaled back it would seem in favour of keeping the focus on weapons and mobility. You can no longer just fire shells through every builiding or destroy anything with a few well placed charges. I’d like to think this is because of some kind of authentic nod to the power of the weapons in that era, but I’m also open to the fact it was either my aim or the fact the game was still in beta that stopped me from dropping a house or two on my unsuspecting enemy.
[caption id=“attachment_16713” align=“aligncenter” width=“600”]
This looks genuinely terrifying[/caption]
Sniping in particular seemed to be a favourite pastime of many in the early access rounds, with anyone on foot rushing to the closest cubby hole with their rifle and delusions of imitating Jude Law from ‘Enemy at the Gates’ (I know, wrong era) but thankfully DICE have neutered this aspect somewhat by making the rifles less overpowered and more difficult to use for the average player. If you’re going for those long range headshots, you’re going to have to work for them now.
I’m really excited for the release of Battlefield 1, I think the change of era is a brilliant move given Call of Duty and Titanfall 2 releasing in the same timeframe with their sci-fi focus, and if the single player is as good as we are hearing it could even answer the critics who say this is just going to be like Star Wars Battlefront all over again, all multiplayer and no depth.
Maybe EA aren’t the meddlers we thought they were.
