Last year Visceral Games shifted the focus
towards urban police officers in Battlefield Hardline,
but now it’s time for DICE to retake control of their historic franchise.
Traveling further into the past than ever before
the company sets its sights on one of the deadliest conflicts in history,
World War I,
but does this dark period make for an engaging battleground?
Battlefield 1 is set at the tail end of World War I in 1918
when tanks are initially entering the battleground
and zeppelins rule the skies.
The campaign is divided into five War Stories,
each with a different setting and characters.
Some chapters are slightly more adventurous
but many paint a bleak portrait of the Great War.
They do an excellent job of showing the horrors of World War I,
offering insight into different regions and battles.
While the story and presentation are solid,
the gameplay feels hollow and enemy encounters feel artificial
compared to the 64 player online battles.
While the main class-based mechanics
are still relatively the same to Battlefield veterans,
the older technology of World War I impacts multiplayer in exciting ways.
The assault class is now the primary option for dealing with vehicles
as it comes equipped with anti-vehicle grenades and landmines.
There’s also a larger emphasis on stationary artillery
which adds importance to defensive positioning.
The medic is a well-rounded class that can heal teammates
and that relies on semi-automatic rifles,
while the support class can resupply ammo
and lay down suppressing fire with heavy machine guns.
The scout can snipe huge distances
and also comes equipped with some nifty gadgets
like the decoy and periscope.
Perhaps the most radical and welcome change
comes with the pilot and vehicle classes.
When you choose to spawn inside of a vehicle,
you come equipped with a pistol rather than a full class loadout.
It makes your vehicle more precious
and discourages players who steal vehicles just to use as transportation.
Additionally, some of the weapons are not as accurate
as you may be used to in first-person shooters,
which helps put a different pace to conflicts.
Melee combat has seen an overhaul
and is now much more important than in previous Battlefield titles.
Bayonet charges can be activated on a timed cooldown
and can be used for an all-or-nothing instant kill.
A variety of other melee weapons including knives, hatchets, and shovels
are capable of felling a foe in just a few quick attacks.
The cover of disorienting toxic gas
is a great set up for vicious close quarter skirmishes.
Everyone comes equipped with a gas mask,
but equipping it reduces your vision and also prohibits aiming down the sights.
The newest game mode is Operations, combining elements of Conquest and Rush.
The attacking team must push the defending team
across a shifting landscape one zone at a time
by capturing control points.
If they manage to succeed, they win the map,
and depending on the Operation, continue into the next round
until the defenders are totally defeated.
Before each round, a small cut-scene offers insight into the proceedings
and sets the tone for a battle that may last over an hour.
With fewer control points than a standard Conquest match,
battles in Operations are brutal.
Waves of enemies repeatedly crash into each other
in an effort to gain small footholds anyway that they can.
World War I was about fighting for inches
and Operations demonstrates this philosophy perfectly.
It’s exhilarating when your team finally breaks through a heavily contested sector
as troops shout war cries towards a retreating enemy.
The signature Conquest mode returns
and remains the same as in previous Battlefield iterations.
Each side attempts to hold control points spread across the map
earning more points the longer they are held.
It’s slightly more tactical than Operations,
with much more space to take advantage of.
Choosing to attack or defend with a helpful squad
can mean the difference between victory and defeat,
especially during close matches.
Momentum plays a huge part in these matches
because capturing a point adds an additional spawn point for your team,
allowing for crucial reinforcements to spawn
which can turn the tide of battle in an instant.
Other modes include standard team deathmatch,
domination which is a smaller and more frantic variation of conquest
and the return of rush.
The final new mode is War Pigeons which plays like a game of keep away.
Each team tries to track down and hold onto a pigeon until it’s ready to fly away.
It’s a fun novelty addition
and while evading an entire enemy team as the pigeon holder is an intense feeling,
the mode lacks the strategy of Operations and Conquest.
Battlefield 1 launches with nine of the most diverse maps in Battlefield history.
Each map offers unique combat encounters
and drastically different strategies,
forcing you to change the way you approach each situation.
The Argonne Forest is a haven for close-quarters combat
while the dunes of the Sinai Desert offer long range opportunities.
The city of Amiens features countless buildings
that overlook frantic streets and back alleys,
leaving no moment of respite.
The St. Quentin Scar is another highlight,
with its emphasis on trench warfare.
The amount of tactical depth in Battlefield 1 truly stands out
from learning and playing each of these maps,
further making each class, weapon, and vehicle viable.
Levolution from Battlefield 4 is still in place
with nearly every building vulnerable to complete destruction,
which also takes advantage of the new Behemoths.
These massive vehicles include a zeppelin, an armored train, and a battleship,
and each is capable of turning the tide of a battle in an instant.
The Zeppelin is equally entertaining as it is destructive,
whether you are raining down artillery from the cockpit,
jumping off the top as a paratrooper,
or attacking it head on with a fighter plane.
Three elite class kits spawn at random on the battlefield
and offer some of the most powerful weaponry in the game.
The flame trooper can melt infantry at close range,
the sentry is a walking tank equipped with heavy machine guns,
and the tank hunter can pierce vehicle armor with a high-powered rifle.
It’s rare to spawn these elite classes
because the whole team has access to them when they spawn,
so finally picking one up is always a pleasure.
The audio and visual aspects of Battlefield 1 are stunning.
Thunderous explosions, screams from the battlefield,
and the whizzing of biplanes add tension and urgency to each deadly situation.
Gleaming dessert landscapes, striking European architecture,
and crumbling zeppelins will more than likely get you killed
from their distracting magnificence.
Performance hasn’t been sacrificed either,
with the game holding a steady 60 frames per second on a modest PC.
Battlefield 1 boldly takes the series into the past
during one of the most deadly times in world history.
Nine varied maps offer vastly different combat opportunities,
while the War Stories show us the horrors of The Great War.
Battlefield has looked to the past,
to usher in a new era for the historic franchise,
and it’s a smashing success.
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