As first person shooters continue to be rolled off the production line, you can forgive the playing public for feeling fatigued.
You think you’ve seen it all before; far-fetched futuristic gear, standard protagonist-antagonist storyline conflict as well as a ridiculous level of brutal destruction left in the player’s wake. However, Battlefield 1 not only breaks this trend, but also boldly captures The Great War itself.
The game’s prologue mission, “Storm of Steel”, sets the tone for the full campaign. Here, the player takes control of soldiers within the US 369th Infantry, the Harlem Hellfighters, historically an all-black regiment within the United States forces that fought in WW1. The player is greeted with the cheery message of “You are not expected to survive” and within this level there are a number of scripted character deaths as you change perspective around the battlefield.
With each death the screen cuts to black with the character’s name appearing as well as their year of birth and death. This, coupled with beautiful high-definition cut scenes, adds a subtle story behind the character you’ve only played for a few minutes. With en masse amounts of UI deaths all around you, this intromission captures the grotesque nature of a WWI battle in your very first experience of the game.
The main campaign gameplay will see you take control of four varying characters fighting throughout a world in conflict with very different roles to play. Unlike convention, it is optional in which order you play these short story bursts and only contain a few levels each. This condensed length does make this feel like just an extended introduction to the game.
However, the campaign does grimly showcase all the combat aspects of WWI be it flying high in the sky’s over France, charging forward with your bayonet, blasting your way through a battlefield in a tank and even crawling through no mans land surrounded by corpses. Indeed, Battlefield 1 has truly captured its intended setting.
The online gameplay of Battlefield 1 could not be better designed for WWI. Large mission-like battles again are a good reference back to the game’s setting and here there are multitudes of different vehicles that players can interact with and use to their side’s advantage. Classes have a number of different customisable options and the arsenal of weapons available has clearly been well researched in the production of this game.
Whilst playing, you will find yourself immersed within an environment that you will struggle to tell the difference between game and reality – such is the high level of art and smart design in Battlefield 1. The player will have a truly realistic feel whilst playing as your surroundings themselves are destroyable and smart vibration for difficult terrain makes vehicle control feel like a true test. Electronic Arts have designed a shooter that will have players hooked for days, weeks and months and can continue to add to keep this game fresh, a true advantage to their campaign style.
Overall Battlefield 1 is a very well executed game that stands out from the pack of recent shooter titles. Throughout, you will ask yourself: Is it wrong to find a game set in WWI so beautiful? Such is the high standard of design throughout this game.
