Battlefield 1

I’m really happy to see the Battlefield series returning to its roots. Modern shooters don’t do it for me anymore, and future shooters have fizzled out for me too. I’ve been wanting a shooter to return back to that era where guns can’t see around corners, auto-aim, or transform into robots.

Battlefield 1 is set in the WW1 era. If you haven’t seen the trailer, let’s watch.

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I’ve read and heard a completely mixed bag on this one. Everything from “OMG this looks amazing! Hype! Hype! Tears of joy!” all the way down to “Looks completely stupid. CoD is better. So dumb.”

As I have already alluded to, I like the setting. I think the concept of horses, melee, older tech, and a modernized spin on the era will be very enjoyable. I’m not worried about the setting at all. Graev and I used to have so much fun riding on the wings of planes and doing all sorts of zany stuff on BF1942. I hope to relive that.

What I’m most worried about is execution. Battlefield 4 was sorely lacking on so many fronts. The maps sucked, the vehicles sucked, the weapons were just ‘okay’.  BF Hardline was a bit of a joke. And if you consider it a BF game, and I sorta do, Battlefront was only just ‘okay’ for the hype.

I want to see better character customization, or none at all. I’d rather have Overwatch’s cosmetic progression over BF4’s implementation. I’d like the BF series to focus more on the gameplay and less on the tech and tools.

BF1 is on my list. Fingers crossed.

  • BF games have had so many iterations and everyone has a favorite. BF1942, BFBC2,BF2142,BF Vietnam. They all had their own nuances on the formula and right now its impossible to tell what itch BF1 will scratch. That being said, its still the only franchise that ties air/ground vehicles and infantry in one large scale map. I am excited, as Hardline/Battlefront seemed more like mods then actual worth paying for retail games.

  • “If you want to play three days early, an Early Enlister Deluxe Edition will be available for all platforms on October 18 for $79.99 and will include extra vehicles, weapons and emblems including the Red Baron Pack, the Lawrence of Arabia Pack, and new visual appearances for three large vehicles — the Frontline Camouflage Train, the Night Raid Airship, and the Dazzle Camouflage Dreadnought.” (source)

    Sounds like the same unlocks since at least Battlefield 2.

  • A excellent implementation of infantry, ground, and air forces is still Planetside 2, amazing for a free to play game and not pay 2 win with the weapons being side grades and the vast majority of the starting weapons standing up as solid choices throughout the game.

  • @Coppertopper: I feel like the BF series had noteworthy accomplishments from 1942 through BF2. Then BF3 came along and it was still nice, but lost a lot of those nuances that made those games life-long favorites.

    @Azuriel: I get grumpy when I see $79 editions having goodies I want, but don’t want to pay for. 😛

    @atem55: Planetside 2 was decent, but not as good as PS1. I didn’t like the gunplay in PS2.

  • 2142 was my favorite, though admittedly I didn’t play much BF2. Titan assault was the greatest game mode ever. Hope they can bring it back as “Airship Assault” or something in the base game since carrier assault in BF4 didn’t really do it any justice. Plus no one plays it since its part of the DLC.

  • 2142 was pretty good. It’s the only one I managed to play competitively in a league. The Titan mode was indeed the greatest game mode ever added. I totally agree. Titan mode has never been redone as well since, and I don’t know why.

    BF2 though… man, that was so great.

  • My issue with the most recent additions to the BF franchise has been the insanity of vehicles. Back in the day I remember them being something that had “wow” factor, and was meaningful because they were more of a rarity… and taking one down meant you had some breathing room until it respawned.

    Now they take forever to kill and damn near instantly respawn. Just zzzz.

    Side note: 2142 was amazing. I loved the engineer? I think. He had that shotgun, and a little remote sensor you could throw on a wall that would ping enemies on the minimap around it. I used to get ugly, setting up a little trapdoor spider nest with that setup. Hehe good times.

  • BF4 might’ve been lacking at launch but at the moment it’s the best multiplayer shooter you can get, especially considering the price of entry at the moment. Ridiculous amounts of content, tons of active servers, plenty of good/great maps and fantastic mechanics.

    Expect BF1 to be, in terms of mechanics and meta (unlocks, etc), BF4 with a WWI aesthetic, period weapons and no modern tech. Meaning no IRNV, no fire-and-forget weapons, no lock-ons in vehicles, etc.

    It’ll be very interesting to see how they handle artillery, horses and melee combat, though. Also, dogfighting in WWI planes should be tons of fun if they do it right.

  • @Rawblin:”My issue with the most recent additions to the BF franchise has been the insanity of vehicles.”

    OMG – worst balance issue ever, and they refuse to balance them!! When a certain ‘class’ for lack of a better word consistently insanely dominates (like 90 kills per death in a round regularly) its not a lack of player defense thats the issue. And now that BF1 is coming out – no chance this will be fixed. As an engineer specialist, when vehicles can see mines with the UV option – pretty easy fix right there!

  • @Coppertopper

    Exactly. And the RPG options for Engineers should not take a full ammo kit PLUS to kill a single tank. I’m pretty sure a Javelin, with its straight-down penetration would shred a tank with a single missile. But alas, no.

    C4 is still a reliable option (even though it takes what, all 3 charges for instakill?) but good luck getting close enough with the vision options vehicles have hehe.