Battlefield 1 an underwhelming entry to the genre
author: ethan butterfield | a&c writer
The game’s sweeping landscapes redeem some shortfalls. | Flickr
The game – although stunning visually – doesn’t step up to the plate.
Like slipping into a comfortable pair of slippers or having a warm cup of cocoa on a cold day, nothing feels quite as good as enjoying the special things in life. That thing for me in particular is gaming!
So, a new semester has begun and already I regret a lot of decisions I’ve made, one of the these being the return of Buttonmashing. I kid of course, I’m very excited to get back into the realm of gaming reviews even if it is for a brief week. That being said, without further ado, here is my review of Battlefield 1.
Now to clear up a quick rumor, apparently Battlefield 1 is not the prequel to the popular Battlefield 1942 released in 2002. So don’t be like me and try to find 1,941 sequels for this series because they absolutely don’t exist. All joking aside, I was actually very interested to check this entry into the first-person shooter franchise out. Considering all the backlash that the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare trailer received, it seemed like a good opportunity to see what DICE had planned to make Battlefield 1 stand out from its rival. The result is a resounding “eh…I guess.”
To start off, Battlefield 1 gets the look and feel of World War I down very well. It really shows the developers were serious about the subject matter they’d been presented with and they didn’t try to glorify war like in previous “modern warfare” based shooters. To give you a visual, the opening cinematic begins with a cover of “Dream A Little Dream of Me” by Margot Bingham, who has quite a beautiful voice. It then fades into the battleground of a war-torn Europe, showing a vivid and brutal description of what war was like on the frontlines. I honestly found it incredibly hard to watch.
So Battlefield 1 has the look and feel, but does it have the innovation to match? Short answer: No. Unfortunately, as pleased as I was by the opening, and by the stories that were crafted for the campaign, the gameplay just doesn’t hold the same appeal. Mostly due to the fact that, besides cover-based shooting and well constructed in-game set pieces, there isn’t a whole lot going on. Sure, there’s multiplayer, but I’ve always been of the mind that selling a game based on its multiplayer potential alone isn’t really the way to go. Games like Titanfall tried the multiplayer-only thing, but now Titanfall 2 is out and with it comes a fresh and interesting single player campaign.
All in all, Battlefield 1 is a title that I’d definitely recommend picking up. Despite my own personal grievances with some of the features, there’s enough here to keep you interested before moving on to whatever EA releases for the next installment. A game that brings the era to life but is a bit out of focus here and there, Battlefield 1 will come as a welcome entry to fans of the genre.
