BATTLEFIELD 1
Genre : First-person shooter | Developer : EA DICE | Publisher : Electronic Arts Website : battlefield . com | Price : $ 59.99
38 The OverClocker Issue 40 | 2017
There ’ s no overstating just how smart of a move it was for EA and DICE to cram the Battlefield franchise into a DeLorean and transport it back in time to World War I . This muchloved , multiplayer-centric firstperson shooter series was forged in the fires of the Second World War with Battlefield 1942 , which was released back in 2002 and quickly gathered a huge following due to its unique , massive-scale approach to multiplayer mayhem . Since then , the series has switched eras a number of times . It ’ s visited the dense jungles of Vietnam and the mech-filled future of the year 2142 . Following that , Battlefield had seemingly settled on the modernmilitary aesthetic first employed in Battlefield 2 , which eventually also became the setting for the third and fourth games in the core series . Considering that most other multiplayer FPSes are currently firmly fixated on present-day and futuristic warfare , few people were expecting that Battlefield would rewind the clock and once again look to humanity ’ s history for its inspiration . From the moment Battlefield 1 was announced , you could tell it was the right move . For one thing , precious few games have tackled The Great War , and people were instantly besotted with the idea of a World War I-era shooter with AAA production values and DICE ’ s trademark style . But has all that initial promise and excitement translated into a game that ’ s got The Right Stuff , and can stand alongside the familiar modern-military hardware of Battlefield 3 and 4 without feeling as antiquated and clunky as the WWI tech with which it ’ s filled ? The short answer is : yes . Yes it has .
First things first , let ’ s deal with the aspect of Battlefield 1 which surprised me the most : its singleplayer campaign . It ’ s actually worth playing . And that ’ s something I never thought I ’ d get to say about the solo portion of a game bearing the Battlefield logo . Truth be told , I haven ’ t played the solo campaigns of either of the Bad Company spin-offs , and maybe those are