Last week DICE and EA finally opened up the floodgates as the public was introduced to Battlefield 1, DICE’s newest installment in the franchise, which takes players all the way back to World War I. Looking back at the announcement, and after having set the trailer to repeat at least a dozen times, let me tell you why DICE just put up a new high roller on my most-anticipated list of games for this fall.
The past few years most flagship multiplayer shooters have been set in either present day or the future, which has pretty much been the progression of the genre in the past few years following the over-saturation of World War II shooters a few years back. Now fans have been clamoring for the franchise to turn back to its roots in the likes of Battlefield 1942 for example, and whilst a return to World War II would’ve been a great deal for many, I’d go as far into saying that when it comes to decisions, DICE couldn’t have done any better than they have with the decision to take the franchise into this old but new territory.
What has me most excited about all of this is because Battlefield 1 is that it’s so fundamentally different than the expectations and wishes that were set ahead of its reveal. Having grown accustomed to Battlefield 4’s gameplay over the years, it has become my go-to multiplayer experience in between games, and despite that I still enjoy it to a great extent, the fact that we’re being thrown into a completely different era and even gameplay experience is something that I think gamers need more than they want it, and that’s a good thing.
Another thing that I have grown incredibly attatched to over the years is weapon customization, but considering the time period this’ll be a huge change when it comes to that mechanic within the game. DICE has noted that the game will have the mechanic present in some form, though considering how guns really worked it’s really tough to say what form this will take. This is accompanied by the fact that for all intended purposes this installment could be a huge back-to-basics moment for both the developers and the players. I can’t say I won’t miss my constant testing of different attatchments in the test range for multiplayer in Battlefield 4, but it’ll be an interesting experience.