Battlefield 1: Campaign Review
Electronic
Arts and DICE have teamed together once again to release the latest title in the
Battlefield Series, Battlefield 1. While most First Person Shooters of the
genre lately have been looking into the future for their content, Battlefield 1 takes place in the “War to End All Wars” World War 1,
and introduces gamers into the horror show that inflicted the world over 100 years
ago.
From
the opening sequence tutorial introducing players to the game, it is quickly evident
that survival is near impossible and with each death a name is shown across the
screen with a date of birth, before taking up the weapon of another soldier. Throughout the game, the
ruined remains of buildings, the dark barren landscape filled with barb wire
and smoke, Battlefield 1 within the first few moments successfully recreates
the Western Front Battlefield of World War 1 and continues to do so throughout all of the campaign as well as multiplayer. It excels at bringing the
horror of World War 1 to the gaming world and is often a dark and grim adventure
with landscapes littered with the corpses of dead soldiers and destroyed
buildings making you realise the hell these men and women faced during
the conflicts, and their battles just to stay alive, let alone complete their objectives.
Battlefield
1 has kept the single player campaign element, albeit with a slightly different
twist. Whilst many gamers will mainly show interest in the Multiplayer modes
on offer, the campaign of Battlefield 1 is told through a series of
short stories which can be played in any order, each focusing on a different soldier’s
story during World War 1. From the campaign menu, Battlefield 1 highlights the
geographical spread across the globe World War 1 actually was, and the impact it
had on so many countries. With a multinational cast of well written
characters these short stories each take place across different battlefields from Europe to the Middle East. Battlefield 1 also pays it respects to the
historical events that took place during World War 1, with each loading screen
littered with education information about the scale of this so called Great War. Each part of the campaign is based upon real events and battles, even though the characters and their part are fictional.
With each
story of the campaign, DICE has done well to introduce players to the different vehicles
and fighting styles of gameplay that Battlefield 1 has to offer. From driving
tanks through the muddy trenches of the Western Front in France, to flying planes
over London, and riding across the battlefield on horseback, as well as the normal aspect
of running and gunning FPS, each story brings with it a distinctive different
style of gameplay. The stories themselves are broken down into chapters, which
flow smoothly from objective to objective with detailed cut scenes in between.
The
disappointing element to having the campaign split across these individual stories is that
not one is ever given much time to develop and shine, often finishing all too quickly just
as you are getting drawn into the action. Each story’s protagonist is well
deserving of their own full game, and whilst there isn’t a single story to dislike,
the shortness of the fight does get a little frustrating. The story involving
the Australians and their march upon the beaches of Gallipoli is one that draws
things to a close well before they should. Peter O’Brien the Australian actor
is brilliantly placed into the cut scenes of the game, as veteran Aussie
Digger "Bishop", and his character immerses you into what the ANZAC's faced, and the harsh expendable treatment they faced at the hands of the
British Forces. But just as pace and action builds up the time spent in the Dardanelles is cut way to short and the climax comes well before it should.
Campaigns have been a weak and forgotten element in
recent years for DICE, so much so that Star Wars Battlefront never even had one,
and for Battlefield 1, the campaign comes across as a small side show for the
multiplayer game modes on offer. Whilst the content and characters of each story
is great, the time spent with each character and story is cut way too short, being just over 5 hours long in total, really isn’t good enough for
a game of this calibre and triple AAA title. Even though the contents of Battlefield 1's campaign are of top quality, it is a tale of not enough quantity.
RoyBoy
Aussie Gamers Express