BETA PREVIEW – The open beta for Battlefield 1 (should have been called 1914), is finally here, and many were able to sink their teeth into the newest iteration of the franchise. After a long DDOS attack, in the beginning, players were thrust into the marvelous world of World War 1. The open beta offers two modes, Rush and Conquest, with both modes being hosted on the same map. Rush is defending the objective points mode for one team, while the other has to take those points. Conquest, on the other hand, is a massive 32vs32 player war zone with a few new additions. Does Battlefield 1 have what it takes to be successful, or was The Great War too much of a gamble for EA?

Battlefield 1 according to developers is aimed at being much more brutal, not just in terms of weapons and gore, but gameplay mechanics. After playing many matches in the open beta, I can safely say that Battlefield 1 is the most brutal game, simply because there are no modern technology attachments to aid the player. No scopes (other than beside the Scout class having the sniper), no laser pointers, or bullets that track the enemy upon lock-on.

This is just pure luck, skill, and distance on who wins the matches. The weapons are a mix of auto, and semi-auto weapons, and there are five main classes: Assault, Support, Medic, Scout, and Pilot/Tanker. All five classes have their weaknesses and strengths. Also, they have specific items and customization options for our characters. The melee system has also been expanded, instead of having just a small knife, you get to do now bayonet charges while your in-game character screams at the top of his lungs! Oh and there’s mustard gas to use to kill infantry rather quickly.

Mustard gas, and bayonet charges

Vehicles are also in the game, but DICE has done some liberties with them in order to speed up the gameplay of Battlefield 1. The tanks can host five people, and there’s also a smaller tank with the capacity for two people. We also have bombers and fighter planes added into the mix. The tanks compared to World War 1 are fast, and the planes are actually able to be up in the air for more than ten minutes, but both vehicles provide such neat atmosphere to the game, that historical maniacs will also be able to enjoy the game. The tanks are a tough nut to crack, as without proper coordination they cannot be taken down easily.

The game is much more heavily team oriented than say a Call of Duty game or earlier Battlefield games. Which works most of the times, but the revive mechanics seems a bit bugged. In fact reviving is not being used that much since respawning can be done in a matter of seconds. Still, the game provides enough variety to the combat that it is worth jumping into the fray. Gameplay boils down to basically capturing objectives sprinkled over the map, although Conquest seems to have added a few tricks.

If the open beta’s implication is correct, Conquest will have a few special vehicles / events. In the beta map, we have a train that once activated rains hell upon the enemy, with its Anti-Air, Anti-Vehicle, and anti everything cannons. It can be destroyed, but it can take some considerable amount of time for the players to destroy the giant behemoth.

We hope that all of the maps will feature some special element of the maps. Especially since we are once again getting only four maps, and later down the line if the player invests in the season pass, will get 16 more multiplayer maps.

The bugs, and sandstorms

Since it is an open beta, we cannot expect for everything to run perfectly in Battlefield 1. A fun glitch people have noticed is that the weather effects run client side, so while I can have a sandstorm obscuring my vision, another player can see just fine, and kill me.
Menu freezes are also a bit constant, and at times respawning is a real pain in the ass, since clicking on a respawn point at times nothing happens. Lag is also a bit of an issue for most players, and the Xbox One version plays the worst according to multiple sources.

Sometimes people would teleport all over the map, and you would just die instantly. Though this issue will and probably is already resolved, it might have just been an after effect of the DDOS attacks that were made against the game. The game is not too buggy and rather well done for an Open-Beta product. Let us just hope the wide-release will be clean as this phase of the game’s life.

Dust, and gore

The visuals and audio is of the usual DICE quality. If people have played Battlefield 4, and Battlefront (2016), they’ll know what I am talking about. For those who never played those, well get ready for PTSD inducing screams, explosions everywhere, and atmospheric sound design. Every explosion, every shot leaves a mark in the game world, dust and dirt is all over the place, and what was once a clean battlefield becomes a field of vehicle corpses that burn into the night.

There is also a dynamic weather system added to the game, so there can be a sandstorm, or stormy clouds during the gameplay. The music is epic as ever and provides a real heroic music once the final minutes of the game are nearing for the players. Everything meshes well together, and with this game, the brutality of war is well matched with the sound and visual design of the game.

There is not that much gore, though and seems to lack in that department, which hopefully will be upgraded to the final build of the game. No limbs are flying around after an explosion, nor any heads rolling after a headshot from a sniper. It feels a bit lifeless, and while DICE was able to give the feel of World War 1 regarding explosions and atmosphere, the lack of brutal violence is a bit disappointing, especially if we consider The Great War to be one of the most brutal wars of our time.

Dun dun dun … tütütü

Battlefield 1 deserves the praise it got during the initial trailers, and the game does iterate on the franchise. It adds newness; there are no killstreaks or flashy missile strikes. Instead, it focuses on the raw brutality ( with a bit of lack of gore) of war. Hopefully, the full game does have some well-balanced maps, as this Sahara map is a sniper’s glory field. The game is out on the 21st of October 2016, and we cannot wait to get our hands on it.
Battlefield 1 is a return to the classics, and the atmosphere, plus new ideas to Conquest will shake the combat up. Let us just hope the map variety is there to keep the game afloat.

-Dante-

Since it is an open beta, we cannot expect for everything to run perfectly in Battlefield 1. A fun glitch people have noticed is that the weather effects run client side, so while I can have a sandstorm obscuring my vision, another player can see just fine, and kill me.

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: EA DICE

Genre: First-person shooter

Relase date: October 16, 2016