What’s up fellow gamers.

Grab your service weapon a whole lot of ammo and dig in, because we are here to talk about one of the first AAA titles that will be closing out the year. We’re ready to take that fucking hill with Battlefield 1.

Let us start off by saying that DICE, the developers of this series, has nailed boots-on-the-ground shooter by far. For those who don’t know, most first person shooters have become obsessed with boost jumping, wall running, and other kinds of advanced movement mechanics. With almost every other game of this kind taking place in the near future, it’s a breath of fresh air to have something where robots and super-human feats are not a thing. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not like there is anything wrong with advanced movements, but for those who don’t like that flavor, you have this game.

Taking place during WWI, Battlefield 1 transports you to a gritty time of warfare, where most weapons were either bolt action or semi automatic, and bayonet charges were still a thing. To start, let’s talk about the campaign. You play as service men from different units on opposing sides of the war, with differing points of views and geographic origins coming into this brutal war. One issue here would be that there are five heroes that you follow, and it’s bit jarring at times. That being said, DICE does try to emotionally pull you into the game. However, they do a great job pulling you away from the traditional good guy/bad guy set up, and they fill the story with many shades of gray. Unfortunately, there is only five hours of gameplay when it comes to the story mode. Five. Hours. With such little time and so many heroes to follow, DICE fails to hit the mark.

Even when a blimp blows up in the sky, we had to stop and just look at the amount of work that went into that alone. And soon after, we died by said blimp falling on us. The destruction is at its best since the Bad Company installment, and with no old gen consoles to carry, the frame rate stays at a good clip.

There are an assortment of vehicles, from planes to dogfight in to even a horse to ride on as you attack your foes with a saber. This time around though, there seem to be less counters for tanks, making them, well, more tank-like. The sounds are crisp and does a great job in providing immersion. Whether it’s planes buzzing high over head, or the wiz and crack of a round flying by you, barely missing your skull. It’s all there and done right.

Now comes a bit of a gray cloud on our sunny day. The progression system is there, but not balanced. As you level up you get different weapons and attachments, but there is a fall off at certain points. You can gain five more levels and not get a new weapon or any attachments of any kind. At first we thought it’s because of the time period that this game is set in, until we did some research and found out that there were more weapons and attachments in real life than that are in the game. One could speculate that either this was a short cut to focus on other parts of the game for balance sake, or perhaps the other weapons are locked behind a pay wall and will be released in the form of a DLC. The latter does seem to be a bit more likely, especially if you factor in that DICE has done the same thing in Star Wars Battle Front.

In fact, an argument can be made that when it comes to the lack of certain game modes, weapons, and even whole armies like the French or the Russians, excluded in the multiplayer game, there is a bit lack of content in general. In the menu screens, there are numerous ‘coming soon’ parts to the game that are not open. When you consider that the game costs $60, or even up to $200 with a $50 season pass, it’s a black eye to DICE. Yet, you can easily find yourself putting in hours to master a class, weapon, or vehicle as is always the case with all installments in the Battle Field franchise.

You can easily find yourself putting in hours to master a class, weapon, or vehicle as is always the case with all installments in the Battle Field franchise.

Our advice? Buy this game at the $60 price tag for sure, but maybe wait on the season pass to see how things shape out. This is a absolute for any fan of war games or FPS fans. DICE has come a long way since their Hardline installment, and we give Battlefield 1 8 out of 10.

Happy gaming.