At the beginning of each Battlefield 1 online match, you can hear the screams of agony from soldiers far off in the distance. It’s a tragic reminder that EA’s latest installment is about the cruel and incredibly grotesque combat that killed thousands of soldiers during World War 1.
Although there have been other games that’ve set themselves within the first Great War, Battlefield 1 is the first to strike a unique balance between keeping tonal historical accuracy while maintaining the genre’s love for run and gun action. While you're having a great time fighting the good fight, constant reminders of the conflicts harsh conditions can be found within every level of the campaign and sprinkled throughout each multiplayer match.
It's funny, the outcry for more games based off World War 1 and 2 has been loud since the modern setting has grown tiresome. But shooters have visited World War 2 so many times in the Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Medal of Honor franchises that players should be equally as tired of the setting.
The difference between shooters in settings is that the World War 2 titles have had a hard time capturing the horror of war. And although that could be due recent enhancement in graphical capabilities or the higher levels of production value in blockbuster titles as of late, I think it’s something else entirely.
Ever since Activision and EA shifted their focus to fictional modern and future conflicts, a primary element of their games have focused on the morality of war. It can’t get any harsher than Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s Aftermath level putting you in the blast zone of a nuclear explosion. You even had to crawl through the wreckage of your chopper once the dust had cleared, only to find the bodies of your fellow soldiers among the waste.
Battlefield 1 isn’t just merging modern gaming mechanics and technology with a World War 1 setting, it’s combining the moral ambiguity of the modern warfare titles with a setting we haven’t seen much of since the release of Call of Duty: World at War in 2008.
Historical accuracy is important, but it can take form in many ways. Sitting in a trench for hours on end only to fire off the occasional shot at a stray German runner wouldn’t be that enjoyable. What’s important is EA and Dice not misrepresenting the war, instead using the fast paced action of modern FPS’s to convey the brutal tone of WW1.
Having fun gameplay is the most important part of a game, so trench warfare may not be preferable. But even when the shooting mechanics are enjoyable, killing enemy soldiers shouldn’t always feel good (unless you’re a sociopath). A big part in achieving that dark feeling is providing players with characters and campaigns that actually matter to them. Battlefield 1 succeeds in that department by providing often unknown aspects of the war from focusing on Arab tribes rebelling against the Ottoman Empire or the company comprised by only black and latino soldiers.
Storm of Steel, the prologue mission, sets the deadly tone of the game well. You take control of members of the US 369th Infantry, an all-black regiment known as the Harlem Hellfighters. You're thrown into the action quickly as explosions and gunfire erupt around you during a German assault.
As you attempt to push back the incoming German forces, you’ll die over and over, and that's how the game wants it. Sometimes you'll be forced to die if you last longer than the mission wanted you to, because death is part of the plan. Every time you die you’re shown a name, birthdate, and date of death for each soldier before being shoved back into the action as another infantrymen.
Also See: Battlefield 1 Is An Instant Classic – Review
Storm of Steel works as an introduction you to the basic run and gun mechanics of Battlefield 1. How to shoot, reposition, and reload, but it also served as a grim reminder of World War I’s overwhelming death toll, establishing a dark tone.
While it's a short mission, not resembling the vignette like missions in the rest of the game, it set the pace for what to expect for the remainder of the game.
That same dark tone is present in all of the modern warfare titles released in the past 10 years, although it's been beaten into the ground as each game has done virtually the same thing with little noticeable change.
While the World War 2 setting had been used over and over again before the most popular FPS franchises, Battlefield 1 combined the best of both worlds. It brought the variety and imaginative settings of the Great War together with the moral ambiguities and challenges of modern wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The human stories that showed us more than the typical shooter were a welcome addition to the Battlefield franchise.
