➤ The Victory Bulletin 🎮

We have finally reached the end of the march that directly from Stockholm, from the DICE home, brought us to the review of Battlefield 1. Today the last embargo expires and we can therefore give you our final judgment on the game, also writing about the single player campaign, that many of you will have been able to taste (along with a small portion of the multiplayer) thanks to the EA Access subscription. So let's sum up the game: for now we just say that the Swedish developers have hit the mark again, improving what they did in both Star Wars: Battlefront and Battlefield 4. Before starting to talk about the campaign, the last missing piece of our coverage, let's spend a few words on multiplayer, for all those who have not read our previous articles, the one published five days ago mainly focused on the new Operations mode and the one from yesterday , in which we have properly gutted all the multiplayer component.

Finally, here's the Battlefield 1 review: DICE won World War I!

Multiplayer in a nutshell

The question that many will be asking is: "What impact will the World War I setting have on the typical gameplay of the series?" An impact undoubtedly benevolent: the title is XNUMX percent Battlefield, rifles and wooden planes have not changed the classic mechanics of the series at all. However, we can say that DICE has chosen to make everything a little more immediate; ballistics have been lightened, the pace is sustained: nothing to do with the war of position, in short. Longtime passionate users might turn their noses up a bit, but no doubt this less uncompromising setting works great.

A great job has been done to streamline and make the player's progression much more intelligible. The weapons might seem few when compared to the canonical number of shooters in a modern setting, but all of them have at least a couple of variants that drastically change their use, to the benefit of the specialization of the role and of your own style of play. The same thing goes for the classes, including those relating to the vehicles and the Elite ones: the developers have designed them with the aim of respecting the tasks, playing together, in short. Lone wolves will have a hard time without the support of their team. Above all, the sumptuous level design of the maps stands out. There are "only" nine, but they are often huge, varied, never dull and flat; discovering every single ravine, each of the many ways to get to the hot areas, is a really nice experience. We mention two: Monte Grappa, probably the most beautiful of the package, where it is easy to feel dizzy thanks to the difference in height between the valley floor and the highest points to "climb" and the Argonne forest, a lush and twisted maze, almost claustrophobic , which dwarfs the forest of Endor seen in Battlefront in complexity. And then there is the wide environmental destructibility, never so effective since the days of Bad Company, and the dynamic weather that can really upset the outcome of a battle. Speaking of game modes, Operations is a really nice addition and, more than the mammoth Conquest or Race, it really manages to convey the sense of the advancing front and the conquest of the terrain. Domination and Deathmatch squads add nothing new, which Pigeons of War does instead, a sort of revisited Capture the Flag. Unfortunately, however, there are still some problems with the balance of weapons, with a time to kill that is difficult to assimilate that can give rise to unpleasant situations, without forgetting the hitboxes that are not always XNUMX% perfect. Nothing destructive of course, but it is impossible not to notice these critical points in battle. In short, we await a corrective patch.

War stories

After the multiplayer discourse, it is now time to understand if the Swedish guys have really achieved something that makes us forget the trite political fiction of Battlefield 3 and 4. The answer is undoubtedly yes. A campaign that is not without flaws, mind you, but that lets itself be played with pleasure and that above all does not bore, not proposing mediocre or simply unsuccessful missions. DICE wants to tell the horrors of the First World War, and it does so through more characters, more actors on some of the main fronts, filtering everything through the fraternal friendship and the comradely atmosphere of the soldiers, between a spirit of adventure, personal growth and disillusionment. once on the battlefield. The narrative, which has always been a cross and delight of the series in single player version, has found here a good balance between (hyper) spectacularity and the story of the personal stories of the individual characters.

The first and special mission, Storm of Steel, is exemplary in this regard. We pass from one soldier to another once killed, "scripted" deaths where we know who we impersonated, complete with name, surname, date of birth and death, one of the many fighters who gave their lives in the fight against the Central Empires. Storm of Steel is therefore a real tribute to the men who lost their lives in the Great War, just over ten minutes for a small mission that has the advantage of effectively immersing us in the climate of war, in the midst of the mud and brutality of the combat. But then you leave the western front and the usual "world tour" begins, from the Spanish Alps to the Arabian desert, passing through the skies and hills of France until the unsuccessful landing of Gallipoli. All in the order we want. Therefore, having lost the bonds of the single story, the screenwriters were able to stage some "small" war stories that are decidedly varied, never banal pads in hand, but also rather short, which in fact can be completed in about five hours at level normal. The duration is not exciting, of course, but these stories make us passionate about the protagonists, and even if they are "canonical" in their development, without in fact breathtaking twists or particularly unforgettable moments, they are in fact funny. They will not remain as impressed as the most iconic phases of the "historical" Call of Duty set in the Second World War, but playing them is a real pleasure, also thanks to a breathtaking visual aspect where the Frostbite engine exaggerates without fear of dazzling us with special effects. In fact, they all have a particularity, they do not remain linked to their typology: for example, both the "aerial" and the "tank" history have sections on foot. But above all in different moments Battlefield 1 abandons the more "caciarone" spirit, to propose phases with a stealth vocation, then expanding these mechanics in the gigantic sandbox (never better definition) totally free of the Arabian desert or in the solitary race towards the fortress of Gallipoli . Italian history in this sense is the most "classic" one, but it is nevertheless decidedly enjoyable and epic as never before, despite the presence of a sort of ante litteram Terminator. It is a bit of a shame therefore that artificial intelligence is decidedly basic, showing limits in the threat research phases and often remaining impaled in the open. It doesn't completely ruin the gaming experience, but it's all too easy to take advantage of its shortcomings at times. And since stealth is encouraged, it is really a critical issue we must deal with. In short, play hard.

The beautiful side of war

We wrote it several times during this long ride that led us to the review and we reiterate it with pleasure now: Battlefield 1 is a real spectacle, whether played on a PC from Master Race or on consoles. Setting aside for a moment the added value given by the full-bodied and rich environmental destructibility (and related particle and volumetric effects), what is striking is the credible environmental reconstruction, and the whole system of lighting and refraction of the surfaces. Watch the sun glare off the puddles or metal parts of weapons, you are blinded once you exit a building. But above all, enjoy the flight over the London sky, with the sun's rays filtering through the thick clouds, for a truly breathtaking, almost romantic visual picture. And as usual, we can't help but praise the audio sector: Battlefields are the paradigm for all first-person shooters, and this is no exception. The weapons have real, real sounds, very different from each other; In addition to the explosion, you can almost hear the metallic noises when it recharges. Really engaging, in short. The Spanish dubbing is good, without particular acting peaks, and the music is good, evocative or enthralling when needed.

Comment

Tested version PC Windows Digital Delivery Origin, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Price 59,9 € Resources4Gaming.com

9.0

Readers (129)

8.7

Your vote

The leap backwards of a hundred years has paid off. Battlefield 1 is quite possibly the best DICE product of its most recent history, with a multiplayer that literally explodes thanks to its setting, where classes, weapons and destruction enhance team play while respecting roles. The maps are the flagship of the production, like a stellar technical component. Negative notes? Sometimes hitbox and time to kill problems remain, while the short campaign is a good step forward compared to the unsuccessful one of the fourth chapter, fun, without missteps and with a "stealth" vocation, but it is certainly not something unforgettable. If we also put artificial intelligence problems into it, we arrive at a good picture for the single player part, but not excellent.