Alpha Preview: Battlefield 1 offers authentic, chaotic and epic battles

Earlier this year, Battlefield 1 was revealed to loads of praise from fans unlike Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The game showcased historically accurate (for the most part) World War 1 combat scenarios with authentic weaponry and set pieces. Fans were glad to see the series do something new and innovative that hasn’t been done in the AAA space of the FPS genre and take us to a place rarely seen in

games.

After getting over three days of hands-on time with Battlefield 1’s multiplayer, I can safely say the game delivers a World War 1 experience that only Battlefield and developer DICE can deliver. In the alpha build of the game I played, we played on one map that is a small town out in the country and has been a victim to the destruction of the war. When you start each match, the area is surrounded by a deep fog that gives players in the distance great cover to move freely across hills and fields for flanking but as the match goes on it slowly fades away. As you maneuver the map on foot, in iconic and lesser known WW1 vehicles, or by air, you will see so many buildings and other structures in complete disarray with some barely standing. Every building you see is enterable and they all have doors you can close or open, the attention to detail is perfect. Each house has a distinct layout and design to it and you don’t feel like you’re walking around the same house each time.

In traditional Battlefield fashion, almost everything you see is destructible through the series' Levolution feature, except Battlefield 1 can be destroyed to a much larger degree than the previous games. Houses lose complete floors, staircases are destroyed, roofs are torn off, the trademarked destruction has been take to the next level and it’s glorious! On top of that, there is a zeppelin that flies into the map near the end of the game and the losing team is allowed to control it and rain hell on the enemies on the ground.

While the zeppelin absolutely annihilates both infantry and air support, it can be taken down with enough firepower thanks to the powerful weapons equipped on the vehicles and the anti-air weaponry scattered across the map. When this thing goes down, it goes down hard. Once the looming giant receives enough blows, it ignites into a massive ball of fire and slowly sinks towards the battlefield, crushing anyone and anything in it’s path. Since the zeppelin is flown by players and isn’t on a set path, when this bad boy gets taken down it goes down wherever it is so if it’s above the town square, it’ll go down on top of it and crush all the buildings beneath it. Similar to the Siege of Shanghai map in Battlefield 4 where the skyscraper collapses and you fight amongst the rubble, the zeppelin’s carcass remains on the map for players to navigate and fight through.

While only a handful of weapons were at my disposal in the closed alpha, I got a great feel for the weapons in the game. World War 1 (which was known as The Great War before World War 2) really introduced a new era of weaponry or at least showcased it more prominently. We saw tanks, airplanes, automatic rifles, armored trucks with mounted MG’s, and much more. Since this was all so new at the time, the weapons and vehicles weren’t at their full potential compared to the weapons we later received in World War 2. You can feel the faults in these weapons, the automatic weapons don’t have a massive range and have a high amount of recoil and have relatively small clips so you will find yourself switching between your pistol and gun quite often. Even though these guns have faults, they don’t feel incredibly weak, I was able to take out 2-3 guys at once if I was accurate enough. If I focused my bursts, I could land some hits on guys in the distance even though it wasn’t enough to kill them I still got XP for the amount of damage I did to them.

One other new addition to the game is the ability to target specific points on a vehicle and damage it or completely disable it. If there is a tank on the move leaving nothing but a trail of the bodies of your allies behind or you see it moving towards an objective, you can focus heavy fire on it’s treads to disable it’s movement and then move in for the kill with your anti-tank grenades which act similarly to a slightly weaker C4 except you can throw these much further giving you a better advantage.

One of the most adrenaline filled things you can do in Battlefield is chasing someone for the shiny dog tags bouncing around their neck. The satisfaction of going up behind someone and plunging your blade into them and ripping off their tags and adding them to your collection is a feeling that can’t be matched. I know I sound psychotic and I should be locked up after writing that, but the close quarters combat in Battlefield 1 is even more brutal and satisfying.

In the alpha, I had the choice of a shovel, a hatchet, and every weapon I used was equipped with a bayonet. There was a menu filled with melee weapons to choose from but they were unavailable in the alpha, so I alternated between the shovel and hatchet while charging people with my bayonet every once and awhile. For those who played Battlefield 4, you may remember how frustrating it was to melee someone and then they grab your arm and can counter it by pressing one button. It was the most frustrating thing in the world, but that frustration is no longer present in Battlefield 1. You can melee anyone at any angle, if you come at them from the front you won’t kill them but you will do about 80 damage so if you put a couple bullets in them before or after hitting them you can kill someone with ease.

The actual animations for stabbing someone are beyond brutal. You can put a shovel in someone’s skull, charge someone full speed with a bayonet and knock them to the ground while impaling them with your lengthy blade, or swing a hatchet into someone’s body. Every time I saw one of these executions, I actually gasped because of the visuals and sound of the brutal murder.

The sound design is absolutely perfect. The crunching of gravel beneath your feet, the rumble of tanks coming past you as you hide from it in a ruined house, planes flying right over your head, and of course the sound of your guns booming throughout the battlefield. The attention to sound is brilliant. It creates an authentic World War 1 feeling and makes you feel as if you’re in the midst of the intense battle in front of you. I can’t even imagine playing this game with a proper surround sound system!

Overall, Battlefield 1 is shaping up to be one of the best FPS games in recent memory. It takes the genre to a new place and feels authentic to the time period. I feel a rush of excitement when playing the game with 64 players and looking around at all the chaos. It’s going to be interesting to see how Battlefield 1 fares against titles like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and EA’s own Titanfall 2 which releases a week after Battlefield 1. If you’re looking for something new and refreshing in the FPS genre, this game is for you. I can’t wait to spend more time with Battlefield 1 when it releases this October.

Battlefield 1 releases worldwide on October 21st on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. If you feel like tossing down a few extra dollars, you can get the game three days early with the Early Enlister Deluxe Edition which will cost you $79.99.