E3 2016: Battlefield 1 Preview

June 15, 2016

Transcribed from notes taken by Adam Ghiggino.

You’d be hard pressed to go by E3 2016 without hearing about Battlefield 1. Hell, we don’t think you’ll be able to go the rest of the year without it knocking on your door. It knocked for us, and we’ve answered, going hands-on at E3 2016 to see how DICE’s latest big multiplayer shooter is shaping up.

The wonderfully delightful twist on tried-and-true modern warfare, Battlefield 1‘s First World War is what we’d call a heightened reality. One based in the history but fluffed up for fun, where zeppelins on the battlefield are less of a rarity and more of a regular occurrence.

If said zeppelins attract you, you’ll be happy to know they can be piloted. Known as Behemoths, these are the largest player controlled vehicles ever to grace a Battlefield game. Though you’ll need to be careful, as Zeppelins can be shot down by carefully aimed ground attacks and aircraft assaults, the results of which are quite spectacular; as the Zeppelin falls to the ground, its flaming rubble will crush the entire area underneath. As you can imagine, this means destructibility takes a front seat. Villages can be demolished if needed, such as playing as the tank commander and needing to clear a path. We found it particularly satisfying to simply smash down walls in our tank, rolling over fences and wire, both to surprise the opposition and to carve a path for our allies.

If you’re not in a vehicle you’ll be on your feet, shooting with classic First World War weaponry, and if you’re really game rushing your targets for a bayonette charge. Landing a charge results in a powerful strike, but missing is a fatal mistake as you stumble in the wrong direction and leave yourself open to attack.

We thoroughly enjoyed our hands on time with Battlefield 1. On one hand it is a little bit predictable; the capturing objectives seems relatively uncharged, as does the staple Battlefield gameplay. However, the setting and visuals are a wonderful change of pace from the last few modern games. At this point the presentation is the real seller, although we’re sure more is to be revealed as we get closer to release.