9. Storm of Steel – Battlefield 1
It was evident from the word “go,” that EA and DICE were going to approach World War I with a sense of reverence and historical integrity. The war, which took on the look and feel of the rapid industrialization of the time, proved that mankind had taken significant strides forward in its ability to cause casualties on a massive scale. New weapons and technology made WWI one of the deadliest wars with 18 million killed in action. World War I was a horror on the most epic of scales.
First-person shooters often fail to grasp the horrific realities of the wars they claim to so accurately represent, making battles out to be nothing more than overt displays of valor and heroism. All too often, however, war is filled with frightened young men putting their lives at extreme risk for a cause they may not fully understand, and Battlefield 1 captures this sobering reality in its opening mission “Storm of Steel.”
“What follows is frontline combat. You are not expected to survive,” the opening title card reads as you find yourself thrust into the middle of a storm of bullets. Upon each death, you are given the soldier’s name and birth and death year. All disturbingly unceremonious, as well as disturbingly young. Storm of Steel serves as an impactful reminder that war is made up of individual lives which are too often forgotten and even more so cut too short.
