1. Battlefield 1
When Activision and Infinity Ward looked straight ahead and blasted themselves into the future, EA and DICE took a step back, listened to fans, and returned to World War I. However, it’s the ways in which DICE managed to make Battlefield 1 feel so unique, yet authentic that made it stand out in the crowded past few weeks.
Rather than telling its campaign story from a single perspective, Battlefield 1 offers players five shorter War Story campaigns that tell personal stories and struggles as part of the greater picture. Not only did these allow for some cinematic and heartfelt moments, but they managed to retain a level of sincerity and respect for the real-life events by not glorifying these stories. Combine this with some incredible visuals and you’ve got one of the most enthralling campaigns of the year. It’s a shame it was so short, though, with all of the War Stories weighing in at roughly seven hours.
Luckily, Battlefield 1’s multiplayer maintains the series’ trend for epic scale, compelling battles with a splash of vehicular warfare in there for good measure. With the usual suspects of Conquest, Domination, and Team Deathmatch making up a chunk of Battlefield 1’s game modes, it also features a novel take on capture the flag that has both teams hunting down carrier pigeons on the map to send messages to your team’s artillery. With epic 64-player Operations matches that see you battling in all manner of vehicles across different maps, Battlefield 1 is an impressive example of how the FPS genre can adopt a much larger scale while maintaining the tense and fast-paced action.
Battlefield 1 is the complete package offering both a single-player campaign and multiplayer that have an air of authenticity about them. The campaign’s different approach to storytelling led to it feeling heartfelt and kept things fresh throughout its entirety, while the multiplayer improves and continues to build on the solid platform that DICE has created for years.
