Preparing for battle
Unsurprisingly, what EA gave
us to try out was 64-player Conquest. In other words, an absolutely huge
battle that forces the use of team tactics thanks to the need to take
and control five capture points on the map.
Everything about the way Dice presents the pre-match is pure Battlefield, but smarter and shinier. The map immediately looks huge, but it's way more detailed and animated than it's ever been before.
From here you select where you want to spawn on the map (you'll be limited to your squad mates, captured points or certain vehicles) and which loadout you want to take, and even more so than before, the latter choice rests on how you want to play the game.
Do you want to be a tank-busting badass? That's the Assault class. A machinegun-wielding tank mechanic? That's support. Or you can be a healer or long-range damage-dealer by selecting the Medic or Sniper class respectively.
As well as dictating which gadgets/abilities you have, your class also dictates which weapons you have access to. During the hands-on I mostly played as the assault class (I love having an answer to those nasty tanks), and could choose between a shotgun and two different sub-machine guns as my primary weapon. Customisation of your weapons (scopes, attachments, colours etc) is also available in this screen, but was locked out for the demo.
Everything about the way Dice presents the pre-match is pure Battlefield, but smarter and shinier. The map immediately looks huge, but it's way more detailed and animated than it's ever been before.
From here you select where you want to spawn on the map (you'll be limited to your squad mates, captured points or certain vehicles) and which loadout you want to take, and even more so than before, the latter choice rests on how you want to play the game.
Do you want to be a tank-busting badass? That's the Assault class. A machinegun-wielding tank mechanic? That's support. Or you can be a healer or long-range damage-dealer by selecting the Medic or Sniper class respectively.
As well as dictating which gadgets/abilities you have, your class also dictates which weapons you have access to. During the hands-on I mostly played as the assault class (I love having an answer to those nasty tanks), and could choose between a shotgun and two different sub-machine guns as my primary weapon. Customisation of your weapons (scopes, attachments, colours etc) is also available in this screen, but was locked out for the demo.
Stunningly realised
Once finally dropped into the action, one thing becomes immediately clear: this game is beautiful.
I spawned on the edge of a valley on a map called Saint Quentin Scar, and the scene below was just breathtaking. Planes doing strafing runs, tanks and armoured cars barelling over hills, squads of soldiers sprinting from building to building with bullets and shells landing all around them. It seems clear to me that Battlefield 1 is capable of producing the most visceral, realistic and exciting, umm, battlefields gaming's ever seen. Let's just hope all of the maps are up to the standard of this one, and let's also hope that the console versions get some of the way towards looking as good as the PC build I was given to play for this demo.
Having spent far too long admiring the scene I'd already lost my squad mates, and as I pegged it towards a farm house next to capture point A was quickly torn to shreds by an enemy squad. Life in Battlefield 1 can be very short
I spawned on the edge of a valley on a map called Saint Quentin Scar, and the scene below was just breathtaking. Planes doing strafing runs, tanks and armoured cars barelling over hills, squads of soldiers sprinting from building to building with bullets and shells landing all around them. It seems clear to me that Battlefield 1 is capable of producing the most visceral, realistic and exciting, umm, battlefields gaming's ever seen. Let's just hope all of the maps are up to the standard of this one, and let's also hope that the console versions get some of the way towards looking as good as the PC build I was given to play for this demo.
Having spent far too long admiring the scene I'd already lost my squad mates, and as I pegged it towards a farm house next to capture point A was quickly torn to shreds by an enemy squad. Life in Battlefield 1 can be very short
Read more at http://www.stuff.tv/game-reviews/battlefield-1/review#KteuBMS4jrSt1fqX.99