Battlefield 1: “If BF4 was like Formula 1, this is more like rally”

COLOGNE, Germany—With shooters trending towards the modern or futuristic—see the likes of Titanfall and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare—Battlefield 1 and its exaggerated take on the First World War is something of an anomaly. And yet, when it was unveiled in May, the first Battlefield 1 trailer became one of the most viewed and liked game trailers of all time. Who says old military technology would make for a less interesting game, eh?

More so than any other game in the series, Battlefield 1 has the potential to capture the spirit of much-loved games like Battlefield 1942 and the original Call of Duty, which were both set in WW2. Replacing guided missiles and thermal scopes with bolt-action rifles and bayonets forces you to play keener attention to the environment and, crucially, learn how to master the basics of your weapon instead of relying on gadgetry. The fundamental principles of staying alive in a war zone—checking all of your corners, keeping track of allies, only crossing an open-space when it’s safe, and making best possible use of vehicles—are brought to the fore.

“I think that the response we’ve had so far is that people seem to like the fact that it is an analogue battlefield that we’re presenting and that there’s less high-tech equipment,” explains Lars Gustavsson, Battlefield 1 design director. “Here we’ve brought in shorter engagement distances deliberately in order to expand the diversity of viable tactics, so it becomes a more accessible experience…Our analogy has been that if Battlefield 4 was Formula 1 then this is more like a rally championship. Both are great and highly competitive sports, but they work under different circumstances. There are more details in Formula 1, but rally is more brutal.”

Without the ability to lock-on through walls, and track enemies with pinpoint accuracy across a level, each kill and each life saved feels that much more significant. You feel as though you’ve earned your victory with your own hands, rather than relied on a computer to do it for you. However, Gustavsson is adamant that the reduction in military technology hasn’t brought with it a less technical and detailed experience. In some cases, he believes the opposite to be true.

Multi-seated planes are back in, allowing a pilot and a gunner to combine their talents. This not only allows players that are uncomfortable at the controls of a plane to get airborne, it encourages them to learn a greater number of skills as there are more possible roles to fill. Thanks to a lack of a missile auto-lock system, every kill must be earned through skilled shooting. Gustavsson describes this as forcing “more responsibility on to the players.” Single-seater planes and dedicated bombers also appear.

One of the populist lines of thought that Gustavsson wants to overcome is the idea that WWI was a war fought entirely in trenches. That type of confrontation might have been dominant along much of the Western Front, but other battles were fought in very different ways. Aerial combat and tank warfare were increasingly common in the latter half of the Great War, but battles involving mounted cavalry were common in the mountainous deserts that dominated much of the Ottoman Empire throughout what is modern day Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Israel, as well as parts of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Naval engagements were an important part of the war too.

At Gamescom, my hands-on experience included a new multiplayer map, the Sinai Desert, which was designed to highlight the nature of the conflict between the British and Ottoman empires. The scenery is imposing in its bleakness, with high rock cliffs forming channels along which water has long since abandoned. Planes, tanks, trucks, and horses are available as a means of travel and combat.

“In this map the Brits are pushing towards the Suez Canal as the Ottomans are trying to push them back, although ultimately the British force the Ottomans to retreat to Constantinople [Istanbul],” Gustavsson explains. “Generally we don’t want to lecture people with a history lesson, but there will be plenty of material that gives you a lot of insight into what took place in those years. There are a lot of elements in the Sinai Desert event that we try to recreate, especially that idea of the old world meeting the new. The pool of inspiration has been enormous in terms of new gameplay and this is our chance to show something that we’ve never shown in Battlefield before.”