Random Thoughts on the Battlefield Series
- PadrePlayz
- 7 days ago
- 5 min read
A lot of Battlefield talk lately. With Battlefield Labs leaking like a sieve and top secret content all over social media the anticipation for the next Battlefield is growing. Some hopeful a return to its BF3/4 roots others skeptical it will be another 2042 situation. I know this gamer is putting away some sterling for a PC upgrade so I am prepared for the eventual release of the newest entry.
Battlefield is a super popular game in the FPS space combining arcade style gunplay with a combined arms experience. As popular as it is I only recently became a fan of the series even though I bleed for a good FPS. I was; however, a Call of Duty kid. Could you blame me though? I was playing at the height of Modern Warfare, World at War, Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3, and Black Ops 2. Some people would call this the golden era of COD. That time period would have totally distracted me from Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3, two solid entries in the series. Which would have been my gateway drug to BF 4 and beyond. But that didn't happen thank you Activision.
I actually bought BFBC2 around 2013 on Steam and just could get into it. My brain wasn't fully matured yet. Same with picking up BF4 a few years later. I was still in the COD brain mode where I needed fast shooting and engagement every 10 seconds. So I shelved them. A few years went by and a friend had his Xbox on at a party and BF1 was loaded up. I gave it a try and was like holy shit this is good. All these different factions, weapons, locations. It was visually breathtaking and it stuck with me. So when BFV was announced I was like this is it, I am finally going to play a BF game at launch and its going to be so good! So hype! And life will be perfect. So BFV launched and it was... meh. Again I couldn't really get into it and I felt a little ripped off when comparing it to BF 1. There was only the British and the Germans in the online mode fighting in Western Europe and North Africa. The whole history of WWII and that's all we got at launch. Eventually they added the pacific campaign bringing in the Americans and Japanese and more content, but it did initially feel like a let down. Never adding the Soviets was a crime. Even the gameplay I really couldn't get into it. Running long sprints just to get sniped was just demoralizing and unfun. So was that it? Did I just not like Battlefield games? Enter stage left Battlefield 3.
I ended up getting BF3 on the cheap via steam sale around the pandemic. BF3 was where it all clicked. I finally realized you cant play a Battlefield game like a Call of Duty game. There is a different flow, a different tempo. You need to be alert and play your role. Throw down med packs, revive fallen teammates, resupply ammunition, and lay down spawn beacons. Get into a squad and support them. Throw some smoke and cap the objectives. When you play Battlefield like battlefield then the kills just come. Once you break free from your COD chains its a freeing experience. Also playing BF3 premium several years later with all the content and none of the bugs of a newer game at launch is fabulous. The classes are solid, guns are fun and fun to shoot, the maps for the most part are totally entertaining. Grand Bazaar, Seine, Metro, are just classic maps. Some of my favorites I learned are remakes like Gulf of Oman and Karkand. It really is just a great game that is still decently populated depending on where you live. I try to get into US servers, but I don't have much trouble playing in a German server once in a while. RIP console servers.
I have gone back to play BC2 and BF4 with a different perspective and found the enjoyment in these games. Even though I now appreciate the flow of Battlefield there is something about the maps in BF4 that just don't hook me like BF3. I was reading Reddit and someone mentioned the maps are too vertical. Lots of tall buildings you can take sniper fire from. I think that might be part of me not getting the vibe. BC2 has since been shutdown, but there are rogue servers through Project Rome. You can still play Vanilla and Vietnam even if you do not have the DLC. I actually recently tried it out because I did not have the Vietnam DLC so I never tried it. It is an amazing DLC. Battlefield Vietnam era is just so much fun. I wish there where more than 4 maps because its just a great theatre of war for a Battlefield game. I hope with Project Rome /Venice Unleashed some smart people create some mod where they build on Vietnam DLC. More maps, more vehicles, more weapons. Battle of Hue, SKS in hand, as an American APC rains machine gun fire down on you. I hope someone with skills reads my blog and says "this is my next mod project!!!".
Battlefield, like the aforementioned Call of Duty, has really lost its edge as of late. Is it the rose coloured glasses of nostalgia or are the new games not that great? I think most gamers would say the latter. I think the majority of gamers want the core of the game to be traditional Battlefield with some tweaks and innovations to make it a fresh experience. The problem is the Publishers shareholders wanting maximum profit. They want live service, subscriptions, battlepasses, $40 immersion breaking skins. They do not care if the user is having fun as long as they keep paying. Who would have thought Capitalism would also destroy our favourite imaginary worlds we escape too? At the end of the day only time will tell what kind of new Battlefield game we will be seeing in the next year or so. Lets hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
As always thank you for stopping in and giving the blog a read. I appreciate your support. Thank you and stay safe out there gamers.
The Battlefield series is the intellectual property of the Electronic Arts Inc. and EA Digital Illusions CE AB (DICE)
Call of Duty is the intellectual property of Activision Publishing, Inc. and the Microsoft Corporation
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