For a big budget first-person shooter, these are ambitious creative decisions indeed, and together creates something that DICE can and should be proud of. Its opening level, for instance, brings an intelligent spin to the “game over” trope, as each death doesn’t lead to an instant reset, but becomes an opportunity for bleak remembrance, as the camera pauses to commemorate each soldier’s life before briskly moving to another fighter on the field. Putting multiplayer aside for one second, however, it’s hard to deny that the team behind Battlefield 1’s campaign did a fine job of conveying the themes of World War 1 we’re so familiar with - hope, tragedy, heroism, grief - in a manner well suited to the advantages of the medium. Then there’s multiplayer, which turns the WW1 setting into an arena for digital sport. One the one hand, you have a sombre campaign which sincerely delves into the human cost of war. Where you can play it: PS4, Xbox One and PC.īattlefield 1 is a game of two disparate parts.

What it is: A first-person shooter and the latest title in DICE's Battlefield franchise, this time set in World War One.

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