When it comes to First Person Shooters (FPS), a developer can only do so much. There’s the gun, the enemy, and (hopefully) the mission. For some games, a new coat of paint on the same FPS is what brings in the big bucks (*Cough* Call of Duty *Cough*). Nowadays, it’s hard to find an FPS with a good campaign. With the Call of Duty series floating around in space and having the EXACT same mechanics of other Call of Duty games, we, the gamers, need more. We need to quench our thirst for a story with an Arnold Palmer of FPSs. We need Battlefield 1.

Battlefield 1 is the dad that disrupts the Friday night party to pick up his kid who snuck out to bring him home. All jokes aside(thanks, dad), Battlefield 1(BF1) is arguably the best FPS of our time. Now available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, this groundbreaking game is a whopping $25-$55(used through brand new)

What makes this game so amazing? Let me show you a pro-con list that will start us off.

Pros:

-Great story

-Great graphics

-Engaging Multiplayer

-Price

Cons:

-DLC(Downloadable Content)

-The BattlePacks In Multiplayer

Great Story

Battlefield 1 is a game that puts you in the shoes of many different soldiers in many different situations. The campaign (the main story) is split up into 5 different stories in 5 different wars, played by 5 different people in 5 different armed forces. One more 5 and we’ll have a hot and ready pizza or the ABCs. Already, the game is massive. This style of campaign mimics the older Call of Duty games, and I’m not complaining.

When you start with any of the five stories, you are immediately immersed somewhere between 1914 and 1918. I won’t reveal any plot details, but I can describe the greatest sensory experience I have ever received from an FPS. My controller rattled, my headset buzzed with the ring of gunfire, my eyes were glued to the screen, taking in the details…”Watch out!”

In addition, the whole campaign satisfies our deepest and darkest FPS desires. Want to shoot a wounded fellow soldier? You got it. Want to burn someone alive? I don’t see why not. Have a burning passion to crash a plane into a horse? Well…actually you can do that too.

But what is a game without the looks?

Great Graphics

Depending on whether or not you have a 4K quality T.V and an Xbox One S, or grandma’s old office P.C, your visual experience of Battlefield 1 will differ. In general, the graphics are amazing. The FPS (Frames per second) mixed with the HD (High definition) really packs a punch. I never knew my eyes were hungry until I fed them a spoon-full of WW1 gameplay.

Engaging Multiplayer

Oh, the joyful word Multiplayer. Whenever you’re tired of playing alone, you join up with a team and go storm a castle. You can take Multiplayer seriously, or be what is known as a “Troll.” Serious players use teamwork, position call-outs, and flank maneuvers. “Trolls” love sitting in the corner of a building and throwing tear gas at his/her teammates. Besides the behavior of the players, BF1’s  Multiplayer is seriously impressive. You have the ability to fight drawn out, massive wars with up to 128 people (the maximum found on P.C servers)  playing on one field. That’s a lot of 12 year-olds.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a first-person shooter without a rank system in Multiplayer. The system is simple enough. You play the game, get kills, capture objectives, gain “Experience Points (XP),” and level up. If you’re a low-level rank, then you’re the bottom of the food chain (thanks, Darwin). If you’re a high-level rank then your ratio of playing time to outside time is probably unhealthy.

Overall, Multiplayer is only as impressive as you make it. Games can be fun if you make them fun. Personally, I love the ability to fly around the map in a Great War fighter-plane, whilst smiting my foes with the gracefulness of a flock of geese. If the geese had MACHINE GUNS.

Price

In short, you get a big bang for your buck, so to speak. With the standard edition of the game, you get a lot of content and lots of hours of gameplay. Of course, this brings up the age-old dilemma of:

DLC (Downloadable Content)

My my, I didn’t see you come in Vandehaar. DLC is, personally, my least favorite thing about games. Don’t get me wrong, getting more stories, weapons, etc. is great, but it costs MONEY. You have to buy a base-game already, but the fact that you have to pay 20+ dollars for more content of a game you already paid for is just greedy. This, however, does not stop the 12-year-old community from punching in mom’s credit card numbers into their PlayStation account to get an extra hour of story or a new skin for a gun. Developers make too much money from DLC, and this has been true for a long time.

BattlePacks

What type of person would I be if I didn’t mention the BattlePacks? BattlePacks are received from leveling-up your Multiplayer rank and doing well in Multiplayer matches. You can get them as rewards or you can trade in Scrap to get them. It’s basically a mystery-box that gives you a random weapon or weapon skin. There are also different varieties of BattlePacks that cost more Scrap to unlock. In addition, you don’t get very many of these at all, but fear not, for you can BUY them if you don’t feel like waiting for a level-up or for enough Scrap. Another paid DLC option for the good people.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the BattlePacks system. I feel that you should be able to get Scrap from matches, level ups, and achievements. Once you have that Scrap, you should be able to simply buy the weapon, weapon skin, vehicle skin, etc. that you want for a set price. This system doesn’t rely on random chance and does rely on playtime and skill in Multiplayer matches.

Concluding Thoughts and Ranking

All in all, I love Battlefield 1. The graphics are great, the story is engaging, and the Multiplayer feels fast-paced and intense. Sure, there are some pesky DLC, but that’s almost normal nowadays for first-person shooters. Out of 5 stars, I give the game a mighty 4.1 stars. I highly recommend this game to those of us who love a good WW1 shooter with mass-multiplayer experiences and great stories. Just don’t let your parents know about the sudden disappearance of $20 from their bank accounts.