The “Battlefield” franchise has long been praised for its expansive, strategic and diverse multiplayer gameplay. Among many gamers, it is considered a more sophisticated and realistic shooter in which players must think strategically and collaborate with their teammates to win.

In recent years, the praise has been drowned out by scrutiny as players and critics have been disappointed with Swedish developer, Dice, for the last two games they have released. After the riveting success of their hit first person shooter, “Battlefield 4,” they froze like a deer in headlights.

Critics and long time fans were upset upon the release of their next game, “Battlefield Hardline,” as it seemed just like “Battlefield 4” only re-skinned in a cliché cops and robbers scenario. Dice was then bombarded with scrutiny after the release of one of the most hyped video games of the decade, “Star Wars: Battlefront.”

Players felt they bought a repeat of “Hardline,” as the game felt like “Battlefield 4” rewrapped in Star Wars robes. Losing the trust of its fanbase, Dice had to do something to resuscitate their reputation, and so they did.

Earlier this year, Dice announced that their next installment in the “Battlefield” franchise, “Battlefield 1,”  would be a first person shooter placed in during first World War. 

Since its release date, “Battlefield 1” has been a huge success. Although it has become Dice’s biggest hit in years, it is still under similar scrutiny as the game seems to just be the same game fashioned in a WWI setting. This is a valid criticism and while it does play almost the same as earlier “Battlefields,” you have to hand it to Dice, the game is very fun.

It is challenging and engaging to the player and it hardly gets old. One can play four separate games of multiplayer in a row, and feel they had a different experience and set of challenges everytime. It is quite possibly the most dynamic and adaptive first person shooter since “Battlefield 4.”

The game is not historically accurate however, as most of the weapons available to the player existed at the time of WWI, but were not readily available to the typical soldier and would have never been seen on the battlefield. Here, Dice went a little outside the bounds of realism to make the game fun and fast-paced, which is especially understandable seeing that WWI was a fairly monotonous war, where soldiers mainly spent their time sitting in the trenches.

Overall, Dice took a large risk with “Battlefield 1,” and it paid off. While “Battlefield 1” is slightly unoriginal and unrealistic, it offers hours-on-hours of enjoyable gameplay and entertainment.

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