EA Dice’s upcoming first-person shooter, Battlefield 1 , most recently become YouTube’s most liked trailer of all time with over 1.6 million thumbs up. Coincidentally, (though maybe not, knowing the “awesomeness” that is the gaming community sometimes) Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare became the most disliked with over 2.2 million dislikes. This hilarious contrast got us thinking about the reasons Battlefield 1 is going to blow the doors off of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare .
Image Credit: Vandad Farhady
Call of Duty Fails to Innovate Again
Battlefield 1 is going to be leaps and bounds better than Call of Duty because, well, it’s Call of Duty . Now, I loved the most recent relaunch of the series as I felt like it brought some new things to the table. Unfortunately, it looks like Activision will make me eat some of my words about innovation, as Infinite Warfare looks exactly like Black Ops 3. Maybe the over 2 million dislikes on YouTube were more than just a collective video gamer troll.
World War Setting
Dice seems to be the only first-person shooter developer that actually listens to core gamers. Battlefield 1 will take place during WWI and include all the awesomeness that surrounded this time period. For whatever reason, most developers just don’t get the point, and EA Dice was the only one listening. Let me use my platform to say it once more for the development community – we want WWI and WWII games, maybe even some surrounding the Vietnam Conflict, but we certainly don’t want anymore futuristic garbage.
Fighting Up Close and Personal
Dice has gone the extra mile by placing a stronger emphasis on hand-to-hand combat, creating an entire system centered around beating the life out of your opponent. Word on the street is bayonets, swords, and clubs will be highlighted tools of death within the game. For Call of Duty , we’ve got more futuristic guns and robots to do the work for us – yawn.
Air Combat
Air combat will also be featured within Battlefield 1 with a strong focus on dogfights, gun raids, and bombing runs, all while your best friend is perched within the backseat covering your tail. Can Infinite Warfare’s space combat beat the white-knuckle thrills of WWI-era dogfighting? I don’t think so.
Saddle Up
Dice has added a number of unique details to Battlefield 1 . One in particular that caught my eye is the ability to saddle up a horse and take her into battle. Yep, you can climb atop Black Beauty and charge into the fray as her mane flows in the wind. This may not be a big deal for some, but at least it shows a little innovation rather than the continual resurrection of futuristic platforms.