The Battlefield series of FPS games on the PC is one of the most popular in the genre on the platform. So with its move from PC gaming onto console, with the release of Battlefield Bad Company, is the franchise on the decline?
The Battlefield franchise has been unrivalled in PC FPS gaming. On its first appearance in 2002 it became hugely popular, with gamers creating online communities dedicated to long-running campaigns between the Allies and Axis powers. Even from the beginning it had more going for it than its competitors, incorporating naval vessels and landing craft, aircraft and land vehicles, and played with a distinct amount of tactical realism. As the franchise continued, this became a unique feature. Where we have been stuck following linear plot-lines in Half Life and Call of Duty, Battlefield has always offered more open gameplay than its rivals.
On its removal from PC, however, with Battlefield Bad Company, gamers had feared that the franchise may be on the decline. This article introduces you to the series’ unique elements, and discusses whether or not the franchise has suffered from its move onto console
Battlefield 1942
Battlefield 1942, the first game in the series, was released in 2002. It offers online and LAN multiplayer and a one-player campaign mode in which gamers can fight battles in four different theatres of WWII in chronological order. The player can choose to fight on the side of the Allies (UK, US and Russian forces, dependent on the game-map) to defeat the Axis powers or to fight on the Axis side (Germans, Japanese and Italians) to change the course of the war. Somewhat realistically portrayed, the battles have no linear objectives other than to capture strategic flag points and wipe the enemy off the battlefield.
BF1942 established the series’ unique style of gameplay. More co-operative than any other FPS for PC at that time and still only surpassed in this way by its successors, the aim of each round is to decrease the enemy’s number of tickets automatically by holding more than half of the “control points” on the map, or decrease the number by one for each enemy killed. In this way the game awards players for a more realistic approach to war, an element which would remain important throughout the series on PC, rewarding players not only for their effective fighting but also for their grasp of strategy and their dedication to defending strongholds.
Battlefield 1942’s graphics are obviously quite dated, and it is in this way that its main competitor of the time, Half Life Counter Strike, trumps it. As dated as they are, though, the landscapes and locations are still unbeatably large and impressive, if at close range a little “blocky”. The weapons too, may not look as realistic as they do in Counter Strike, but none of these graphical handicaps effect the aiming. For its time, too, the quality of gun control is excellent, with rifle kicks and automatic burst inaccuracies all playing a part.
Apart from the graphical letdown the game still plays, impressively, in pretty much the same way its successors do, if a little more loose and slow. As a fan of WWII FPS on the PC, this is one you can go back to and enjoy. However, servers began to close down and gamers moved, for online multiplayer at least, to Counter Strike, which still remains popular, and the makers of the franchise knew they needed a sequel to beat the inevitable competitors.
