There was a moment of sheer eldritch terror during my time with the open beta for Battlefield 1. Speeding across a dune in a jeep, ready to take over an enemy outpost, I turned to my squadmate. Recoiling in shock, I realized that his face had disappeared, leaving his helmet floating in stasis above his headless body. When the vehicle slowed down, his face reappeared like nothing was wrong, and he charged into battle. I was left reeling in my personal Haley Joel Osment moment. Is DICE’s new game actually a ghost story?
No, of course not. It’s more of the same product they’ve been putting out for years now: large scale, team-based battles across sprawling maps, complete with vehicles. And like that same product, Battlefield 1 is still contending with its signature Achilles’ heel a little over a month before launch: bugs, glitches, and more bugs. Disappearing faces, players rolling through scenery, scalable objects that probably aren’t supposed to be scalable—it’s all here, complete with a healthy dose of awkward control schemes. At least I didn’t experience any server crashes on day one.
Those were saved for the second day, when it went live for the whole world! Fun times.
When I wasn’t gawking at weird technical issues, I did manage to have some fun with Battlefield 1. The map available for play, Sinai, was a compelling mishmash of several different set-pieces. An imposing desert, a winding canyon, a small town, and other landmarks made the locale feel very dynamic. Snipers could navigate the canyons to pull off the perfect shot, and assault troops could round corners of buildings to ambush incoming targets. Combat felt tight and responsive, and I especially appreciated the new, oh-so-satisfying bayonet charge.
I wish I could say the same thing about vehicles, though. Jeeps control just fine, I guess, but both those and the tanks feel too floaty for my liking. At least they’re easier to grasp than the planes, which feel legitimately awful. Remapping the controls for these things is a must, because the default control scheme is an awkward hot mess of analog stick waggling. Even when you get the hang of it, though, the planes legitimately don’t feel that great, and their responsiveness is questionable.
It’s not just me, either. I watched players awkwardly fly circles around each other every single match of the ten-plus Conquest matches I played. That’s not to mention the several horrific, fiery crashes I witnessed on a frequent basis. Rest in peace, you brave souls, fighting the good fight against wonky controls.
Battlefield 1’s beta left with me with mixed impressions, ultimately. I like the sense of scale and the tight gunplay, sure. But the bugs, the awkward vehicles, and the weird loadout system left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The “but it’s a beta” argument might get raised, but this game’s had issues since the E3 alpha, ones that haven’t been resolved in the subsequent months. Considering the series’ history, I doubt it’ll be all polished off and ready for retail next month. Unless there’s a massive overhaul, I’d be really dubious of the sixty dollar price tag, plus the absurd fifty buck season pass.
