When Battlefield was really Battlefield
Found this great video and wanted to share. Its gonna hurt. A lot.
Forum Discussion
I'm with @Fringerunner on this one.
BF3 was essentially the peak for me or at least the real last BF game I can recall as a true BF experience from my point of view. In hindsight, I would take a BF4 over a BF2042 or BFV any day but the fact is that it was with BF4 where I started to lose my connection with the franchise.
I'm an older dude and bought my first gaming PC in the 80s (been gaming since the 70s but that's another story). Anyhow, I think during the time 1942 released (early 2000's?) I was likely still hot and heavy into Operation Flashpoint (ARMA predecessor) and the early R6 titles. My introduction into the BF universe really came with BF Vietnam in 2004(?). Man, that was a blast.
....so of course I picked up BF2 when it released the next year and I agree with @CantGetRight , that was the pinnacle. That was the benchmark for me that all BF's following would have to live up to.
You're right, 2142 was an anomaly @Fringerunner in that I was actually surprised I could like such a game after my initial skepticism for them changing to a futuristic format. Titan mode was pretty epic and a lot of fun.
Then the Bad Company games arrived and it was a welcome sight to see the return to modern combat. ....fun games and memorable moments.
....but then BF3 came on the scene and it felt like a modern Battlefield 2 game to me. A natural evolution of the franchise. BF3 is what I was hoping EA / DICEE were going to draw from directly when they were developing "BF6". When they announced it would be set in 2042 my heart kinda sank because i knew what was coming. We all know what followed with the design choices, etc.
For me, BF4 was the initial stages of the slide downhill. Hardline was a detour and BF1 while still being fun just wasn't a setting that piqued my interest. We were already well saturated with WW2 shooters by that time and WW1 wasn't any more interesting to me from a gaming perspective. ......quite the opposite in fact with the more primitive weapons and such. I dunno, it just didn't grab me.
When BFV rolled around I couldn't believe they were doing WW2 and I was even less impressed with all the drama surrounding it's release, etc. BFV was the first BF game I passed on. Even though I bought BF1 sometime after release on sale, I still bought it. .....not BFV. I eventually got it for free through y PS+ membership and just played the campaign which was ok.
Anyhow, here we are. I don't think I need to say anymore about BF2042 than what has already been said but the only reason I bought it was for Portal. ....sorry for the long, rambling post for those who bother to read it. lol
@Kean_1111 Funny that you mentioned flashpoint, i was going to point out in my last post that i was one of the weird ones that still remember flashpoint more fondly than Arma3 even if the latter is technically a better game but i figured the reference might be wasted due to the age of it..
And the first R6 game was great, spending 90 minutes making a breach plan, and then realizing you had to go back to the drawing board when several of your people got plinked as soon as the go was given, genuinely miss that game.
Shame the sequels were a continuous downward slope if you liked the first one, but oh well.
Your sentiments about 2042 were echoed by myself and a bunch of others during the test/beta phase, i pre-ordered mainly because of the portal trailer and the first "proper" game trailer which had so many callbacks to 3/4 i figured that's what they were going for, especially with all the "we're going back to what the players loved" marketing on the side.
As you say though, that horse has been beaten down to a smudge of glue by now so no point in rehashing outside of saying a lot of franchise "veterans" seemed to be hoping for the same.
And the first R6 game was great, spending 90 minutes making a breach plan, and then realizing you had to go back to the drawing board when several of your people got plinked as soon as the go was given, genuinely miss that game.
Shame the sequels were a continuous downward slope if you liked the first one, but oh well.
Your sentiments about 2042 were echoed by myself and a bunch of others during the test/beta phase, i pre-ordered mainly because of the portal trailer and the first "proper" game trailer which had so many callbacks to 3/4 i figured that's what they were going for, especially with all the "we're going back to what the players loved" marketing on the side.
As you say though, that horse has been beaten down to a smudge of glue by now so no point in rehashing outside of saying a lot of franchise "veterans" seemed to be hoping for the same.
Yeah, I recall doing a lot of my own modding with Flashpoint creating scenarios with with enemy patrols, etc. It was kinda cool because I could create it in such a way that although I knew the forces that would be there in the area. I didn't know exactly where they would be at any given time. ....adding an element of randomness.
I like the initial R6 titles like the original, Rogue Spear and Raven Shield. I bought Vegas but that's where disconnected from the franchise at that point.
Funny thing..... Ubisoft is essentially doing the same thing to their Tom Clancy IP as EA / DICE is doing with BF. Siege worked out for them with R6 but they killed Ghost Recon with Breakpoint. ....and they won't stop. They still haven't learned their lesson when you look at what they doing with Frontline, etc. I only hope EA / DICE wake up and get the BF franchise back on track.
There is plenty of money to be made with a BF game that pays homage to the titles of old by focusing on those aspects that made those games so great. This isn't just the reminiscing of some old farts IMO. Those games are fondly remembered because they were good. .....and good gameplay elements aren't something that just become irrelevant and outdated. Young and old can appreciate them and they do as proven in some of the games that look to bring back these gameplay aspects being brought to market by smaller developers.
I'm a firm believer that there is a renaissance of sorts (especially for console) of more authentic, military, tactical shooters that are coming onto to the market. There is a demand for it and it kills me to see developers like DICE, Ubisoft and some others that don't realize the potential they have within their own portfolio. These guys used to make these types of games that offer something different than what we see out there now with all these arcade style shooters.
I always thought of BF as a sort of mature version of CoD. Now? .....not much difference to be honest.
