Battlefield 1 Open Beta. The Good and the Bad
As a hardcore Battlefield fan, I've been playing the new Alpha since 5am, just an hour after it released. I've logged several hours of playtime, so I have played enough to talk about my experience. I have played every Battlefield game, and I must say, I was having a blast with this one, but I still found some serious issues that NEED to be addressed. This is, after all, a Beta, and it is subject to change. I feel it's both mine and the community's responsibility to be critical, and to provide constructive feedback. So here is a list of things I liked and hated while playing the game!
LIKED! Gunplay: The game played extremely well, and felt more like Bad Company 2 rather than Battlefield 4 (which is a great thing). The weapons felt good and well balanced, with some great heft to them. Destruction: Unlike Battlefield 3 or 4, everything you see can be destroyed, including the ground, which makes every match feel unique. A depression in the ground can act as the perfect cover spot to grab a point, and the destruction of buildings adds a great feeling of strategy. Weather: Now when I first saw this feature, I felt that it could be gimmicky, until I experienced it myself. Fog and Sandstorms have a huge effect on engagement ranges. Paired with the destruction, each match felt radically different, and I can see this becoming a staple for the entire battlefield series. Melee Combat: Like the weather, I was worried that the melee combat would be another gimmick. Boy was I wrong, it feels fast and brutal. Bayonet charges are both useful and satisfying, while standard melee weapons make close quarters feel deadly. This is by far the best melee system I have ever seen in a Battlefield game. Elite Classes: I personally hated the battle pickups in Battlefield 4. They didn't feel like they had much of an impact on the game. In BF1, they take on the role of super classes with higher health and beefier weapons. Again, I get that feeling I got when I played Bad Company 2 (which again is a good thing, man I loved that game).
These classes all felt pretty balanced, while still making you feel very powerful. I did not get to experience the Tank Hunter, but the Flame Trooper and the Sentry were pretty awesome. Despite the great power each class possesses, they also have weaknesses that can be exploited by other players. This adds another layer of strategy to the Battlefield experience.
Behemoths: I only got to experience the Train but boy was it awesome. It really did help turn the tide, and it was a ton of fun, especially with a coordinated team. The one problem I did see was how the Behemoths seemed to spawn pretty infrequently, and sometimes at awkward times.
One example is a match I just played where the enemy team got the Train with only 30 seconds left in the game. This would be a pretty easy fix down the road, but from what I've experienced, this could be one of the best additions to Battlefield.
Hated!
Tanks: The Tanks themselves are actually a joy to drive. Killing them is a fucking nightmare. The Assault class is armed with probably the most ineffective gadgets to ever grace a Battlefield title. TNT (the BF1 equivalent to C4) is useless since it can't stick to tanks. Anti Tank Grenades do little damage, have very low range, and take forever to throw. The Rocket Gun can only be fired while prone, has low ammo, does little damage to vehicles, is incarcerate, and it takes a forever to reload. Tanks can also self repair very easily without the driver getting out, so any major damage can be quickly reversed. This is probably the biggest game breaking problem for the game. Even youtubers who played the closed Alpha often complained about this. If this does not get resolved, this could have serious implications for the game when it launches. Medics/Revives: Playing the medic was something I loved about the Battlefield series from its first inception in BF2. In BF1, you spawn so quickly, and since you don't lose tickets when you die, reviving feels more like a convincing thing rather than a critical part of the experience. This results in fewer medics and medics just ignoring you if you die. Horses: I was so excited to see horses! I mean, this is truly a first for a Battlefield game, and something you don't often see in a large scale FPS. Sadly, this was quickly replaced with frustration as soon as I saddled up. Horses feel more Tank like than the actual Tanks in the game. They are slow, have a huge turning radius, they are not agile whatsoever, and they cannot move backwards. I have ridden horses before, and from my experience, I can say that these horses control like they are drunk. The saber works well BUT only on the right side of the horse. Seriously, if you are charging at someone, and they are on the left side, it is impossible to swipe them with your saber. This is baffling since the Right Mouse Button (or left trigger for the console) does nothing while holding the saber. Why not have a Trigger for both the left and right side of the horse? I mean Skyrim did it pretty effectively.
