Here are the best Battlefield games you need to know about BattleField. It’s time to discover more!
The newly released Battlefield 2042 hasn’t made the cut – despite its sprawling 128-player combat, content and server issues. It has been a blight on the experience since day one. There are various games here to play. Here’s the rankings of the best Battlefield games.
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
Platform(s): PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Release year: 2005
In 2006 Battlefield 2: Modern Combat was a truly amazing experience. In the earliest days of online play for consoles, this Battlefield 2 spin-off was unlike anything else on PS2 or original Xbox – and the polished-up version landing on Xbox 360 in 2006 wasn’t so bad either.
It allows you to hotswap between soldiers across the battlefield with 24-player online rounds of Conquest and Capture the Flag. It’s a scaled down experience compared to what PC players were dealing with, but it was a solid conversion for the comparatively underpowered consoles, letting those of us with early PlayStation Network and Xbox Live accounts dream of bigger, bolder multiplayer experiences.
Battlefield 1943
Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360
Release year: 2009
In terms of content alone, Battlefield 1943 is quite small. It has just a handful of multiplayer maps, vehicles, and weapons, with no single player experience.
But it didn’t matter, because it’s one of the most enjoyable multiplayer FPS experiences that you could long for.
1943 is the classic Battlefield experience distilled into its purest form. 24 players, three classes, one game mode, and three excellent maps – battles waged on Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima have become legendary for the players who were connected to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network at the time. Battlefield 1943 makes up for its lack of content with finely-tuned balance and memorable maps.
Battlefield 4
Platform(s): PC, PS3, PS4 Xbox 360, Xbox One
Release year: 2013
With the basics for a new era of Battlefield outlined by Battlefield 3, DICE’s follow-up is essentially more of the same. It still had plenty of room for improvement – not that you cared all much once you were knees deep into Battlefield 4’s upgraded multiplayer options.
While DICE clearly struggled as it worked to release Battlefield 4 on PC and across two console generations, there was a lot to love here.
PlayStation and Xbox owners could finally appreciate the joyous chaos of 64-player matches, while the Levolution system – in which huge parts of each map could be drastically changed by weather and player activity – is still an impressive addition.
Launching day troubles soured public opinion on the game for quite some time, its best qualities blighted by crippled servers and bugs aplenty.
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Battlefield 5
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
Release year: 2018
There’s a lot to love about Battlefield 5. It’s a systematic, meticulous approach to reworking multiplayer leads to some of the finest gunplay experienced in an online shooter to date, while the presentation has never been better thanks to detailed animations, state of the art technology, and a rousing, monumental original soundtrack.
By widening the skill gap and dialing down the spectacle, Battlefield 5 obfuscates the primordial craze of its predecessors for something a little more muted and a little less distinctive against the range of other shooters on the market.
Battlefield: Bad Company
Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360
Release year: 2008
Many fondly remember Bad Company 2, but few talk about the original with quite the same enthusiasm. It was one of the first Battlefield games with a proper story, characters who you enjoy spending time with, and it represents the first use of the now legendary Frostbite engine in the Battlefield series.
The result was levels of destruction we simply hadn’t seen before, and that makes it a landmark game. Sadly, DICE’s lack of experience in crafting a solo campaign was exposed too, with occasionally poor AI and some strange control options marking an otherwise excellent experience.
Multiplayer was a sticking point too, as the game only shipped with a mode called Gold Rush (a prototype of the new classic Rush mode). Fan requests saw Conquest added afterwards, but the real strength of Bad Company always remained the single player.
Battlefield 1942
Platforms): PC
Release year: 2002
Battlefield 1942 is a formative piece of gaming history, in which DICE first took the concept of the hardcore military sim and marketed it to a wider audience. Not just valued for its historical importance, Battlefield 1942 is a fantastic first person shooter in its own right. For its time, the open map design and record breaking 64-player limits were a jaw dropping feat of technical power that let PC players value every penny they’d invested into their gaming machine, and even today, the authenticity of the gameplay stands up well.
All the DNA of Battlefield is here – class-based gameplay, vehicular, all-terrain combat, team-focused multiplayer modes – proving that DICE had struck gold with a formula that has maintained its appeal in the shooter genre all these years later. Oh, and it was the game which blessed us with Wake Island, a near perfect multiplayer map, which justifies its position in this list alone.
Battlefield 1
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One
Release year: 2016
The biggest, wildest Battlefield game to date, Battlefield 1 turned the clock back after years of modern combat to get a ferocious presentation of World War 1.
Coming off of a slew of forgettable, modern day campaigns, Battlefield 1’s War Stories took a different method via a series of isolated vignettes, spotlighting the individuals on each side of the conflict, and paying off greatly in terms of both pace and pathos.
Battlefield 1 is up there not just as a definitive high point for the series, but for the FPS genre at large.
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Battlefield 2
Platform: PC
Release year: 2005
Modern Battlefield games started with Battlefield 2. The series began to move away from the mindset of players swarming around static capture points in miniature wars of attrition.
Players were encouraged to join one of their team’s squads, giving them both a mobile spawn point via their squad leader and a way to get more specific objectives than get all the flags.
Battlefield 1942 established the broad concept that all the following games would pursue, but Battlefield 2 refined and focused it in many ways that persist today.
Battlefield 3
Platform: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Release year: 2011
EA put Battlefield 3 as a true contender to Call of Duty’s throne in 2011. Developer DICE got back to Battlefield’s roots, all as it positioned this big sequel as a simultaneous release across PC and console.
It lacked in Bad Company 2-levels of destruction and carnage. Battlefield 3 compensated for with a deep multiplayer. They offer beautiful environments, great variety in vehicles and weapons, and solid rewards for team-play.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Platform(s): PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Release year: 2010
It turns out that Battlefield has a real personality on its off hours. Battlefield Bad Company 2 has the best campaign of the franchise to date. It has funny writing, unique mission scenarios, and a cast of funny characters.
Bad Company 2’s multiplayer was equally carefree and chaotic. It has varied maps and a whole suite of amazing physics, destruction, and sound effects.
In addition, the tragically underrated Vietnam expansion nails the historiography of its setting better than most full Battlefield games.
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Hope this list of games is the best battlefield games for you to play. Don’t forget to leave your comment!