The Battlefield games, developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts, has long been in competition with Call of Duty as a semi-realistic, large-scale combat game. But most recently, we’ve witnessed a paradigm shift. In 2020, the latest Call of Duty is the large-scale extravaganza and a clearly winning title and the most recent Battlefield game is a total mess. In fact, developer DICE is already done updating their World War 2 first-person shooter this summer. It’s over.
It wasn’t always this way, though. Back in the day, if you wanted a romping good time behind the controls of a tank or in the cockpit of an attack helicopter, it was Battlefield you booted up. If you wanted small-scale, house-to-house CQB battles with assault rifles and submachine guns, it was Battlefield you booted up. What happened?
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But the series is not yet finished. We have old titles to enjoy, and there’s always the future!
For the sake of this piece, we’re focusing on a few core series entries, not on titles such as Battlefield Play4Free or Battlefield Heroes, both of which were abysmal.
Which is the Best Battlefield Game?
Battlefield Hardline
We’ll begin with the most obvious choice and, very clearly, one of the worst entries in the series since its inception. Hardline is the only Battlefield game not developed by DICE. Instead, this cops-and-robbers outing was headlined by the defunct Visceral Games.
Hardline had the concept locked down. It took its premise from daytime television crime shows but ramped up the action and explosions to Michael Bay levels. With a large variety of authentic weaponry used by major crime syndicates and law enforcement organizations, Hardline was poised to succeed and add variety to the militaristic franchise.
But it failed. It was clunky, poorly written, overly political, and downright unenjoyable to play. Even cool game modes, like Heist, were poorly executed and stale.
Battlefield 2142
Released in 2006, Battlefield 2142 was an outlier in the series. Instead of putting players into the boots of a modern soldier, 2142 cast us into the future — a future in which hover tanks and mechs were mainstream on the battlefield.
Unfortunately, cool premise aside, DICE rushed this one out of the gate. 2141 launched just a year and a half after Battlefield 2. It was a gimmick and felt more like a rushed cash grab than anything else. Sure, some mechanics were entertaining. It was fast-paced, included a varied arsenal, and who doesn’t enjoy walking battle mechs?!
The thing is, people who play Battlefield tend to enjoy a more realistic experience overall, not science fiction tropes and an abundance of snow and ice.
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Battlefield Vietnam
I’ll be honest; I absolutely adored Battlefield Vietnam. There are too few Vietnam-era video games out in the world today. But looking at Battlefield Vietnam objectively, it wasn’t a winning or memorable experience for most franchise fans.
Unfortunately, this one fell victim to the political arena. Vietnam was still fresh in people’s minds, as a more recent war. Many critics used this point to bash the game, which certainly hurt sales and cast a bad light on the title as a whole.
From a purely nostalgic standpoint, Battlefield Vietnam was a fun experience for a short while. It was entertaining to ride a moped through the jungle and chase the GI out of Vietnamese rice paddies. Would we return to the game today? Absolutely not!
Battlefield 5
The most recent Battlefield game, launched in 2018, to enter the scene was Battlefield 5 — a return to DICE’s WW2 arena. The title appeared doomed from the moment its announcement trailer hit screens. We saw a war-torn vista, complete with punked-out characters wielding sniper rifles in one hand and a claw hand in the other.
We get it; DICE wanted to create a Battlefield entry accessible to many. But the reality is fans of the franchise wanted a remake of Battlefield 1942 — a more realistic, boots-to-the-ground World War 2 experience.
It certainly does not help that DICE developers took to Reddit, speaking with members of the community and telling everyone they would be on the “right side of history.” By rewriting history. That statement rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. The result? Battlefield 5 is finished. Its development is concluded as of this summer.
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Battlefield: Bad Company
When you think of Bad Company, you likely imagine Bad Company 2, right? Well, there’s a reason for that. It’s because the original title was a prototype of sorts. When DICE went about creating their first genuinely story-based Battlefield game, they did so while testing the Frostbite engine and design elements that would go on to create the second game and many following titles in the series.
Bad Company provided us with so much entertainment. Its cast of characters and totally-destructible environments were splendid. The AI? Not so much. The multiplayer portion of the game? Barebones. Bad Company launched with a single game mode known as Gold Rush, which would later become the iconic Rush game mode we all know and love today. It was clear that the studio was more focused on story and less so on compelling multiplayer, which is the backbone of the Battlefield franchise.
Overall, Bad Company isn’t a terrible game. It’s just not a great Battlefield game.
Battlefield 1
I’m saddened to tell you all that, despite my love for Battlefield, it took me a long, long time to enjoy Battlefield 1. I didn’t like the premise upon announcement and, therefore, I skipped the game at release. What a major mistake!
It wasn’t until a friend bought me a copy during an Origin sale that I truly enjoyed Battlefield 1. So much, in fact, that I managed to get my wife into the game after gifting her a copy. She had never played a first-person shooter like it, but she was hooked.
I think that speaks volumes about Battlefield 1 and the accessibility DICE managed to grasp in their World War 1-era shooter. Furthermore, how many games out there are tackling WW1? We see so much focus spent on World War 2; it’s a nice breath of fresh air in the trenches. It was a dark, ominous shooter — memorable to the last round.
Battlefield 4
On a purely subjective note, Battlefield 4 remains my all-time favorite game in the franchise. It has everything I enjoy; from sprawling vistas to fully-customizable weapons of every type and caliber. Battlefield 4 is entertainment incarnate.
But that’s not to say the 2013 shooter was without its faults either. At launch, it was plagued with overworked servers crashing near-constantly, game-breaking bugs, and a lack of enthusiasm from the fanbase altogether.
Today, Battlefield 4 holds up as one of the strongest titles in the series. If you load up the game today, no matter the platform, you are sure to find countless full servers, long queue times, and fun to be had through the night.
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Battlefield 3
To many, Battlefield 3 far surpasses that of number four. Personally, I believe much of that stems from nostalgia, as DICE attempted multiple spin-offs and free-to-play garbage titles in the previous years before Battlefield 3 was released to the public. Still, 3 is a fantastic entry into the modern setting Battlefield games.
Like Battlefield 4, Battlefield 3 featured modern weaponry and settings that allowed for plenty of variety and customization. The downside? Its campaign was an absolute mess. For most, that doesn’t matter. And it shouldn’t, either. The multiplayer, which is where the franchise shines most, was splendid. It managed to nail the ambition and scale that DICE had long sought.
Even better is that, upon release, Battlefield 3 was pretty stable and smooth. A few bugs failed to hinder gameplay and enjoyment for most players.
Battlefield 1942
Now, this one is old. Battlefield 1942 released in 2002, which was before some of you were even born. It was one of the first large-scale World War 2 shooters of its time, with a strong focus on military simulation but with a mainstream twist. DICE wanted to grab hold of a larger player base, and it worked!
Battlefield 1942 featured the staple class-based gameplay we all know and love today, vehicular combat, exceptional multiplayer modes, and more. After 18 years, Battlefield 1942 is only held back by its visuals, which still hold up for those of us who enjoyed the game back in the day.
Battlefield 2
In 2005, just three short years after battling through World War 2, DICE launched Battlefield 2 to the masses. It was a modern Battlefield game — the very first in the series — with a strong focus on squad-versus-squad combat.
Players were encouraged to use teamwork to complete objectives and to follow a squad leader. It was here that DICE also introduced the defibrillator to the medic and an ammo bag to the support class to allow for on-the-go refreshment.
Has Battlefield 2 withstood the test of time? Yes! If you hop on the game today, you’ll still find full servers with tanks and infantry barreling down highways today!
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
In what was a momentous shift from the military sim-like gameplay of previous Battlefield games, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 became the benchmark in realistic character development, memorable storytelling, fully destructible environments, and chaotic multiplayer.
Bad Company 2 marked one of the first times that many people — us included — actually wanted to finish a Battlefield campaign in a single playthrough. It was funny; the A-team-like heroes fell into mishap after mishap but managed to escape through the calculated use of quips and rocket launchers.
But what about the multiplayer? You know, the staple of the Battlefield games? Oh, it was downright unbelievable at times. Bad Company 2 offered a variety of unique maps with unbeatable physics and destruction that, unfortunately, DICE decided to abandon in future titles. Then, after a time, DICE released the Vietnam expansion, which took us back to the jungles once more, albeit with more destruction and violence than ever before.
I might reinstall Bad Company 2 today!
How is Battlefield 2042 Now?
When the latest game in the franchise, Battlefield 2042, was released to the world, it was absolutely abysmal. The franchise stepped away from its roots to introduce a hero-based shooter filled with bugs, glitches, poor performance, and terrible level design.
That was on release, so how is Battlefield 2042 now? While it’s definitely improved somewhat, thanks to numerous updates, there are other, better games available to play in the first-person shooter space. It’s doomed to endure dead servers for eternity!
Well, there you have it, the Battlefield games from worst to best. Did we miss anything? Did you have a different number one?! Let us know in the comments below.