The Battlefield series has made a name for itself thanks to its excellent multiplayer modes, which have popularized concepts such as vast player counts, multiple and moving objectives, vehicular combat, environmental destruction, and more. But as good as the multiplayer modes have been, the single player modes for the franchise have always been lacking, varying in quality from average and acceptable to awful and disappointing.
This is something that a lot of people are hoping will change with the upcoming Battlefield 1, the newest entry in the franchise. This wish makes sense, too- Battlefield 1, which is based in World War 1, has a great setting, and it would be a shame not to have a campaign that utilizes a setting with so much promise properly. Speaking to Metro UK, DICE’s Patrick Bach admitted that the studio has had problems trying to nail down exactly what a single player mode in Battlefield should be like.
“Trust me, we’ve been thinking a lot about not only how do you make it good but what’s the Battlefield recipe for single-player?” Bach said. “Because we’ve been trying different things to find where the sweet spot is. Because in one way you want to entertain a different part of the audience with the single-player, you don’t want it to be multiplayer. You want it to be different.
“But you also don’t want to be like another game, where people say, ‘Oh, it’s like that game’. You need to find your own personality, and I think we’ve done that with multiplayer and solidified that over the years. But I don’t think we’ve reached as far with single-player.”
Knowing the problem exists is half the solution already- and I really hope that now that DICE have identified what the problem is, they will be able to address it appropriately in Battlefield 1– this is a game that is crying for a proper, well done single player mode that realizes its setting thoroughly.
Battlefield 1 launches on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 this October.