

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. The first, the original and, for many, one of the best. Fan requests saw Conquest added afterwards, but the real strength of Bad Company always remained the single player.

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). 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. The result was levels of destruction we simply hadn't seen before, and that makes it a landmark game. 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. Shame, because it was the prototype for most things that made the sequel so brilliant. Many fondly remember Bad Company 2, but few talk about the original with quite the same enthusiasm. Battlefield 4 has come a long way since then, but we can't ignore the shadow of its false promises, hence its somewhat diminished position on this list. Sadly, launch day troubles soured public opinion on the game for quite some time, its best qualities blighted by crippled servers and bugs aplenty. 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.
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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. While the campaign is an improvement, 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.

With the foundation for a new era of Battlefield outlined by Battlefield 3, DICE's follow-up is essentially more of the same.
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Platform: PC, PS3, PS4 Xbox 360, Xbox One
