Summary
- Battlefield 2042 had a rough start but now offers a futuristic casual experience for gamers.
- Battlefield: Bad Company ramped up destruction for chaotic gameplay loved by fans.
- Battlefield 5 stands out with the best gameplay in the franchise despite not finding a large audience.
For as long as it has existed, the Battlefield franchise has tried to stand out from the crowd. Competing with games like Call of Duty has never been the raison d'être of the Battlefield games. Instead, they tend to carve their own mechanical path, building a loyal fanbase that loves its idiosyncratic and chaotic choices.
10 Battlefield Games With The Best Storylines
Players who enjoy an entertaining story can't go wrong with these entries in the Battlefield franchise.
Story has never been the trademark of Battlefield games. Instead, gameplay is king. This list is ranked just by that, with no consideration of story, graphics, or time period, only pure gameplay glory matters here.
8 Battlefield 2042
The Future Front
Battlefield 2042
- Released
- November 19, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- DICE, Criterion Games, Ripple Effect
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter
- OpenCritic Rating
- Weak
It's nothing controversial to state that Battlefield 2042 was a bit of a disaster when it launched. It was plagued by technical issues, a revamped class structure called "specialists" that the fans didn't love, and a series of maps that didn't feel like DICE's best work.
However, since release, DICE have worked hard to improve the situation, resulting in a game that stands proudly beside its franchise brethren, even if it's a little bruised on the way. For gamers looking for a casual Battlefield experience with futuristic tech, this is the one to go for.
7 Battlefield Hardline
Street-Level Gunfights
Battlefield Hardline
- Released
- March 17, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
As Battlefield was enjoying its period of peak popularity in the early to mid 2010s, EA spun up several spin-off initiatives to develop the IP further and gave Visceral Games the reins to develop Battlefield: Hardline, a law enforcement-focused entry that brought down the scale from massive wars to cops and criminals shoot-outs.
6 Hardest Battlefield Games, Ranked
EA's Battlefield series has always been dedicated to being realistic, but sometimes, this can also make them brutally difficult.
There's no doubt that the slightly hammy presentation and more intimate scale shook up the gameplay style entirely, focusing more on impromptu shoot-outs than tactical destruction and combat. Still, the game found an audience for those who wanted a little more Call of Duty- style arcade action in their Battlefield games.
6 Battlefield Bad Company
Explosive Madness
Battlefield: Bad Company
- Released
- June 23, 2008
WHERE TO PLAY
After Battlefield 2, the franchise was in a strange state of limbo, not yet competing with the likes of Medal of Honor and falling behind the resurgent and massively popular Call of Duty franchise. Enter Battlefield: Bad Company, a game that took the destructive nature of the earlier entries and ramped it up to 11.
The core idea of Bad Company, besides its renewed focus on story and characters, is that the world was entirely destructible, even if that meant unbalanced gameplay. Fans fell in love with this chaotic off-shoot of the central franchise, and it remains one of the best-loved games in the franchise to this day that still holds up mechanically pretty well.
5 Battlefield 3
Modern Combat
Battlefield 3
- Released
- October 25, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
By 2011, the Call of Duty franchise had taken over the shooter space, and other franchises were struggling for oxygen. Enter Battlefield 3, a soft reboot of the franchise, focusing on hardcore military simulation, massive maps, tonnes of vehicles, custom servers, and more than ever.
Battlefield 3 became a lightning rod for new players to enter the franchise, particularly on consoles where the Battlefield franchise had yet to flourish. Despite the... Controversial nature of maps like Metro, it remains one of the most beloved entries in the franchise, even if its gameplay doesn't quite have the refinements that it would later see.
4 Battlefield 1
Back to WW1
Battlefield 1
- Released
- October 21, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
Battlefield 1 was a big risk. DICE had just come off the biggest commercial successes in the studio's lifespan, with Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 directly competing with Call of Duty in the modern military shooter space, and Battlefield 1 was a sharp left-turn back towards Battlefield's history as a historical shooter first, rather than a modern-day one.
That risk, as it turns out, was worth it. Battlefield 1 is a stunning rendition of WW1, and may well be one of the best games ever made about WW1 with its genuinely engaging story. It proved that older-style weaponry could still be a lot of fun to play with in the Battlefield context, and the historical setting opened all sorts of new avenues for play, such as the infamous zeppelins or rail-bound behemoths.
3 Battlefield 4
Sequel Success
Battlefield 4
- Released
- October 29, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
After the success of Battlefield 3, the job was clear for DICE. Do it again, but do it more. So it goes with Battlefield 4 which took everything that Battlefield 3 did great, iterated, and amplified it as much as possible.
In many ways, Battlefield 4 is the crowning achievement of DICE in the modern military shooter space. It had a great set of maps, a renewed focus on destruction through the somewhat maligned phrase of "Levolution", and a fearsome armory set. All stripes of players could find a style that worked for them, and it retains a healthy online audience to this day.
2 Battlefield Bad Company 2
Maximum Destruction
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
- Released
- March 2, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
Though Battlefield reached new levels of success with Battlefield 3 in 2011 that set the franchise on an entirely new trajectory, some old-school fans bemoan the fact that DICE are unlikely to return to the Bad Company franchise again, particularly as Bad Company 2, released in 2010, is considered to be one of the very best games DICE ever made.
7 Best Maps In The Battlefield Series
While some battlefield maps tend to get in the way of the action, others only help to make the experience that much more engaging and fun.
Bad Company 2 went all-in on the zany attitude, the cheesy action movie aesthetics, and most importantly of all, destruction. DICE is yet to replicate the sheer destruction that could reign across Bad Company 2's maps that could be genuinely leveled by the end of a match. For some players, it's the very peak of what old-school Battlefield came to be.
1 Battlefield 5
The Best Of All Worlds
Battlefield V
- Released
- November 20, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- DICE
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Genre(s)
- FPS, Battle Royale
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
This might be a surprising entry for number one, but it's for good reason. Battlefield 5 returned to the WW2 roots of the Battlefield franchise, but it's also the most modern evocation of the game's trademark shooting, vehicle driving, and class system, which is yet to be developed further in a convincing way. On a side note, it's also got some great story content too.
In terms of sheer gameplay, Battlefield 5 remains unsurpassed. The shooting is super smooth, the movement systems are refined, the vehicles feel great, and the moment-to-moment gunplay has never felt more skill-based. Battlefield 5 never quite found its audience which is a shame, considering its got the best gameplay in the entire franchise.
Every Battlefield Game, Ranked
Battlefield 6 is out! But, where does it sit among the best Battlefield games in EA's franchise? First?