Ranking Every Battlefield From Worst To Best
Battlefield set the standard for combined arms multiplayer, but which release is the best?
As DICE's premier franchise, Battlefield has made a lasting impact on the first-person-shooter genre over the years. With its excellent technical presentation, dynamic gameplay sandbox and focus on both on-foot and vehicle based combat, the series has been a regular fixture in online gaming.
Over the last decade it has also lead the way for many other franchises under EA's banner, running on the powerful Frostbite engine.
While it's mostly regarded nowadays as a franchise EA keeps on pressing DICE to make, its impact on the wider multiplayer scene can't be understated. As clichéd as it sounds, the massive battles that take place in every game are rarely matched in other FPS franchises. Whether it's landing an awesome multi-kill in a jet or teaming up with your squad to take the objective, Battlefield has always offered an entertaining
We're leaving out expansions and side entries like Battlefield: Vietnam and Battlefield: Modern Combat and focusing on all ten mainline entries from 2002 to present. From failed experiments to immaculate design, here is every major release ranked from worst to best. Move out soldier!
10. Battlefield: Hardline
It may have its fans, but there's little doubt that Battlefield: Hardline is the worst entry to come out of the franchise. It was an effort to get developer Visceral Games involved with the series, ensuring that it would have an entry for 2014 to compete with its nemesis, Call of Duty.
The premise must have seemed like a good idea at first; taking the Battlefield formula and transplanting it into the police scene. It's worked incredibly well for titles like Payday and with the franchise's powerful engine, it could have been an interesting direction.
What players got in 2015 was a grossly unimaginative expansion pack masquerading as a full-priced product. Cynically sold at full price by EA, Hardline was a shallow re-skin of its predecessor from the 2013 with the same multiplayer and hardly any originality paid to its cops and robbers setting. The campaign was just as bad, with a painfully clichéd story and minimal changes to gameplay.
Technically, the game functions well enough, but what's so aggressively disappointing about Hardline is that Visceral Games was a great developer. Their work on Dead Space allowing the series to branch out into spin-off territory. Instead they went for bargain bin territory and the series has never returned to other sub-genres