8 Things Nobody Wants To Admit About Battlefield 1

The release of Battlefield 1 has been a resounding success. Coming out of the gate riding a wave of hype thanks to its brilliantly retro World War 1 setting, EA's flagship shooter has managed to gain scores of new fans where its competitors have been rapidly shedding them.

But Battlefield 1 isn't a perfect title, and hell, in many regards it's a pretty substantial step back from Battlefield 4. See, while the World War 1 setting has certainly shaken things up for the franchise, DICE hasn't entirely embraced the theme wholeheartedly, and unfortunately the game shares a little too much DNA with the virtually content-free Star Wars Battlefront.

Lacking key features fans have come to expect, altering series-standard staples for seemingly no reason and having a progression system that's not only lacking when compared to other shooters on the market, but previous entries in its own series, it's clear that there's a wealth of ways DICE can improve on Battlefield 1's solid foundation going forward.

Yet they won't, because the universal acclaim the game is receiving is happily overlooking the title's biggest shortcomings. The World War 1 setting itself is being bandied around as a get-out-of-jail-free card, excusing the lack of new environments, weapons and new gameplay mechanics because "there's just not much to work with".

So let's get this straight: World War 1 will give DICE enough content to mine for years, and it's time to drop the excuses and admit where Battlefield 1 went wrong.

While it's not quite Star Wars Battlefront bad (I feel like I'm going to have to use this disclaimer a lot in this article), the amount of character and weapon customisation in Battlefield 1 is entirely lacking when compared to previous games in the series.

Especially Battlefield 4, where you had the option to chop and change between an incredible amount of different camos and skins for your weapons and characters, there's nothing you can do to add a bit of personality to the soldiers in DICE's latest game.

Not only that, but what little aesthetic customisation there is has to be painstakingly grinded out through the new Battlepack mechanic. Unlike the previous game where you'd be rewarded with new weapon attachments, skins, camos and XP boosts with every new level, Battlepacks are randomly rewarded in Battlefield 1, and only offer whatever is on available in that week's specific revision.

It's a feature almost as frustrating as Overwatch's loot boxes - but at least in that game, the legendary skins actually lived up to their name.