Battlefield 1 Open Beta: 5 Ups & 5 Downs
Flawed, but ludicrously entertaining.
The long-awaited Battlefield 1 is currently in open beta on PC, PS4 and Xbox One for all who wish to try the game out for themselves ahead of its October 21st worldwide release.
It's a DICE game, so of course, the beta raises a number of issues that may or may not get fixed by release day, but at least the core gameplay itself proves that the latest entry into the FPS franchise brings more of the brutal beauty and addictive gunplay that has made it what it is today.
There's still a lot that DICE need to answer for moving forward, but the beta should at least give you a better idea as to whether or not the end-product's going to be worth your hand-earned cash on release day. It's definitely a bit of a mixed bag, but when it's awesome, it's really, really awesome.
Here are 5 ups and 5 downs from the Battlefield 1 open beta...
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Downs5. Conquest Mode Is Too Fast & No Longer Has Tickets
Arguably the biggest complaint for Battlefield purists is that the much-loved Conquest mode has undergone some significant reworkings that arguably aren't for the best.
First of all, Battlefield 1 touts a somewhat faster (some might say "casualised") pace, with a greater emphasis on getting back into the action as fast as possible, and a 20-minute time limit per round.
The faster speed means that even 64-player mayhem is typically over before you know it, and the fact that the timer often ends games before a point victory means that you'll likely struggle to come across many of the famously prolonged, epic battles from previous games. Hopefully the time limit imposed in the beta won't carry across to the final game.
Furthermore, the "ticket bleed" mechanic that governs Conquest in previous games is gone and has been replaced with a more conventional, Domination-esque point-based scoring system which just strips some of the tension away, especially given how the ticket bleed was linked directly to how many objectives or bases were held by a given team and allowed for some incredible comebacks.
This just makes Conquest feel more conventional than ever, which is a real shame.