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The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

‘Battlefield 1’ ends with an ‘Apocalypse’

Even+the+horses+get+gas+masks+on+the+battlefield.%0AElectronic+Arts+photo+Photo+credit%3A+Electronic+Arts
Even the horses get gas masks on the battlefield. Electronic Arts’ photo Photo credit: Electronic Arts

“Battlefield 1’s” expansions and updates have done a great job of improving a game that felt lacking before. The final DLC called “Apocalypse” adds some good stuff, but it doesn’t feel like the big sendoff that the game needed.

The main draw of these expansions are always the new maps. “Apocalypse” adds Passchendaele, River Somme and Caporetto as normal maps along with Razor’s Edge and London’s Calling as air-only maps. The normal number of added infantry maps is four so even though there are two air maps, the overall amount of content feels lower than usual.

The dogfights in Razor’s Edge and London’s Calling can be fun, but it starts to feel stale after a while. Piloting a plane in these games is supposed to be special since there’s always a limited number that appears in any given match. Always being in a plane and shooting at other aircraft loses its luster when it’s all you can do, especially since the air combat doesn’t feel very good to begin with.

One of the biggest criticisms against “Battlefield 1” has been that despite its World War I set, the game multiplayer doesn’t have a lot of trench warfare in it. “Apocalypse” doesn’t really change that. It seems as though maps like Passchendaele and River Somme have a bigger focus on trench warfare, but the problem is that matches aren’t decided in the trenches. Staying in trenches is a great way to get a lot of kills, but if you’re out to capture points in conquest, the game’s most popular mode, then it’s often easier to run on the surface and find a good flank before going into a trench. The close quarters fighting can be a lot of fun when dozens of players are constantly flooding in, but the constant threat of grenades is annoying.

The added weapons like the RSC SMG and the Ross MkIII rifle are easy to unlock and fun to use. It’s hard to properly balance new weapons with added expansions and while not every added weapon feels viable, the fact that even a couple of them are better than a good amount of pre-existing guns is nice.

“Apocalypse” is a mixed bag overall. Its main problem is that it’s supposed to be the end of “Battlefield 1” before the team moves on to the next thing and in that regard, it falls short. The game is still a lot of fun to play, but that’s mostly because this builds on an already solid foundation. The highs of the excitement and spectacle of combat are worth putting up with the lows of a lack of content, and it earns this expansion three stars.

[Final Score: 3/5]

Ulises Duenas can be reached at [email protected] or @OrionUlisesD on Twitter.

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    Nintendocia // Mar 10, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    You mean Apocalypse? I mean if you think about it, he’s basically doing what Apocalypse did transferring his mind into metahumans. Only except Apocalypse was only choosing which Mutants body to put his mind into.

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