A new year, a new Battlefield. And already things are looking similar. We’ve got the usual promise of warfare re-imagined, fancy visuals that probably won’t be present in the actual gameplay and sand. So much damn sand again. Here’s where Battlefield 1 is pulling the rug under the comparisons however: The cover doesn’t have a stock photo of a Caucasian soldier plastered over it with a grim look on his face.
Instead, Battlefield 1 has one of the many forgotten black soldiers of World War One prominently featured, a Harlem Hellfighter from the US that the history books forgot about for many a year when they were rewritten. “When we set out on this game, we wanted to depict not just the common view of what the war was like,” Lead designer Daniel Berlin explained to GamesBeat.
We wanted to challenge some preconceptions. We want to delve into some of the unknowns of WW1. Maybe people don’t know that this person fought or that person fought, that this army was involved. We’re stretching out and bringing all those stories into the game.
Remember, this truly was a World War at the time. The Great War wasn’t just about troops digging trenches and then slowly murdering each over so that their commanders could move the brandy cabinet a few feet closer to the front. EVERYONE was fighting. And that Harlem Hellfighter may be on the front cover, but he’s not the only face that will be present in the single-player campaign. “We want to show diversity in the game,” Berlin said.
That’s been a key goal. You can see in the trailer that there’s a Bedouin woman warrior on a horse. She’s a playable character in the single-player campaign.
Look, if you were part of a unit called “The Harlem Hellfighters”, then I damn sure want to kick some ass under a digital version of that unit as I relive a more accurate retelling of the Great War. It’s far more appealing than serving under the command of Captain Edmund Blackadder. Battlefield 1 is out on October 21 apparently. Here’s the premiere trailer in case you missed it.
Last Updated: May 9, 2016
Gavin Mannion
May 9, 2016 at 08:02
I’m waiting to see real gameplay from both Battlefield 1 (Stupid name) and COD: Infinite Warfare (worse name) before deciding which one to go all in on this year
Admiral Chief in New York
May 9, 2016 at 08:04
We all know what you will choose…
😛
Gavin Mannion
May 9, 2016 at 08:05
I was actually more a Battlefield player previously… Battlefield Bad COmpany was the last one I loved long time… then it became shit
Admiral Chief in New York
May 9, 2016 at 08:07
I’m really glad they went this way. Doing something old/new/old
Time will tell how it plays out, but yeah, as far as trailers go, that one is aces.
Then again, I remember BF4 and the sections in the trailer, and feeling meh-ed out with the game
Sean Carbutt
May 9, 2016 at 08:14
now you’re talking. I loved Bad Company 2. Heck, if the truth be known, they could just port that across and make the graphics pretty and they will have a winner. Flying them choppers with some credence in the background.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
May 9, 2016 at 08:16
The best part is when EA admitted they had no idea why people loved BC2 so much. So even though they knew people loved the series they never released a third game
Ir0nseraph
May 9, 2016 at 08:30
I was hoping for a Bad Company 3 or even a reboot, as it stands now no CoD or battlefield day one purchase for me.
Captain JJ vs ..............
May 9, 2016 at 08:51
Bad Company was a great game.
miaau
May 9, 2016 at 09:16
story of my life, that
Avithar
May 9, 2016 at 09:31
I really enjoyed that too, COD lost me with Modern Warfare. all that jumping around and getting killed by a single shot that even would of missed. i went back to BF4 and have no regrets.
Matthew Holliday
May 9, 2016 at 10:02
Well, to be fair, what you’re saying pretty much explains the history of BF and CoD.
BF was good till MW was released, then BF got good again after MW3 with the release of BF3
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
May 9, 2016 at 08:11
I bet they pronounce it Battlefield Won at Ea’s offices
Admiral Chief in New York
May 9, 2016 at 08:12
LACIST
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
May 9, 2016 at 08:12
O_____O
Admiral Chief in New York
May 9, 2016 at 08:14
-_______-
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
May 9, 2016 at 08:15
hahaha
Skyblue
May 9, 2016 at 08:15
http://imgur.com/gallery/BF4bJfq
Kromas untamed
May 9, 2016 at 08:24
I think Xbone has a lot to do with the name. Well that and WW1 was the first modern war. But more likely the Xbone thing.
Avithar
May 9, 2016 at 09:25
i doubt it has much to do with the xbone, EA could just be wanting a chance to reinvent the game series
Kromas untamed
May 9, 2016 at 10:55
Well let us look at the facts. Special pre-order incentives if you buy the Xbone. Early access exclusive to Xbone. The event had loads of Xbone adverts scattered around and no PC/PS4 adds anywhere.
Also after the sting of losing CoD to Sony for primary platform I have a feeling Microsoft was looking around for something to fill that void in the E-Sports side of things.
Avithar
May 9, 2016 at 10:58
i had to re-watch the trailer hahahaha, thanks for sharing
Greylingad[He Charges!]
May 9, 2016 at 08:53
At least now we know who not to ask for a band name…
Captain JJ vs ..............
May 9, 2016 at 08:55
80% of current devs?
Even NFS dropped the “number” from their newest game. What’s it supposed to do, make us forget that the game has had 500 different other ones before it? If anything, that number proves that a game has come a long way and survived it (for the masses matters).
Greylingad[He Charges!]
May 9, 2016 at 08:58
Yep, but then again, it’s hard to say I’ve just finished Call of Duty one hundred and onety five, and four hundred and thousand…
Avithar
May 9, 2016 at 09:23
have to agree with you on the numbers game
Matthew Holliday
May 9, 2016 at 09:56
both are pretty predictable in terms of gameplay and visuals.
They will both be the exact same as previous games, 25% prettier, with the exact same bonus content in a different colour, and one with a gimmick of going back to the past and one to the future.
At this point you shouldnt need to wait to choose who’s camp you are in, the only thing that would matter is post release performance and stability status, will the new CoD be popular enough locally and will BF1 be a shitstorm of bugs and stability issues?
All footage you’ll see of gameplay is marketing BS and is always pretty much irrelevant, the only thing is you get to see what you already know.
Sean Carbutt
May 9, 2016 at 08:07
The media pre-release clip looks amazing. I’m waiting to see if the game plays as well as it looks. I like the “lets go back in history” move, it gives them plenty off scope for upgrades and DLC. My Spidey senses do tingle as the scum EA are involved and well, DLC man, Pay for more DLC. DICE, be firm with them and you will have a winna wenna
Mark Treloar
May 9, 2016 at 09:12
Actually EA has already confirmed there will be at least one free map drop for the game, so not everything is behind a paywall.
Raptor Rants
May 9, 2016 at 08:08
meh
HvR
May 9, 2016 at 10:48
With that song I thought you would supper hyped after watching the trailer.
Raptor Rants
May 9, 2016 at 11:25
noooope
Admiral Chief in New York
May 9, 2016 at 08:10
(that moment you see the upvotes stream in, you know Hammersteyn is online)
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
May 9, 2016 at 08:10
XD
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
May 9, 2016 at 08:12
I always wanted to shoot down a German plane and last year I finally did.
Umar
May 9, 2016 at 08:15
Fantastic <3 Black guy front and center on the cover and playable female Bedouin character, well done Battlefield.
CommonSense033
May 10, 2016 at 23:26
Because who cares about the actual history, right? Let’s rewrite it all to write out white guys and give all the accomplishments to blacks and muslims and women!
Orwell’s Ministry of Truth is real.
Umar
May 11, 2016 at 08:10
……………Yes, because white people were the only ones that mattered during that period. Lord knows that trying to remember the forgotten heroes like Harlem Hellfighters is such a major crime.
….rewrite history you say………….heh
doubledipper99
September 1, 2016 at 02:39
93% of people involved in WW1 were white. So yeah, they were the only ones that mattered at that time besides Japan and the Ottomans.
emack
September 5, 2016 at 03:14
harlem helfighters make up such an insignificant number of fighters in that war. jesus christ you liberals will try and ruin everything, even our first person shooters.
Horny_goat_weed
September 8, 2016 at 00:23
Huurr durr harlem hellfighters… lol you just heard of them the other day.
They were a small unimportant unit.
Gavin Mannion
May 11, 2016 at 08:23
Women actually played a major part in both world wars… I have to admit I’m not up to date on the part of Muslims in the wars but as they were both WORLD wars I’m pretty sure they played a large part as well.
But don’t worry the whities will always be remembered thanks to Hitler attempting to exterminate half the world population…
Al Toto
June 22, 2016 at 14:08
6 000 000 is half the world’s population? thank stalin for 20 000 000 deaths and communism in china killed 40 000 000 people. you fucking justic warrior twat!
MetalQuintessence
July 21, 2016 at 01:47
That’s what I hate about PolitCorrectness, it’s not correct at all.. at least when facts are concerned. Evey one jumps in terror of the swastika, which is appropriated hindu/buddist symbol. But sickle and hammer, it’s all ok. Hypocrite much?
Funny how Hitler, who is half jew, is used along with the nazi to put blame on all the other whiite nations and paint them as racist motherfuckers, but when it comes to facts like that there were BLACK soldiers in Hitler’s army, suddenly that gets forgotten pretty quick. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Arabian_Legion
So the guy on the cover is not American btw, as I assume most of you have assumed. He is either a british officer or maybe, just maybe a german soldier. How do I know that? His gun. Only these 2 countries have that gun in armament during WWI and have historical proof of enlisting black soldiers.
Either way, this is still a misrepresentation in general of the actual face of the war and is disrespectful to both black and non-black (that includes non-white non-black as well) soldiers who fought in these wars.
doubledipper99
September 1, 2016 at 02:40
Yes, they were nurses. They didn’t fight in combat.
Geoffrey Tim
May 11, 2016 at 08:28
Yeah, just a complete fabrication, right.
Ma
May 21, 2016 at 15:34
Not fabrication. Over exaggeration and pandering.
MetalQuintessence
July 21, 2016 at 01:53
Guys US isn’t the world, eventho it was a World War, the US were always much more reserve about entering battles compared to the European and other nations involved. Not that those contributions don’t count, but the video that you posted is more concerning about the US internal history than it is about the WWI in general. No one is arguing that black soldiers don’t deserve their rightful place in history, but the majority of the combatants in the WWI were non-black. And we’re talking more than 98% overall.
The maps so far confirmed are all in Europe, where there were barely any black soldiers at all.
In Africa and other colonial battles there were a significant number, but in Europe it was like 99.99% non-black. It’s just disrespectful to everyone who fought there regardless of color when they do something like that.
Most of this is bcs they themselves claimed to not include female soldiers in MP bcs of historical accuracy reasons. Yet they slap a black dude on the cover as if WWI was mostly led in Africa or something like that. Not that it wasn’t taking place there as well, but still they could’ve at least included a map that takes place in Africa as well. That way this is a total misrepresentation and fact skewing.
doubledipper99
September 1, 2016 at 02:41
So .000001% of soldiers were representative of the whole war? Right….. keep drinking your Kool-aid Geoffrey Dim.
SRT11
September 3, 2016 at 13:22
They were completely insignificant and did nothing more heroic than any other soldier, so gfy.
emack
September 5, 2016 at 03:19
a regiment that served only 1 year some how won the war and saved the million man armies of europe who did all the heavy fighting. smh. it was a infantry regiment that fought in one major batttle. fuck the BEF that fought from 1914 to the end.
jlenoconel
June 10, 2016 at 14:56
Why is it well done? Either the game is good or it isn’t. Gamers don’t give a shit about SJW stuff.
Umar
June 10, 2016 at 15:32
Why is it SJW stuff?
NeverTrustCrazy
August 30, 2016 at 21:24
Becuase it’s SJW stuff. Altering History to feel better about being born black.
NeverTrustCrazy
August 30, 2016 at 21:23
Yeah, good job on altering history. So progressive.
Umar
August 30, 2016 at 23:45
Only…it’s not altering history…lol
NeverTrustCrazy
August 31, 2016 at 16:53
Yep, the blacks fought WWI for you, that’s what happened. Self hating idiot.
Umar
September 2, 2016 at 10:33
Lol
doubledipper99
September 1, 2016 at 02:39
Yes, well done for historical revisionism!
Horny_goat_weed
September 8, 2016 at 00:23
Wow, pretty pathetic. They are blackwashing European history. The USA entered in late 1917, but that time millions of white Europeans had died. It’s some SJW bullshit.
Kromas untamed
May 9, 2016 at 08:25
After this weekend Battlefield has nothing in it for me anymore. Overwatch is my new “play with friends” mp FPS.
Admiral Chief in New York
May 9, 2016 at 08:27
Yeah man, it is moerse fun!
Mossel
May 9, 2016 at 09:17
It is! Although I feel obliged to play with one hero the whole time.
Reinhardt obviously.
Greylingad[He Charges!]
May 9, 2016 at 08:52
I dunno man, I played a teeny bit this weekend, I haven’t managed to get many kills or anything, but it seems like a kiddies version of Quake, ag I mean DOOM…
Kromas untamed
May 9, 2016 at 09:35
Played a hell of a lot and the team dynamic makes this a much better game unless all you want is deathmatch games.
Greylingad[He Charges!]
May 9, 2016 at 09:39
I think the biggest issue was that I had a team that was about as coherent as a plague of monkeys charging toward a caravan at a camp site, or at least whatever they left behind…
Johann
May 9, 2016 at 10:23
I hear you. Had a map where we had to defend the point… Me (support) try and defend the point, rest of the team are running around like headless chickens trying to play it as a free for all deathmatch.
Greylingad[He Charges!]
May 9, 2016 at 10:31
HAHAHA!!! What is cool though is that after two or three matches people realise that they should start working together, which is fine, but the learning curve is relative to the person playing that roles’ willingness to adapt…
Kromas untamed
May 9, 2016 at 10:51
You played with random people in a team based game??!!
Shame on you.
Also start making more friends. 😛
Also add me to B.net.
Greylingad[He Charges!]
May 9, 2016 at 11:19
Hehehe, I logged in twooooice, so…
Captain JJ vs ..............
May 9, 2016 at 08:53
For R800 it’s not in my scope of games. R800 for a pc game is insane.
Greylingad[He Charges!]
May 9, 2016 at 08:54
EXACTLY!!! The prices are bloody soaring, luckily there is a Humble Monthly…
Captain JJ vs ..............
May 9, 2016 at 08:56
Yea. But it’s just some of the devs that aren’t doing their research. Others have no problem with their pricing.
Humble Monthly and the Humble Store is pretty much where the games are these days. Plus, you can still use PayPal there at least.
Matthew Holliday
May 9, 2016 at 09:30
unfortunately its almost normal now…
Really enjoyed playing it with friends this weekend, but not just shy of R1000 kind of enjoyed…
Captain JJ vs ..............
May 9, 2016 at 10:06
A lot of games are still around R600 new though. Cheaper if you buy retail.
But I’ll just stick to the humble monthly’s now. I’m not THAT excited that I HAVE to have a game on release.
Kromas untamed
May 9, 2016 at 09:34
Completely free of all micro transactions and free map/character updates.
Worth R800.
Captain JJ vs ..............
May 9, 2016 at 10:05
Nah. Still not for me. But it doesn’t interest me much either way, anyway. So for some it will be worth it.
But R800 for a pc game is just pushing it for me.
ReverendFunk
May 9, 2016 at 12:56
Overwatch is actually 40 euro only. All the other crap with it makes it R899 for the deluxe version.
SRT11
September 3, 2016 at 13:26
Realism is completely out the window, and has been for quite a while. Also, “soldiers” with the historical significance of a gnat is being pandered to in this marxist diversity-version of WW1.
Captain JJ vs ..............
May 9, 2016 at 08:51
What is it with the whole going back to the younger names thing?
Trevor James
May 9, 2016 at 08:56
Well I guess this is the end of COD.
Captain JJ vs ..............
May 9, 2016 at 08:56
COD was the end of COD.
Strawman Jim
May 9, 2016 at 15:23
Damnit, you said it 6 hours earlier… 🙁
Trevor James
May 9, 2016 at 15:36
Haha well that’s monday for you..
Strawman Jim
May 9, 2016 at 15:22
COD ended COD
Mossel
May 9, 2016 at 09:11
This game looks epic. Cant wait!
HairyEwok
May 9, 2016 at 09:17
Awww man, I wanted to play as Hitler and get that 1 million+ kd….. Oh well perhaps Battlefield 2 will be WW2.
Admiral Chief in New York
May 9, 2016 at 10:27
*1942
HvR
May 9, 2016 at 10:22
Trailer is very good, 100 times better than Infinite War; if they pull it off it can be great game.
If it is just another Battlefield X reskin job they can GITT.
FFS the name though; with so many options from classic World at War or Great War to Europe on Fire or go balls to the wall with focus on the less explored majority of the war that was not stalemate trench warfare and call it something like Forgotten Heroes.
Strawman Jim
May 9, 2016 at 15:22
My body is ready for some World War 1 action! The War that changed the face of our planet, the War that ended dynasties and kingdoms!
I am so excited!
jlenoconel
June 10, 2016 at 14:58
I’m fine with diversity if its done for good reason. This comes across as pandering though, and pandering to the wrong people e.g. SJWs and feminists.
Lohengrin
June 15, 2016 at 01:05
Don’t ruin my vidyagames Swedecucks, I want to play as Hitler. Stop spreading ethnomasochism. If I wanted to play as a dindu I’d just play as Italy. (Jk put the switchblade away Tony.)
Al Toto
June 22, 2016 at 14:09
They want to show diversity? they should show som pictures of sweden after their cultural enrichment. That is your diversity!!
Al Toto
June 22, 2016 at 14:13
If you want to expand my horizont, and let me see the world in different viewpoints trough this single player campaign. why the fuck I can play a muslim woman, but not a german soldier?
MetalQuintessence
July 21, 2016 at 01:57
“Battlefield 1 wants to show off the diversity of the Great War”
Or rather altering facts and figures…
NeverTrustCrazy
August 31, 2016 at 16:52
Oy vey the blacks fought WWI for you goy, are you ashamed of your skin yet?!
0hi0An0n
August 31, 2016 at 21:25
Blacks are feral animals that need to be violently subjugated and controlled. They are also cowards when it comes to being in the military, almost none enlist for infantry.
doubledipper99
September 1, 2016 at 02:39
So 93% of soldiers during World War 1 were “white”/European, but they want to showcase the 7% “non-whites” (Asians, Turks, Indians, and a small handful of blacks regulated to African colonies)
SRT11
September 3, 2016 at 13:16
“a more accurate retelling of the Great War”??!? LOL, more like a more revisionist multi-culti bullshit version of the war.
tergel altankhuyag
September 3, 2016 at 17:51
what the fuck are you talking about i would serve under blackadder any day than anyone else
minus pilot
September 4, 2016 at 14:57
why is there a black dude on the front of the game.?
If any did fight it was . o o o o o 1 %
Lawrence Newman
October 24, 2016 at 06:03
0%
emack
September 5, 2016 at 03:23
yeah this is fucking shameful these people who made that call need to fucking kill themselves for shitting on the millions of british, french, german, hell even indians that died in that war. harlem hellfighter. whats next the forgotten transgender dildo regiment that fought at verdun.
Horny_goat_weed
September 8, 2016 at 00:24
I’m not going to buy this game. I’m doing my MA in First world war history and to be honest, its an insult to white Europeans and the sacrifices they made.
The black soldiers (if they were not running away) has such a negligible impact on the war.
This is pure SJW hogwash.
Lawrence Newman
October 24, 2016 at 06:02
Harlem hellfighters are a liberal lefty invention .