Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: battlefield 1, They Shall Not Pass

Correcting Historical Flaws To 'Battlefield 1' With The New French DLC

Published Mon, 13 Mar 2017 10:45:48 -0500

Last updated Mon, 13 Mar 2017 11:58:18 -0500

Battlefield 1 had a lot going for it right out the gate, with fans giving money hand over fist to get a copy in October for the World War 1 shooter, turning it into one of the last top selling games of 2016. But one of the game's biggest criticisms didn't come from anything within the game, but what it didn't include: The French. That's the problem with a lot of games set in WW1 and 2, it's always about the good ol' USA or the UK fighting against the one country who picked a fight with the world twice, Germany. But what's left out is how many countries were actually involved, as I'm sure someone in marketing years ago told designers that it isn't "profitable" to mention Japan and Italy fighting with the allies in the first war, only to become enemies in the second one. Not to mention the Russian side of both wars isn't as glamorous as their plan both times was "throw as many bodies as you can at the guns until they're overrun with men."

So a lot of the details get cut by game designers, which is the unfortunate criticism Battlefield 1 had to deal with as the French not only were one of the leading countries going up against the Central Powers, but they provided the third biggest amount of troops in the war behind Russia and The British Empire respectfully. But you primarily play as an American in the Harlem Hellfighters near the end of the war. By the way, America was fifth in troop deployment and only joined in the last leg of the war, yet our troops are the central figures of the storyline. Hmmmmm. I guess reality just isn't as sexy, right EA? But that glaring mistake in the story is about to get rectified with the first major expansion to the game in the DLC pack "They Shall Not Pass."

Aside from having our historical BS meter go off the scale with the trailer talking about the French "arriving" as if they weren't already there, the game footage coming out actually shows them in a badass light with some nice additions to the game. The expansion will give you four maps from the Western front: Fort de Vaux, Soissons, Rupture, and Verdun Heights. The last of which is basically an open forest landscape on fire. You get two new operations maps: The Devil's Anvil and Beyond The Marne. You'll get a brand new game mode called Frontlines, which is basically if Conquest and Rush had a kid and named it Difficult. And finally, a new set of vehicles and weapons to compliment all the fun as you now get to relearn how to shoot a gun and drive a tank.