'Battlefield 1' breakdown reveals a close attention to history
History buffs have shown that the World War I shooter's trailer is more accurate than you might think.
Video games play fast and loose with realism by definition, but authenticity still matters to some degree After all, it's hard to enjoy a history-focused game if there are obvious factual errors. So how does Battlefield 1 stack up, then? So far so good, if you ask the World War I history buffs at The Great War. They've conducted a shot-by-shot breakdown of the cinematic trailer and revealed that EA DICE is largely faithful to the technology of the conflict -- including in ways you wouldn't expect. That shovel-wielding German soldier you see above makes sense, for example, as the infantry learned that bayonets got stuck in victims. Early tanks behave as they should, and things like gas masks or pickaxes (for Italian soldiers scaling mountains) are true to form.
There are some obvious concessions to gameplay (a medic probably wouldn't be carrying crutches around), but even some of these make sense. That British soldier carrying a German anti-armor rifle? There are many examples of one side using the other's weapons in a pinch. In fact, the trailer is more realistic than The Great War suggests. That seemingly implausible metal body armor you see at one point is the "Sappenpanzer Gesichtsmaske," an uncommon form of protection given to machine gunners and snipers who didn't expect to move.
This doesn't make Battlefield 1 a simulator by any means, and it's not certain that everything you see in the trailer will make it to full-fledged gameplay. However, it's apparent that the developers went out of their way to include gear you could have seen both in the trenches and beyond. Whatever you think of the title's premise, it's not just paying lip service to its setting.
