World War I was massive, bloody and, most of all, brutal. This is the essence that EA intends to capture with the upcoming Battlefield 1, which has become the talk of the town since its reveal trailer was posted on YouTube last month.
Though fans will have to wait until this year's E3 to get a glimpse of what the game has in store for them once it drops in full later this year, we at least know some of the new features to look forward to, one of which is a brand new melee system.
In an interview, Battlefield 1 multiplayer producer Andreas Morell talked about the new melee system and the thought process behind it. Without going into much detail, he explained that, much like many of the other aspects of the game, the melee system finds its roots in the hand-to-hand combat practiced at the time.
Morell explained that, while there was plenty of combat that took place in the air or at sea, much of the fighting occurred in the trenches. Soldiers would be equipped with state-of-the art weaponry, only to turn a corner and find themselves confronted by an enemy soldier with a big trench mace.
Describing the situation as "almost medieval," Morell said that the "brutal and personal" aspect of combat was something that the development team felt it really needed to put in Battlefield 1, as it's something from which the game would truly benefit.
While other era-accurate inclusions had already been confirmed by EA, an effort to make true hand-to-hand combat is something that many fans will definitely look forward to, as well as something the genre as a whole desperately needs. Most multiplayer shooters put little to no effort in the melee component of its games, and while that is understandable, it leads to the melee coming off as either too weak or too strong.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see where EA goes with this. Will players be able to evade or parry an enemy's attack, or is there something else in store? If the confrontation plays out like a cutscene, EA will need to ensure it doesn't drag on for too long, or else other players can simply walk over to the fight and shoot one of the participating combatants.
As for other features that were touched upon in the interview? Morell confirmed that, not only will Battlefield 4 and Hardline's Levolution mechanic be making a return, but the development team is aiming to make it more dynamic. Furthermore, in addition to horses, tanks and zeppelins, he confirmed battleships — which, hopefully, will take more than four hits to sink — will be present.
Battlefield 1 is shaping up to be everything that fans had hoped for and more, so it's amusing to think the World War I setting was nearly scrapped by EA over fears that its younger audience wouldn't know the event happened.
