The 2nd Most Thrilling Battlefield 1 Mission Sacrificed a Famous Weapon’s Historic Accuracy for Better Gameplay

Battlefield 1 is one of the most popular games that has depicted the story of World War I. Now the reason for this immense popularity is because of its historical accuracy. When any war game gives you the feel of an actual battlefield in a video game setting, that is when the game’s caliber is noted.

War Stories, the game’s single-player mode, delves into the experiences of different soldiers in the Western Front, Italian Front, Gallipoli, and Arabia, among other war theaters. In almost every part of the game, Battlefield 1 is pinpoint accurate, as far as the historical accuracy of World War I is concerned. However, at a certain point, the developers had to sacrifice a bit of the originality of the event for the sake of the game’s welfare.

‘Over the Top’ – The Second Best Mission of Battlefield 1 Had Some Tweaks in the WWI Accuracy

There is no doubt that ‘Avanti Savoia!’ is the best mission of Battlefield 1. In this mission, players have to fill the shoes of Luca Vincenzo Cocchiola, who will embark on his journey of fighting his brother Matteo against the Austro-Hungarian forces. 

At the second spot comes ‘Over the Top’ which is actually the first mission in the game where you will be acquainted with the control of a British heavy tank. It will be deployed to destroy several formations of German artillery.

Now, this is where historical inaccuracy comes in, through that tank. When asked about the historical concessions the company had to make for the sake of the gameplay, this is what the lead designer of EA DICE told GamesBeat:

Like I say, for us gameplay is king. We need to make sure the vehicles and weapons are fun to use. With the variety of stuff that’s available, we can push and keep the pace you see in previous Battlefield games. We can also deliver the kind of rock-paper-scissor gameplay you’re familiar with. It’s a good fit. I know that’s surprising to a lot of people, but it’s been so fun to be on this journey and learn so much.

The question arises because of the unrealistic existence of fast-paced and rapid reloading tanks in the game. Basically, tanks came in the year 1915, and those were first used in WWI in 1916, during the Battle of Somme.

Now, all of these tanks were at their basic stage, too slow, and used to take an eternity to reload the launchers. But in Battlefield 1, the developers had to alter the depiction of these tanks a bit to match the tempo of the gameplay. And this is where a bit of historical inaccuracy came in. 

Battlefield 1 Was Saved, But Not Battlefield 5

This small alteration in Battlefield 1 never stirred any controversy regarding the history of WWI. However, that was not the case with another popular title of the franchise. Battlefield 5, which is one of the most historically accurate games based on WWII, faced harsh criticisms for featuring female soldiers of the game.

The brainless trollers claimed no women fought in WWII. However, the reality is something else. During World War II, women undoubtedly served alongside men. The most well-known example is the Soviet Red Army, which used more than 800,000 women to fight the Nazi invasion. These baseless criticisms were later smashed by Electronic Arts chief creative officer Patrick Söderlund (via Gamasutra):

We felt like in today’s world—I have a 13-year-old daughter that when the trailer came out and she saw all the flak, she asked me, ‘Dad, why’s this happening?’ She plays Fortnite, and says, ‘I can be a girl in Fortnite. Why are people so upset about this?’ She looked at me and she couldn’t understand it. And I’m like, ok, as a parent, how the hell am I gonna respond to this, and I just said, ‘You know what? You’re right. This is not okay.

Yes, there will be some controversies against the games that would fail to deliver historical correctness. Both the Battlefield titles covered two of the greatest and largest events mankind has ever seen. So, questions will always be there regarding the correct depiction.

I would have easily supported those retarded people if their claims were based on the historical inaccuracies of the game. But that was not the case. Those people can never stand the fact that there were actual female soldiers who took part in probably the most horrific war of all time. And there was no historical inaccuracy regarding it.