DICE's longrunning Battlefield series is known for its gritty and immersive gameplay which is often accompanied by a compelling war story centering around a small group of characters. Alongside the environmental destruction and gigantic lobbies, Battlefield has also become renowned over the years for its difficulty, which can often come as a result of the game's trying to be as hyper-realistic as possible.
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Nearly every campaign in the series drops players in the middle of a dangerous warzone and essentially forces them to survive while also completing specific military objectives, all while narrowly dodging bullets and plenty of grenades in the process. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense why these games would be so hard, but over recent years, there's a select few which have been considered much more brutal for a variety of reasons. Here's how the hardest Battlefield games match up in terms of their overall challenge, and what exactly makes some of them so brutal to fully complete.
6 Battlefield 1942
Game FAQ Difficulty Rating: 3.11
The very first game in the series, and one of the best games in the shooter genre to many people, Battlefield 1942 may be a little basic by today's standards, but it's still an incredibly fun game which holds up well even to this day. On the single player side of things, players will need to choose between either the Allies or Axis forces, and will then embark through 16 maps which are all littered with enemies and a fair share of durable vehicles.
These play almost identical to the standard multiplayer matches, but if the player loses a round, they won't just fail the mission, but they'll be unable to progress through the rest of the game. This can mean some of the more close-quartered and unpredictable maps, such as Bocage and Stalingrad for example, can be tough as nails to get through.
5 Battlefield 3
Game FAQ Difficulty Rating: 3.18
Battlefield 3 can feel unusually relentless for much of its campaign, which is probably due to DICE's attempt to usher in a sense of realism into the gameplay. As a result, players can take no more than a handful of shots before they're on the ground, and enemies will constantly be trying to flank around, or wait for players to peek out of cover before taking their shot. The level design also doesn't help to make things any easier, a prime example of which would be the Kaffarov Shoot House, which feels almost like a glorified horde mode.
The game also enjoys throwing very long sections at the player while stretching out the save points, meaning a simple mistake can prove costly when it negates all of that hard work. Laying low, squeezing in accurate shots, and knowing when to fall back to counter the enemy forces are all key tips for making it to the end of Battlefield 3's arduous campaign without racking up the death counter too high.
4 Battlefield: Bad Company
Game FAQ difficulty Rating: 3.2
- Platform: PS3, Xbox 360
- Release: June 23, 2008
- Developer: DICE
- Genre: FPS
Though the multiplayer of Battlefield Bad Company is considered to be some of the best in the series, especially thanks to the enhanced environmental destruction, the single-player was a little rough around the edges. At many points in the campaign, Bad Company will be surrounded by a random swarms of enemies who can be hard to spot due to the lackluster damage indicator. These enemy forces also happen to be deadly accurate with their shots, and in a game where a single rocket can topple an entire building, that certainly matters.
Players might be able to get away with running and gunning their way through levels in other FPS games, but this is pretty much a guaranteed Game Over screen in Bad Company due to how deadly every enemy is, even just regular grunts. Patience is the key to reaching the end, along with clever usage of the new engine's destructive capabilities to get the drop on unsuspecting enemy soldiers.
3 Battlefield 1
Game FAQ Difficulty Rating: 3.2
The campaign of Battlefield 1 is split up into several War Stories which center on a specific character and their personal experiences fighting for their countries during the First World War. While these stories are each shorter than a standard Battlefield campaign, they are still packed full of content and feature a variety of different mission types, some of which can be pretty brutal.
Relentless turret sections, tricky stealth missions, and plenty of explosive on-road scenarios make Battlefield 1 a pretty hard game to beat because of how unpredictable it is. In order to keep in line with the First World War setting, many of the guns in this game are slow firing, and require pinpoint accuracy to use effectively, which can make the moment-to-moment gunplay challenging, but also very immersive as a result.
2 Battlefield 5
Game FAQ Difficulty Rating: 3.3
In comparison to a lot of games in the series, Battlefield 5 forces players to be a lot more tactical and creative in their gameplay through a few specific ways. For one, enemies can ensure a lot more punishment in Battlefield 5, so trying to mow down multiple guards with a quick sweep of gunfire won't cut it this time around. The lack of a proper spotting tool also means players always need to be on their guard during stealth sections in order to avoid being thrust into a disastrous encounter.
Battlefield 5: Best Multiplayer Maps
Battlefield 5 has a lot of fun multiplayer maps, but these tend to stand above the rest.
Direct confrontation is nowhere near as effective in this game, so sneaking around and taking steady potshots from a distance is often the best plan of action. Vehicles are also a bit more cumbersome compared to Battlefield 1, even though they're still a blast to actually use in combat. It's far from an impossible game, but it will definitely provide a true test of skill and patience for even the most experienced of FPS players.
1 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
GameFAQ Difficulty Rating: 3.7
Relying on the squadmates to do any sort of damage in Battlefield Bad Company 2 is a bad idea since they might aswell not even be there, given how uninvolved they always feel. This game's story is also one of the longest in the series, which can make it feel like a long and arduous journey considering how much responsibility is placed on the player's shoulders.
Bad Company 2 is another game which makes full use of the brand-new Frostbite engine, meaning buildings can be torn down like Lego, so being able to perch down inside some reliable cover isn't always an option. The game does still feature an engaging story full of twists and turns, along with a few memorable characters, so even though it's definitely worthy of a playthrough, just be prepared for a fairly demanding FPS experience to come as part of the package.
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