Today marks the launch of the first public test of Battlefield 1, the latest entry in the massive team online-shooting series, and, if you own a Windows PC, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4, you can now freely download and test this game for a little over a week: until September 8, to be precise. Our hands-on time with the game has come mostly at expos, and while that was relatively brief, I knew mostly what to expect from this World War I-flavored take on the series.

Still, I was glad to get a day of early access to the beta, which allowed me to put the PS4 and Windows versions to the test. In good news, the action is competent, and the game's 1910s weaponry and machinery work to the action's benefit. In even better news, performance on this in-progress beta is quite good on PC—and surprisingly smooth and detailed on PS4.

Leagues beyond Superman 64













I tested the PC version of this World War I-era shooter on an i7-4770K rig, matched with a GeForce GTX 980Ti and 16GB of RAM, and I was able to play BF1 at maxed-out settings ("ultra") at a frame rate not quite sitting stably at 60 frames per second. Dropping down to "high" settings helped, but I still saw a few frame rate stutters—and I'm hopeful this technical hiccupping will be settled by further refinement, polishing, and bug-testing ahead of the game's October 21 launch. [Update: After publication, a reader mentioned one of the beta test's weirdest bugs: the game's "scaling" measurement is inaccurate. Turning that option down from "100 percent" (which actually doubles rendering) to "44 percent" (which is, technically, the actual 100 percent) fixed my performance issues. I'm now cranking on PC at all ultra settings at 60 FPS—and wondering which mathematician EA needs to fire.]

The world rendered in BF1 at such high settings is something else. In this beta's case, it's the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, whose wide expanses, sandy dunes, and sun-scorched crags glimmer with incredible bloom effects at every turn. The main battle portion of the map has a large array of densely packed stone homes and buildings, while other outposts are either propped up against massive mountain formations or laid out in the wide-open desert with only a watchtower and some debris to serve as a distant landmark (or, more appropriately in this game's case, as cover).

The first major thing BF1's beta proves out is that the tech on show doesn't just look good; it complements the gameplay in noticeable ways. This latest version of the Frostbite visual engine really knocks bloom effects out of the park, for starters, and this is most evident when players have to contend with snipers who've made interesting camping spots out of nothing more than shade. The black-out effect on distant, shaded soldiers is subtle and proves out the effectiveness of characters' camouflage. DICE must have realized how effective this was, because now BF1 helps players pick out snipers by having their lenses reflect brightly in the direction of whomever they're sniping at.

Particle and smoke effects dazzle, as well, which means a well-timed smoke grenade can really make a difference in helping injured soldiers get the heck out of trouble, while one of the most dramatic visual twists comes to the Sinai level at random: a purple-gray weather surprise of clouds and fog, which is a lot more beautiful than you might expect. This isn't Superman 64-level fog meant to improve system performance; giant balls of flame and other explosive effects still shine through the game's fog, meaning that BF1 renders a ton of content that your eyes can barely catch—but you'll still see glimmers of activity in the distance, thus making the obscured scenes feel that much more intense.

Console surprise

EA was also kind enough to supply Ars with an early beta code for PlayStation 4, and I was shocked to learn that BF1 is targeting a 60 frames-per-second refresh while rendering console visuals somewhere between the PC version's "medium" and "high" settings. Explosions, particle effects, bloom effects, fog, and view distance are all stronger than I expected to see, with the major drawback being a reduction in quality of up-close textures and foliage details... and a slightly unstable frame rate.

I say "targeting" as opposed to "nailing," because while BF1 can churn at a full 60 FPS in some stretches, it'll more reliably sit at what looks like 50 or 55 FPS. In good news, my few hours with the PS4 version didn't suffer from significant stutters or full-pause drops of the Frostbite engine, and if this were the ultimate final frame rate, I'd feel like the amount of particle-related detail and draw distance was worth a few stutters en route to a mostly 60 FPS refresh. Still, I will keep my fingers crossed that DICE gets this bad boy closer to a smooth-60 in the final game coming in October.

Without an Xbox One code in hand, I can't comment on that platform's performance; like in other multi-platform games, we're likely to see a drop in resolution to keep performance otherwise even, and past Battlefield games on current-gen systems have seen PS4 reach 900p resolution and XB1 get to 720p. That has also been the case with this game's alpha tests, so I expect that to remain the case. Still, the anti-aliasing solution employed on PS4 makes the drop to 900p nigh noticeable, especially as the game's 32-on-32 combat plays out.

Whether you wind up testing on console or PC, get ready for a freakishly expansive options menu either way. This shouldn't shock PC gamers, but console gamers also get immediate access to field-of-view customizations, along with the kinds of fine-tuned joystick-sensitivity adjustments that we thought only Xbox One Elite controller buyers would ever enjoy. Both platforms also get some pretty granular options for adjusting things like HUDs and colorblind-friendly color tweaks.

Of course, of course

Combat in Sinai takes place in two modes: Conquest and Rush. The former is a super-sized return to the series' most beloved mode, in which 32-person teams battle to capture and hold objectives spread across a giant desert zone. Sinai's level has seven in all, and their heights and designs lend themselves to different tactics—meaning, you may want to roll through the building-lined zone in a tank, while you might prefer to ride along the base of a mountain on a swift horse to reach a more walled-off zone. (More on the horsie in a minute.)

Rush will also look familiar to anybody who has played giant online shooters in recent years, as it follows the recent trend of two teams splitting between attackers and defenders and then competing to take over points in stages. The attackers try to place a bomb on two points on the map within a time limit, and if they can blow the pair up without the defenders defusing those bombs' timers, the match's clock is extended and two more bombable points appear further downfield on the map. Repeat until either the defenders run the main clock down or the attackers bomb all ten vulnerable spots on the field.

Sinai's layout changes between the modes, and its enjoyable expansiveness in Conquest is traded for a narrower, obvious-path layout for the Rush mode, which I didn't find as fun during my hour and a half in that mode. While alternate routes were always apparent—and rewarded players for switching roles and trying new tactics—the Rush layout still feels a little too much like a death-funnel, in that players all descend upon a single point in one of only a few avenues, and deaths pile up as a result.

Either way, I'm growing fond of the arsenal that players get their hands on in this one-level beta test. Two tanks, two lighter jeeps, three planes, and a horse help players zip around the map with various multi-seat and weapon configurations, and it's not hard to see a few points where balance-adjustment may help, including the fact that the game's biggest tank may be too overpowered for the game's good. But for the most part, agility, functionality, and power all seem relatively balanced in terms of transportation.

At first, I feared that the horse, which players can ride on while wielding either a rifle or a giant sword, was too wimpy and too easy a target to be anything more than a gimmicky lark. After a few tests, however, I came to appreciate its zig-zaggy speed and its ability to blend into certain high-action scenes, should players need to get across a map quickly. You'll die trying to guide a steed across a barren, flat bit of desert, of course, but the thin roads between buildings and the passes between mountains are quite horse-friendly. (Weirdly, DICE's experience-point system doles out bonuses for shooting and killing a solitary horse; considering that a stranded horse can be stolen by the opposing team, this seems wasteful as a gameplay mechanic, let alone horrifying to anybody who watched the movie Shane as a kid.)

Sadly, the often-advertised "destroy any building" aspect of the Battlefield series is rendered somewhat moot in Sinai, since its buildings are entirely immune to barrages of bullets and even some explosive rounds. Only the biggest tank explosives and direct grenades will do any major building damage—though, at least when that happens, the crumbling is dramatic, both as a jaw-dropping visual treat and as a truly interesting push-enemies-back maneuver. I'm not sure if this strong-building issue is limited to how Sinai's structures are built or whether other BF1 buildings will prove just as resilient to thousands of bullets, but it does feel like a disconnect from the game's other "realistic" selling points.

Meanwhile, the WWI weaponry change of pace mostly boils down to more archaic elements such as slower reloads, chunkier recoil, and less steady sniping aim—but since those have been applied across the board, the change is less about a disadvantage and more about forcing players to maximize their more primitive arsenal. For example, the crappy scope on your semi-automatic rifle is the same as your foe's, so there's less harm in moving a little closer to an encounter—especially if you coordinate with your squad (a chosen set of teammates who can spawn next to each other) and flank foes close to a specific objective point.

Clearly, there's still a little spit-shining left before the game's October launch. I look forward to whatever balance-adjustment tweaks come as a result of this beta; like I said, tanks have some issues with power, while online players can currently abuse a very fast respawn-on-teammate system and stay entrenched on a volatile point on a map if they camp correctly; I hope the game gets a longer spawn timer. But the stuff that's harder to patch or balance—the scale and geometry of a map, the weight and feedback of weapons, and the thrill of slicing fools whilst blazing through sand on a mighty stallion—has landed pretty much fully formed in this beta, and that's damned good news for online shooter fans.

Listing image by EA/DICE