Battlefield 1 Historical Trailer Analysis

I watched this last night. The host of the segment does a pretty good job with the historical aspects of WWI. Indy's series in general is actually well thought out about different topics. In the past few years there have been a resurgence in WW1. It just had the 100th anniversary in 2014. Many of the battles are interesting in the thought processes from both sides. It is also the precursor to the WW2. So for the games based off of world wars, past wars, modern war, and even future based warfare, they are finally paying attention of the one that stared it all.

Is battlefield 1 historically accurate? There is going to be creative liberty with anything that is going to provide any entertainment value. A player is not going to by the game for the history lesson but the game can be use to get people more interested in the history of an event or game. As Indy pointed out, there are aspects that are fairly accurate historically, parts that are questionable in which can be explained as "medic" or "recon" like badges on the uniform or items carried. However, it's not all about the the Western front, but the Italian Front, and even the Middle East.
 
At the end of the video the narrator mentions the variations in uniform accuracy (badge vs. no badge). I think that part could be explained by the various scenes being recorded using different builds of the game, and not created all at the same time.

It looks like DICE certainly did their homework though, as the trailer seems to be at least 95% period-accurate. It makes me wonder if they consulted some WW1 experts or reenactors first.
 
Nonetheless there is a pile of artistic license here. You can be sure the question of historical accuracy vs. gameplay will cause huge conversations and arguments. What I see isn't historically accurate (A Triplane in the desert? Really?) but it may provide game play. The use of gas is problematic (The French were the first to fall to it then the British and Canadians). It was never used in smalll amounts and protection, early in the war was impossible( peeing in a hankerchief was considered protection at first).
 
DKS said:
Nonetheless there is a pile artistic license here. You can be sure the question of historical accuracy vs. gameplay will cause huge conversations and arguments. What I see isn't historically accurate (A Triplane in the desert? Really?) but it may provide game play. The use of gas is problematic (The French were the first to fall to it then the British and Canadians). It was never used in smalll amounts and protection, early in the war was impossible( peeing in a hankerchief was considered protection at first).
Click to expand...
Peeing in a handkerchief...? That would be some game mechanic :)
 
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