History VideoGame / Battlefield

->''"Honor. Faith. Land. Oil. Wars are fought for any number of reasons. But on the [[TitleDrop battlefield]], every soldier has to find his own. As things turned out, [[TheSquad me and my buddies]] found a pretty interesting one..."''-]

[-''"Honor. Faith. Land. Oil. Wars are fought for any number of reasons. But on the [[TitleDrop battlefield]], every soldier has to find his own. As things turned out, [[TheSquad me and my buddies]] found a pretty interesting one..."''-]
[-'''-- Preston Marlowe''', ''Battlefield: Bad Company''-]

These games are notable for being [[TropeCodifier among the first]] to make large-scale use of mobile vehicles in an FPS game, as well as using large maps. The games are designed to be played in multi-player mode. The earlier games had no 'single-player' campaign, only multi-player missions with bots. For games set in 'reality' these maps and missions recreated important battles in ''1942'' and ''Vietnam''.''Bad Company'', however, changed this, coming with not only a cohesive, new storyline, but a group of notable characters that stuck with you the entire game, with their own distinct personalities and voices.

These games are notable for being [[TropeCodifier among the first]] to make a large-scale use of mobile vehicles in an FPS game, as well as using large maps. The games are designed to be played in multi-player mode. The earlier games had no 'single-player' campaign, only multi-player missions with bots. For games set in 'reality' these maps and missions recreated important battles in ''1942'' and ''Vietnam''.''Bad Company'', however, changed this, coming with not only a cohesive, new storyline, but a group of notable characters that stuck with you the entire game, with their own distinct personalities and voices.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: While it varies from game to game, every faction uses a different color of camouflage on their troops and vehicles [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality for easier identification]].

** Ever looked into a Surefire Gunlight? [[TruthInTelevision They blind, alot.]]

** Also unexpectedly suffered by the Assault class in Battlefield 2, which is meant to be the game's plain combat-oriented rifleman class, only to end up relatively less-played because it's ''only'' good at combat. Several other classes can do that while also having additional useful abilities (especially the Medic, which is almost identical minus body armor and plus a longer sprint and the ability to heal/revive), while the Assault's only unique perk is the grenade launcher, which isn't terribly useful especially after it was {{Nerf}}ed in a patch. Unsurprisingly later games in the series made sure to give the Assault more useful and unique abilities and equipment.

%%Comment: Any new additions for ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'' should go onto its specific page.

'''Please add any examples for [[VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany Bad Company 1 & 2]] and VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}} on their respective pages.'''

** The support class' mortar in ''Battlefield 3'' can rain accurate death upon the opposing team from thousands of feet away, behind cover. In the hands of a skilled player it can often hold a point completely by itself. But it is a ''mortar,'' so the only thing you'll be doing is sitting there listening to the repetitive '''*THUNK*''' of it firing and not much else.

** Now played straight with the "shortcut" packs, which gives the purchasers ''instant access to any weapon for that kit'', or even ''all'' of them. Needless to say, this is somewhat unbalanced for those who don't spend cash on their games, leading to starting players having the best kits[[hottip:*: Of course, just having the "best" weapons doesn't automatically make you more skilled, just slightly more deadly, so the shortcut packs really only increase your options, not your abilities]].

** Averted in ''1943'', where the health systems was switched to ''CallOfDuty''-style RegeneratingHealth and the Medic class was removed as a result.

* ThemeMusicPowerUp: ''Battlefield Vietnam'' included the rather awesome feature that every vehicle was equipped with a radio, allowing you to play soundtrack songs for the other players to hear as you drove around. (Including, obviously, "[[ApocalypseNow The Ride of the Valkyries]]" and "[[FullMetalJacket Surfin' Bird]]") This was then [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] as actually doing so was a great way to get yourself shot.

* YouALLLookFamiliar: The ''Battlefield'' games typically only had 3 different faces for each side.

** ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield Bad Company}}''

* CripplingOverspecialization: The "anti-tank" class in ''Battlefield 1942'' and ''Battlefield 2'' suffers from this. The ability to attack vehicles from afar comes at the price of being horrible at fighting off infantry.

* InsurmountableWaistHighFence: The games goes more for the InvisibleWall as described below, but your character is able to jump over lots of stuff, though there's no 'climb' option.
* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: The Armored Fury Booster Pack has maps set in the Eastern US and Alaska.

* ItsRainingMen: That UniversalDriversLicense comes with a parachute; there are transport aircraft and some spawn points are set ''in the air'' (most obviously in the Operation Market Garden level of ''1942''); ''2142'' adds landing pods to the mix.

* MiddleEasternCoalition: ''Battlefield 2'' is the [[TropeNamer Trope Namer]] for this.

* OneManArmy: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] throughout the series. Pretending to be {{Arnold Schwarzenegger}} and trying to win the war by yourself WILL get you killed in very short order, not to mention pissing off your teammates in multiplayer mode.

** It ''is'' possible to work effectively while alone, but the key is not to be in this mindset. Skilled players, especially Recons, can be very effective at harassing enemy spawn points through careful use of hit and run tactics, and can also make themselves useful by spotting enemy vehicles.

** Karkand is making a return as downloadable content for ''Battlefield 3''.
** ''[=BF3=]'' averts this somewhat: the cities and countries are all named and nonfictional.

* TieInNovel: ''Battlefield 3: The Russian'', a continuation of said game's single-player campaign written by military writer/former SAS operator Andy [=McNab=].

<<|FirstPersonShooter|>>

* {{Whoring}}: [[SpamAttack grenade spam]] and its slightly more annoying cousin, claymore spam.
** Hand-thrown EMP grenades award points to a player when they successfully "disable" enemy vehicles with them. Included as enemy vehicles are the enemy commander's assets, except hitting them does absolutely nothing useful. You still get points though, and EMP grenades are for the infinite-ammo-baggy support class. Do I really need to elaborate on what happens next?
** In the single-player mode of ''i cant see reason for this'', the player will occasionally have the AI bots engage in grenade spamming too. Most notably when an opposing tank or APC shows up.

** In the single-player mode of ''Battlefield 2'', the player will occasionally have the AI bots engage in grenade spamming too. Most notably when an opposing tank or APC shows up.

** ''Project Reality'' reinforces this by requiring a minimum two-man team to capture a control point, making it impossible for a ''{{Commando}}'' wannabe to capture a control point alone.

* GrenadeSpam: There's a video for ModernWarfare that decries the use of Grenade Spam in the game, Fans Against Grenade Spam. Yeah, [[FunWithAcronyms FAGS]]. Not wanting to be outdone, Battlefield came up with its own video pointing out that this tactic won't work and called it FRAGS: Fans Really Against Grenade Spam.

** The EOD Bot is capable of remotely repairing/destroying vehicles, removing explosives, and arming M-COM stations, but is hampered by touchy controls, a conspicuous spotting icon, and loud operating noise.

The latest game in the franchise is ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'', released in October 2011 for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. It expands the multi-player aspect of the game from ''{{Battlefield Bad Company 2}}'' by taking it back towards the Battlefield 2 style with large open conquest maps featuring up to 64 players and including jet fighters once again. It also includes a DarkerAndEdgier single-player campaign storyline, and a co-op mode. It has deep persistence using the Battlelog website and is launched via EA's Origin download and digital distribution manager.

** ''BF3'' averts this somewhat: the cities and countries are all named and nonfictional.

** ''CodenameEagle''

** ''{{Battlefield 1942}}''

** ''{{Battlefield Vietnam}}''
** ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} 2''

** ''{{Battlefield 2142}}''

** ''{{Battlefield 1943}}''
** ''{{Battlefield 3}}''

** ''{{Battlefield Bad Company 2}}''
** ''{{Battlefield Bad Company Vietnam}}''

* CargoShip: The first-person IdleAnimation of the American Support class in ''[=BF2=]'' has him petting his [=M249 SAW=].

** ''{{Battlefield 2}}''

%%Comment: Any new additions for ''{{Battlefield 3}}'' should go onto its specific page.

'''Please add any examples for [[BattlefieldBadCompany Bad Company 1 & 2]] and VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}} on their respective pages.'''

** ''BattlefieldBadCompany'' takes this to its logical extreme by giving medics ''light machine guns'' as their default armament, and are able to get a tool to call down mortar fire. The sequel just gives them the [=LMGs=] on the combat side, with the mortar strikes given to the Recon class.

* ShootTheMedicFirst: The medical abilities of players in the ''BattlefieldSeries'' follow the reason why you should invoke this trope to the letter. [[CombatMedic But watch out while trying to.]]

* ShownTheirWork: Well, whoever worked on [[http://www.offdutygamers.com/wp-content/uploads/BF3-TacticalBreakdown.jpg?utm_source=wordtwit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wordtwit this piece of artwork]] for Battlefield 3 apparently did, considering what off-duty soldiers found in it.

* WorldWarThree: In ''Battlefield 2'', ''BattlefieldBadCompany'', and ''{{Battlefield 3}}''. They probably aren't the exact same war, either.

** ''{{Battlefield Bad Company}}''