Live Magazine Christmas 2016 Edition
Want gift ideas? We've got almost 200 pages of gift ideas, reviews and pics - plus our "Board Games for the Family" special feature - take a look at what you can play as a family this Christmas. And if you like to WIN stuff - we've got movie tickets thanks to Sony, plus a whole lot more!
Want gift ideas? We've got almost 200 pages of gift ideas, reviews and pics - plus our "Board Games for the Family" special feature - take a look at what you can play as a family this Christmas. And if you like to WIN stuff - we've got movie tickets thanks to Sony, plus a whole lot more!
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as you pick your way through the<br />
crumbling buildings littered with the<br />
corpses of fallen comrades. The<br />
attention to detail is commendable<br />
and the atmosphere is bolstered<br />
by the almost photorealistic quality<br />
of the graphics, with DICE squeezing<br />
every drop of potential out of<br />
the Frostbite engine to make for<br />
the most realistic depiction of large<br />
scale warfare to date. You’ll often<br />
notice little incidental touches that<br />
the game won’t draw your eye to<br />
but help to serve to flesh out the<br />
world.<br />
The sound design is similarly accomplished,<br />
making for even more<br />
immersive battles with dynamic<br />
explosion and gunfire effects<br />
that’ll almost cause you to instinctively<br />
duck for cover, particularly<br />
with a decent sound system or set<br />
of headphones hooked up.<br />
But, as surprisingly decent as the<br />
single player portion has turned<br />
out, the real meat and potatoes<br />
of any Battlefield game is its multiplayer,<br />
and I’m glad to announce<br />
that Battlefield 1 is pretty much<br />
free of the many netcode and myriad<br />
of other issues that plagued<br />
the launch of 4. Throughout my<br />
time with the online component<br />
I’ve not encountered any connection<br />
issues or loss of progression<br />
glitches and, without exception,<br />
every match I’ve jumped into has<br />
been smooth and lag free.<br />
The biggest addition to multiplayer<br />
is the aforementioned “Operations”<br />
mode and, boy, is it a doozy.<br />
Each team attempts to capture a<br />
sector by simultaneously holding<br />
two points, forcing the other team<br />
to retreat to another sector of the<br />
map; it’s a complex and exhausting<br />
battle of attrition as each side<br />
push against each other, making<br />
that eventual victory all the more<br />
satisfying. The tide of war can turn<br />
on a dime and it feels like you’re<br />
actually waging a concerted battle,<br />
added all the more weight due to<br />
the history that comes attached to<br />
the maps.<br />
War Pigeons is the other new mode<br />
and it plays out almost exactly as it<br />
sounds – you hunt down pigeons.<br />
Each much would descend into<br />
chaotic hilarity and makes for a<br />
nice change from the more traditional<br />
gameplay modes. At launch<br />
players also get access to the tried<br />
and true Conquest, Rush, Domination<br />
and Team Deathmatch modes<br />
but it’s the newest additions that<br />
make for the most fun this time<br />
around.<br />
The maps are well designed, for<br />
the most part, although spawn<br />
points can feel a little off at times,<br />
sending you face down in the dirt<br />
seconds after hitting the battleground.<br />
There are nine maps at the<br />
moment, with a tenth to be added<br />
via free DLC in December: Fao