Every Battlefield Game, Ranked

Key Takeaways

• Battlefield franchise has produced over 10 main games with rich story modes and engaging multiplayer experiences.
• Battlefield 2042 struggled at launch with a lack of content, but updates have improved the player experience.
• Battlefield 2 and Bad Company standout as successful entries in the franchise, with varied gameplay and memorable experiences.

Since the title’s first release, Battlefield 1942, back in 2002, EA’s FPS franchise has produced more than 10 main games with plenty of expansion packs. With that being said, Battlefield has been a constant competitor of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise, with both licenses rivaling in sales, gameplay, single-story campaigns, and online experiences.

The best Battlefield games of all time continue to provide a ton of entertainment to fans, with the story modes and multiplayer content keeping players occupied for hours on end. While not all Battlefield games are created equal, there’s something to enjoy in every game in the series for FPS fans who love military warfare games where they can hone their skills and enjoy a power fantasy as they shoot down enemies by the dozens and even hundreds, in some instances.

Updated on November 10, 2024, by Mehrdad Khayyat: Similar to most other EA IPs, Battlefield also has had its ups and downs throughout its long history. The latest entry in the series, Battlefield 2042, didn’t live up to its potential and was almost a free fall for the franchise, especially after two back-to-back successful launches with Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5.

However, the series is now promised to return to its roots, as DICE is gearing up with a few other internal studios to deliver a new Battlefield game in 2025, which makes it worthwhile to go over the entire franchise while waiting for the developers to cook!

This list only includes the official installments of the Battlefield series. Modded versions don’t count.

16 Battlefield 2042

Trying Out A New Formula With The Series That Didn’t Succeed

The most recent release in EA’s franchise, Battlefield 2042 is solely a multiplayer experience, something that main entries in the franchise had previously avoided. However, the elimination of a single-player mode is hardly the reason behind this game’s low score; no, that primarily comes down to its inadequate launch state and a severe lack of content.

Battlefield 2042 shows flashes of potential through its large-scale battles and Portal mode, but the game needed more time in the oven before its release. At launch, DICE’s title struggled to strike a chord with players, so much so that many returned to previous Battlefield games. Since then, 2042 has received quite a few updates that have sought to improve the base experience, and it is now in a better place.

The problem was that DICE ditched the class system in Battlefield 2042 and introduced heroes, who come with special abilities while having access to the same array of weapons that other heroes can. The developers also increased the server capacity from 64 players to 128 players. While all of this seemed exciting before release, it didn’t take players long to realize that the older Battlefield systems worked much better, and then developers began to roll out updates in the span of a few years to bring back the same old system.

15 Battlefield Play4Free

A Free-To-Play Version Of Battlefield Focusing Strictly On Multiplayer

A largely forgotten multiplayer game, Battlefield Play4Free states its selling point right in its title. Taking ideas from Battlefield 2 and Bad Company, the game adopted the franchise’s standard structure for a free-to-play model, which naturally came with a plethora of premium products that could provide players an advantage. While the shop was not great, the title still had something to offer during its era, including a decent selection of maps, vehicles, and weapons.

Play4Free struggled to justify its existence as its stripped-down content was hardly going to sway die-hard fans away from the franchise’s main releases. It might have worked as a gateway product for newcomers to online multiplayer shooters, but the game was not attractive enough to last for more than a couple of years.

14 Battlefield Heroes

The Only Third-Person Battlefield Game Ever

A free-to-play spin-off browser game, Battlefield Heroes offered PC players a stripped-down but still enjoyable online experience. Although limited in modes and customization, this title was decent for what it aimed to provide, and Heroes also saw Battlefield switch to a third-person perspective.

This was an entry-level shooter game aimed at younger players, something reflected by Heroes‘ cartoonish visuals and simplified features, and it was closed on July 14, 2015. EA never tried the third-person formula again in any other Battlefield game after Heroes.

13 Battlefield Hardline

Changing The Setting From Military Wars To Street Criminals Vs Cops

Hailed as a “brand new,” more personal-centered experience, unfortunately, Battlefield: Hardline failed to live up to the billing. The foremost criticisms of the game center around its flat and weak storyline that failed to emphasize the characters’ development. However, the stealth mechanism brings refreshment to the title and is worth every penny.

Engineered using the Frostbite 3 engine, Battlefield: Hardline was the last game developed by Visceral Games before the company’s shutdown in 2017. The game did have some innovations in the gameplay, but they just didn’t fit Battlefield’s DNA. The vehicular combat was more about civilian cars rather than military vehicles. One game mode, Hotwire, also tasked players with driving a specific car around the map and staying alive to score as many points as possible.

12 Battlefield 4

A Sheer Evolution In Multiplayer But A Step Back In Storytelling

Released in 2013, Battlefield 4 is set during the fictional war of 2020. You play as Sgt. Daniel “Reck” Recker, a second-in-command of the Tombstone squad (also appeared on Battlefield 3), during the inevitable tension between the US, Russia, and China.

Many praised the game for its fun multiplayer mode and mesmerizing graphics, although it was heavily criticized for its shallow, and short-paced gameplay. The DLC did help to pad things out a little, although that likely came as little solace to those who picked up the game at launch.

11 Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

The First Battlefield Game To Release On Console With Multiplayer Modes

Rendered obsolete by Bad Company, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat nevertheless deserves recognition for bringing EA’s license to consoles. A Battlefield 2 spin-off, Modern Combat lacked the depth and satisfaction of its PC companion’s gameplay, but it worked well enough as a simplified shooter designed to cater to the console scene in the mid-2000s. Outside of nostalgia or novelty, there is little reason to revisit Modern Combat in this day and age.

It was a cross-generation game that was released with only campaign mode for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, but an upgraded version with multiplayer was then released on Xbox 360. Modern Combat was the first shot at consoles, and it did deliver a decent 24-player multiplayer experience, which was a good first step.

10 Battlefield 2142

The Only Time That Battlefield Depicted A Futuristic Warfare

More from the future world, Battlefield 2142 is set in the new Ice Age of the 22nd century with two superpowers of the world, the European Union and Pan Asian Coalition, fighting over the Earth’s unfrozen territories of North Africa and the Middle East.

2142 was the first Battlefield game not to have the US as the main protagonist, which was refreshing, and interestingly, it was designed for great multiplayer campaigns as it allows up to 64 players on one server.

9 Battlefield 5

Following Battlefield 1’s Solid Foundation And Experimenting With Battle Royale

Like Battlefield 1, which is based on the events of World War I, Battlefield 5 served as its continuation as it centered around World War 2. Although by no means bad, the game was nowhere near as well received as its predecessor. The core gameplay is generally among the best in the series, and the maps are quite good for the most part, but everything else about the package tends to be divisive.

Battlefield 5 didn’t get as much applause as its predecessor because it didn’t bring any big new features. It just delivered the same core gameplay to a new map with a new variety of guns and vehicles.

8 Battlefield 1943

A Multiplayer-Only Entry That Remained Exclusive To Consoles

Another multiplayer-only game, Battlefield 1943 barely qualifies as its own thing because its maps were taken from Battlefield 1942; however, since the latter was not released on consoles, this updated version earned its place.

Featuring two factions and three classes, Battlefield 1943 allows up to 24 players per map, which was more than good enough in the late 2000s. A cool addition was that the final map, Coral Sea, was only unlocked once the player base achieved 43 million kills.

7 Battlefield: Bad Company

The Beginning Of The Best Sub-Franchise In The Battlefield Series

There is never a better way to kick off the Frostbite engine era with Battlefield: Bad Company. Released in 2008, Bad Company was a promising start for the engine and garnered praise for its atmosphere and graphics which were way ahead of its time.

Bad Company centered around an army battalion of cannon fodders named “Bad Company,” consisting of Private Preston Marlowe, Terrence Sweetwater, George Gordon, and Sergeant Samuel D. Redford, fighting off the fictional First Russo-American War. Although the main story is a little short at just 7.5 hours, there’s enough extra content on offer in Bad Company to keep players busy for quite some time. The average completionist time is a whopping 56 hours, thanks in large to some challenging trophies and achievements.

6 Battlefield Vietnam

Improving The Core Features Of The First Game In A New Setting

Not to be confused with 2010’s Bad Company 2: Vietnam expansion pack, Battlefield Vietnam was a standalone game released in 2004. As the title suggests, Battlefield Vietnam is set during the infamous Vietnam War that cost plenty of lives from both the Vietnamese and American sides.

It was built using the same engine as the Battlefield debut title, and it’s impressive how EA took real-life historical settings and events like the 1968 Battle of Huế and implemented them in the game. Battlefield Vietnam has one of the longest campaigns in the series, with the main story lasting for around 14 hours. The lack of trophies and achievements does however provide little incentive to replay missions, although given the game’s aging visuals, a single playthrough should be enough for most.

5 Battlefield 1

One Of The Best World War 1 Depictions Ever In The Industry

Following the disappointing result of Battlefield: Hardline, EA bounced back with Battlefield 1. As the title suggests, it was set during World War I. It consisted of four different campaigns from different War events from the Arabian desert and the Battle of Cambrai to the sky of Germany and the Battle of Gallipoli.

Battlefield 1 was a significant commercial success with over 15 million copies sold and received numerous high-profile award nominations. It also introduced many new ideas and features that would go on to become series staples. With the main story only lasting around 6.5 hours, Battlefield 1 is a relatively short game. Thanks to its fantastic multiplayer mode though, most players typically spend a lot more time with it than that.

World War 1 barely received much love from established franchises, and Battlefield 1 did break that taboo with a ground-breaking experience. Even now, the game has a decent amount of players that populate the servers around the globe. The game’s wide variety of weapons and immersive vehicular combat returned the series to its glorious days once again.

4 Battlefield: Bad Company 2

The Peak Of The Series When It Comes To Storytelling

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 takes place in 1944, several years before the events of the first title. The story still centers around Private Preston Marlowe, the first game’s main protagonist, and Sweetwater, Haggard, and Sergeant Redford. The game used the Frostbite 1.5 engine, which allowed players to take on massive buildings and destroy them, giving them more freedom to explore the map. It scored over 12 million sales, and its expansion pack, titled Vietnam, was released ten months later.

Much like its predecessor, the main campaign of Bad Company 2 clocks in at around 7 hours. Unlike the first Bad Company, however, there’s not too much extra content on offer here, meaning that a completionist run will only provide an extra 11 hours or so of gameplay.

3 Battlefield 3

Setting For Destructible Environment That Turned Into An Icon In Battlefield

Supported by the second generation of the Frostbite engine, Battlefield 3 was undoubtedly one of the best Battlefield games at the time of its release. Players take on four different campaigns set during a fictional 2014 war.

The game was highly successful, breaking EA’s record as the company’s fastest-selling game ever at that time. As with some other more recent games in the series, the main story of Battlefield 3 only provides about 6 hours of gameplay. A completionist run can last for quite a bit longer though, with the average time on HowLongtoBeat currently sitting at 65 and a half hours.

2 Battlefield 1942

The First Entry In The Series And A Multiplayer Game Ahead Of Time

The first game of the series, Battlefield 1942 was a breath of fresh air. Released in 2002, a year before Call of Duty‘s debut, Battlefield 1942 centered around both the Allied team (the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union) and the Axis team (Nazi Germany and Japan) of the World War 2.

From Wake Island in the Pacific to El Alamein in North Africa, Battlefield 1942 was praised for its interactive and engaging multiplayer mode. The game didn’t do too badly in the sales department either; with estimates suggesting that it generated a little over $27 million in revenue. Many would consider that to be money well spent, especially considering that a completionist playthrough provides around 30 hours worth of entertainment. The main story accounts for 7.5 hours of that, which is fairly long for a Battlefield game.

1 Battlefield 2

Battlefield’s First-Ever Attempt On Modern Warfare To Solidify Its Brand

Hailed as the best Battlefield game to date, Battlefield 2 raised the bar for not just the series but also the FPS genre in general. It was the first Battlefield game to take place in the modern era, centering around a high-stakes war between some of the world’s biggest superpowers. Although not precisely a story-driven game, Battlefield 2 has a special place among the fans’ hearts for its online multiplayer mode.

On top of that, the game features a wide variety of 15 maps ready to be explored. As well as being the franchise’s highest-rated game to date, Battlefield 2 is also one of the longest.