Every Battlefield Game, Ranked

This rare attempt at a free-to-play Battlefield game was essentially a stripped-down version of Battlefield 2. While the free game was pretty barebones compared with the real thing, the idea would have been just fine had EA not, according to critics, committed the cardinal sin of microtransactions. Battlefield Play4Free sold meaningful gameplay upgrades, rather than just cosmetics, and that meant that it wasn't really free if you wanted to stay competitive over time.

"After the first few hours, 'free' becomes an illusion and the gameplay gets monotonous." —Robert VerBruggen, Cheat Code Central

As was the case with many games that shipped during or immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic, Battlefield 2042 released in a state that critics found pretty messy. They identified tons of bugs and a lack of overall focus, thanks in part to the removal of player classes in favor of customizable Specialists. Even so, there is one particular corner of Battlefield 2042 that critics were largely enamored with: Portal mode, which allows players to set up custom matches on maps from past Battlefield games.

""I am hopeful that 2042 will be a more interesting Battlefield game at some point next year, but having been through varying degrees of rough launches with this series - from BF 2142 through BF 5 - I can't say I have the stamina to perform the dance of chastising DICE for technical problems and missing features, only to turn around and celebrate when the game is inevitably 'good now, actually' a year into it." —Sherif Saed, VG247

EA's first attempt at a free-to-play Battlefield was this cartoonish-looking game, which distilled the Battlefield experience down to its simplest parts in order to create a lower barrier of entry for the franchise. The problem was that, as a third-person shooter, Battlefield Heroes didn't feel that much like a Battlefield game, and some critics found the paid cosmetics, which allowed player characters to dress up in goofy costumes, to be pretty irritating.

""Someone somewhere is punching the air and whooping at their enjoyment of machine-gunning pseudo-Nazis while dressed like Elton John, but me, well, I'm hoping I'll soon move on to other, rather more evolved experiences." —Jim Rossignol, Eurogamer

This unique title eschewed the franchise's normal style of warfare in favor of a cops-and-robbers frame for its multiplayer battles. Putting out a title that deviated so thoroughly from the franchise template turned out to be a no-win situation for EA, as critics were simultaneously enthusiastic about its unusual approach—the campaign was a cop story which rewards players for not murdering suspects, and the new online modes were GTA-esque—and also frustrated that it was so different from what they expected from a Battlefield game.

"While it doesn't feel as vital as Battlefields past, inventive new multiplayer modes and a fresh, if slightly unfocused campaign make Hardline the worthy TV spin-off to DICE's big budget blockbusters." —Ben Griffin, GamesRadar+

There are actually two games called Battlefield 2. There's the PC game, which is the main version that we'll discuss much later in this list, and then there's Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, which is an entirely different game built for consoles—the first time the series had expanded into that market. While Modern Combat was considered the inferior of the two when they were both released in 2005, critics still seemed to enjoy the console game on its own merits, as Modern Combat was a little more accessible than the PC titles were.

"It is thoroughly enjoyable and easily recommendable, but it doesn't really compare to its PC counterpart." —Worth Playing

This spinoff took the Battlefield formula and transplanted it into the far future, with new vehicles like hovertanks and mechs. But despite that pretty dramatic aesthetic overhaul, critics generally felt like Battlefield 2142 actually stuck very close to the gameplay of past Battlefield titles. That made the whole thing feel like less than the sum of its parts, since it looked futuristic even while the battles they were fighting were still pretty much the same as in Battlefield 2. The saving grace, of course, is that everybody liked Battlefield 2 a lot.

"Battlefield, in its best moments, is one of the most perfect and pure online experiences around. It's too bad 2142 isn't a major evolution over the titles that came before it but it's entertaining enough, and as the old saying goes, you shouldn't look a gift hovertank in the mouth." —GamePro

The first World War II game in the series in nearly a decade, Battlefield V was that rare game that managed to earn "it's good, but it should have been better" marks from nearly every critic who reviewed it. The biggest problem was that it felt incomplete when it launched, with several key features and entire game modes delayed until after the game was released—like how the Firestorm battle royale mode wasn't added until five months after the game came out. So critics liked Battlefield V, but they thought there should have been more of it.

"Battlefield V is a grand and addictive shooter with some smart ideas for improving gunplay and team dynamics, but at launch it has too many technical issues and holes in its content to excel." —James Duggan, IGN

Battlefield 4, the third straight numbered entry in the series to take place in a modern setting, was treated by critics as little more than an updated version of Battlefield 3, which was released two years earlier. That wasn't entirely a bad thing, since Battlefield 3 was extremely well regarded. Instead, the issue was more that Battlefield 4 didn't make enough of its own mark on the franchise, with the new large-scale destruction aspect (dubbed "Levolution") being cooler in theory than in execution. It was fun, but it needed more of its own identity.

"Business as usual with a mediocre single-player campaign and one of the best multiplayer experiences in all gaming – especially on the inarguably superior PC version." —Roger Hargreaves, Metro GameCentral

While the franchise had been very PC-oriented up to this point, EA tried to carve a niche for Battlefield in the console market with 2008's Bad Company, which was built entirely for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and doesn't have a PC version. Just as unusual is that Bad Company was the first Battlefield title to have a campaign story that critics generally liked. While the multiplayer side of things was very well regarded, with particular praise going toward the destructibility of the environment on the new maps, this is one of the few examples where this franchise has produced a story—it's about a group of soldiers who try to make off with a hoard of gold they find in the middle of a war zone, a bit like the movie Three Kings—that was genuinely worth the time.

"Solid gameplay aside, strong characters coupled with occasional whiffs of Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now ultimately help Bad Company transcend its lineage." —Scott Jones, AV Club

Battlefield 6 is one of the most anticipated games of 2025, and it's easy to see why. While the past couple Battlefield titles have been relative disappointments—a slight one in the case of Battlefield V and a large one in the case of Battlefield 2042—fans are hoping that Battlefield 6 will be a return to the sort of form the franchise had with Battlefield 2, Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 1. To that end, all the greatest hits are here—massive-scale battles, player classes, and even the Portal tools, which allow players to customize their own mode using maps from past games. And critics generally like the result, calling it a fan-pleasing comeback for the franchise, even if the multiplayer greatly outshines the single-player campaign.

"After years spent circling the drain, Battlefield 6 gets the series back on track. The mission statement was clear as EA delivers classic, class-based multiplayer, a thrilling yet brief singleplayer campaign, and a creative toolset bound to drive countless hours of fun in community-made experiences. We finally remembered how to make a proper Battlefield." —Brad Norton, Dexerto

Another attempt to establish a beachhead for the franchise in the console market, 1943 brought Battlefield back to World War II for the first time since the original game—but only on PS3 and Xbox 360, as it had no PC version at all. Battlefield 1943 is smaller in scope than most of the games in the series, with no story campaign at all and fewer modes than your average Battlefield title. But with a retail price of just $15, it also managed to be the franchise's cheapest title (not counting the freemium releases), so there was no frustration from critics over the amount of content.

"A great game and, in my mind, a fantastic value. It may not have a single-player campaign or a host of levels, but the content that it does provide is carefully made and really showcases the talent of DICE as a studio that knows how to create addictive multiplayer shooters." —Anthony Gallegos, GameSpy

For the second game in the series, DICE gave us one of the very few games set during the Vietnam War. While critics noted that Battlefield Vietnam is pretty much just more of the same large-scale battles of Battlefield 1942 without many significant changes to the formula, the franchise was still new and novel enough that the lack of novelty wasn't much of a turn-off. It turned out that taking the gameplay that everybody loved in the first game and transplanting it to the new jungle maps of Vietnam worked like a charm.

"The gameplay that was amazing a year and a half ago is not as shockingly new, leading to a battle that many of you will feel you've already fought. Still, the seamless inclusion of land, sea and air combat coupled with the intensity of jungle warfare wins it a medal of honor." —Shawn Sanders, Game Revolution

Yes, it's a little bit confusing in the abstract that the 15th game in the franchise was called Battlefield 1, but critics didn't mind too much since it took the franchise somewhere new: World War I. Like Vietnam, WWI is a war that hasn't been explored much in video games, which added significant novelty to a franchise that rarely stretches itself too much. Even better, this is one of the few Battlefield titles to draw raves for its story campaign, with six very personal stories told across as many different theaters of war. Battlefield 1 delivered the full package.

"It feels like Battlefield, it works like Battlefield, and it has plenty of opportunities for amazing things to happen that have only ever happened in a Battlefield game. It's nice to see DICE returning to the roots of what makes this series so amazing, and I'm happy that, for the first time in years, a new Battlefield game doesn't feel like it is in the middle of an identity crisis." —Josh Hawkins, Shacknews

Bad Company 2 came just a year after the first Bad Company game, and critics were in near-universal agreement that it improved on the excellent standard set by its predecessor. While there was plenty of disagreement about whether the story campaign is all that great, reviewers were in lockstep about the strength of the multiplayer gameplay, with many comparing it favorably to the 2009 juggernaut Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

"Do you like first-person shooters? If the answer is yes, buy Battlefield: Bad Company 2. If there's a weakness it lies in the slightly brief single-player campaign, but the brilliant, potentially Modern Warfare 2 beating multiplayer more than picks up the slack." —Tom Orry, VideoGamer

The very first game in the franchise was a completely fresh experience when it came out in 2002. While the multiplayer shooter market was full of fast-paced deathmatches, Battlefield 1942 had much larger and more strategic battles with vehicles and lots of control points to fight over. It was a multiplayer shooter with much more depth than critics were used to, and so it's no surprise they were smitten with this title even though it lacked a story campaign. This was one of those games that birthed a genre.

"A fantastic game - ridiculously fun, completely infectious, and one of the best massively multiplayer designs I've ever seen in an action game." —Computer Gaming World

After a half-decade of spinoffs like 2142 and Bad Company, DICE circled back to the mainline series with Battlefield 3, a proper successor to Battlefield 2 with a new generation of large-scale digital warfare. The result is a game that had critics feeling almost exactly the same as they did about Battlefield 2: extremely enthusiastic. Even the inclusion of a short and unmemorable story campaign, and the fact that you had to launch the PC version of the game from a web browser, didn't do anything to lessen the exuberance. The feeling among critics was that Battlefield 3 represented a perfect return to the series' roots.

"Exactly what Battlefield fans most likely wanted: a chaotic, gorgeous multiplayer game with small, but important tweaks to what already worked in past games. That it includes a short, somewhat mediocre solo campaign and some hit-or-miss co-op action does not detract from the fact that, online, this is the best Battlefield game yet. The PC version's online matchmaking tools are way ahead of the curve and a good example of how to do social networking in video games the right way." —Dave Snider, Giant Bomb

Like so many beloved sequels, Battlefield 2 doesn't make many dramatic changes from the first game. Instead, critics said it improved the formula in countless ways, particularly when it comes to facilitating teamwork during matches. Battlefield 2 allowed players to form impromptu mini-squads within their larger team, and included a new Commander role that would allow the big brains in your squad to have a more tactical overview of the battle so they could give tactical advice. Both additions made the game's large-scale battles a lot more coherent than they were in the previous games.

"Graphically it's stunning to behold, geographically vast to explore and whereas the first two games in the series were typified by the anarchic rushes for armour, BF2 promotes and rewards altruism and teamwork like no other." —Computer and Video Games