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.

So, how do these Battlefield games rank according to the aggregator website Metacritic? Which is considered the best Battlefield game of all time? Conversely, which title ranks at the bottom of the pile? Finally, how long are their single-player campaigns?

Updated August 31, 2023 by Mark Sammut: Battlefield 2042 is still chugging along, with EA releasing the Redux update on August 29, 2023. While it will likely never fully recover from its poor initial reception, the game has at least improved enough to be worth a recommendation to long-time fans who might have skipped out on its initial release. That said, they should do some research before jumping on board.

HowLongToBeat was used as a source for the games' completion times.

Special Mention: Battlefield 3: Aftershock (N/A)

battlefield 3 aftershock

Release Date

February 8, 2012

Developer

Digital Legends Entertainment

Platforms

iOS

Battlefield has not had the best luck on mobile, with EA canceling the most recent effort to successfully bring the franchise to iOS and Android devices. Prior to Battlefield Mobile, the license's previous iOS effort was Battlefield 3: Aftershock, a title so bad that it was shut down within mere months. Despite being free to play, the multiplayer shooter was so lackluster that it fell completely flat, and this was at a time when mobile gaming was not extremely oversaturated.

Nowadays, Aftershock has been almost entirely wiped from history, to the point of not even having its own Wikipedia entry. All that remains are a handful of less-than-glowing reviews that highlight a couple of the game's issues such as controls, graphics, map variety, and weapons. Just a few minor things.

17 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 iOS (64)

Battlefield Bad Company 2 ios

Release Date

December 16, 2010

Developer

Digital Legends

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

iOS (64)

Naturally overshadowed by its console and PC counterpart, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 iOS nevertheless did a respectable job of bringing a version of the title to mobile devices. A paid product released for the iPhone, iPad Touch, and Kindle Fire, the game came with a fairly impressive single-player campaign, along with a simplified take on Battlefield's multiplayer formula. While neither mode compares favorably to most of the series' mainline entries, they were decent when contrasted with other mobile first-person shooters released in 2010.

In an alternate reality, Bad Company 2 would have served as a solid foundation for Battlefield's mobile line, resulting in sequels that improve upon its ambitious ideas. In reality, it ended up being the franchise's solitary passable iOS or Android project and the only entry that is still playable in some form. According to HowLongToBeat, the campaign's length is roughly 5 hours.

16 Battlefield 2042 (68)

battlefield-2042 (1)

Release Date

November 12, 2021

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PC (68)
  • Xbox Series X/S (64)
  • PlayStation 5 (63)
  • Xbox One (N/A)
  • PlayStation 4 (N/A)

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.

RELATED: Battlefield 2042: Fixes The Game Still Needs

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.

As this is a multiplayer-only game, Battlefield 2042 does not have a completion time.

15 Battlefield Play4Free (68)

Battlefield Play4Free

Release Date

March 10, 2011

Developer

DICE, Easy Studios

Platforms

PC

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 evidently not attractive enough to last for more than a couple of years.

14 Battlefield Heroes (69)

battlefield heroes

Release Date

June 25, 2009

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

PC (69)

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 basically 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. Battlefield Heroes did not have a single-player, so there is no completion time.

13 Battlefield: Hardline (73)

Battlefield Hardline

Release Date

March 17, 2015

Developer

Visceral Games

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PlayStation 4 (73)
  • Xbox One (71)
  • PC (71)
  • Xbox 360 (N/A)
  • PlayStation 3 (N/A)

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. Players can expect to spend around 7.5 hours tackling the game's main story, with a completionist run coming in at just over 22 hours.

12 Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (80)

Battlefield 2 Modern Combatj

Release Date

October 24, 2005

Developer

Digital Illusions

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PlayStation 2 (80)
  • Xbox 360 (77)

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.

DICE put together a unique single-player campaign for Modern Combat, one that requires roughly 7 hours to complete.

11 Battlefield 2142 (80)

battlefield 2142

Release Date

October 17, 2006

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

PC (80)

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.

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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. Due to it being centered around multiplayer gameplay, there is no completion time to speak of for Battlefield 2142. The average player clocked up around 80 hours of playtime though which goes to show just how enjoyable the multiplayer experience that's on offer here really is.

10 Battlefield 5 (81)

A Recon player uses the spotting scope in Battlefield 5, with a tank in the background.

Release Date

November 15, 2018

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PC (91)
  • Xbox One (78)
  • PlayStation 4 (73)

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's main story only lasts around 6 hours, although those looking to tackle all the trophies and achievements will have to sink around 25 hours into the campaign.

9 Battlefield 1943 (84)

Battlefield 1943

Release Date

July 9, 2009

Developer

DICE Stockholm

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PlayStation 3 (84)
  • Xbox 360 (83)

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.

Battlefield 1943 had no single-player campaign.

8 Battlefield: Bad Company (84)

battlefield bad company tank

Release Date

June 23, 2008

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PlayStation 3 (84)
  • Xbox 360 (83)

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.

7 Battlefield Vietnam (84)

battlefield vietnam soldiers

Release Date

March 14, 2004

Developer

Digital Illusions

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

PC (84)

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.

6 Battlefield 4 (85)

battlefield 4

Release Date

November 12, 2013

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PlayStation 4 (85)
  • Xbox One (81)
  • PC (81)
  • PlayStation 3 (80)
  • Xbox 360 (79)
  • Wii U (N/A)

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.

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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. The main campaign only lasts for around 6 hours, with the average completion run adding another seven hours.

5 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (88)

battlefield bad company 2 explosion

Release Date

March 2, 2010

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PlayStation 3 (88)
  • Xbox 360 (88)
  • PC (87)

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 totally 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 8 hours or so of gameplay.

4 Battlefield 1(89)

battlefield-1-key-art-zeppelin

Release Date

October 18, 2016

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PlayStation 4 (89)
  • PC (88)
  • Xbox One (87)

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 a number of 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.

3 Battlefield 3 (89)

battlefield 3

Release Date

October 25, 2011

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

  • PC (89)
  • PlayStation 3 (85)
  • Xbox 360 (84)

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.

RELATED: Classic Battlefield Tropes That Aren't Around Anymore

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 (89)

battlefield 1942 LIBERATION OF CAEN map

Release Date

September 10, 2002

Developer

Digital Illusions

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

PC (89)

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 more than 50 hours worth of entertainment. The main story accounts for 8 hours of that, which is fairly long for a Battlefield game.

1 Battlefield 2 (91)

battlefield 2 gameplay

Release Date

June 21, 2005

Developer

DICE

Platforms (& Their Metacritic Scores)

PC (91)

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. Its main campaign clocks in at around 10 hours, whilst a completionist run averages close to 100.

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