Battlefield 6 is officially on the horizon, and you better believe I'm counting the days. I've played nearly every single Battlefield game since the franchise came out, and through all the bugs, broken launches, and delays, I've never really seen a truly bad Battlefield game.

Given enough time, every Battlefield game has risen to the occasion and blossomed into a fantastic first-person shooter. With the next iteration of this legendary shooter franchise coming soon, I'm all in, and there's never been a better time to revisit the entire franchise and stack them up by merit.

14 Battlefield 2042 (2021)

The worst launch in the history of the franchise

The worst launch in the franchise, Battlefield 2042 was plagued by problems with mechanics, performance, and balancing from day one. The game promised to be so much, and turned out to be so little. Coverless multiplayer maps, unbalanced arenas where victory was impossible if you spawned on the wrong team, and ineffectual gunplay, all paired with some of the most horrible performance and visual bugs resulted in a terrible early death for Battlefield 2042.

Still, DICE stuck to their guns and built the game back, and while it never was able to reach the heights of its original ambition, it's still a solid shooter today. On the content side of things, there just isn't enough novelty to make anyone stick around for too long, and after spending a year waiting for it to get better, I moved over to the Modern Warfare 2 remake for good.

13 Battlefield Hardline (2015)

From warring nations to playing cops and robbers

EA's attempt at making Battlefield a yearly franchise started by bringing over Dead Space studio Visceral Games to make a new Battlefield game. This wasn't a mainline entry, and instead of warring nations, rogue terrorist factions, and NATO imploding, Battlefield Hardline kept it closer to the ground by revolving around cops and criminals. Why they didn't just choose to instead make Bad Company 3 is something that baffles us all to this day.

Hardline wasn't nearly the success that EA must've thought it would be, because the franchise's player base was more about military combat, and Hardline's theme of cops and criminals didn't resonate with them at all. Still, the game itself was actually rock solid, with enjoyable maps and multiplayer bouts that even became addictive after a point.

The last game by Visceral Games before the studio shut down, Battlefield Hardline had its heart in the right place, but it simply didn't resonate with any player base.

12 Battlefield 2142 (2006)

Battlefield's first foray into the future

Battlefield 2142 was the fifth entry in the franchise, and the first one to step into the future. As you can guess, it featured futuristic military combat, with VTOLs and mech warriors running around. The belle of the ball here was the Titan Mode, where two teams went head-to-head in a challenge to topple the opponents' Titan or aircraft carrier.

This game won plenty of awards, and sold north of 100,000 copies in the UK alone, which was huge at the time. Personally, I never vibed with the game, since it wasn't the quintessential Battlefield we've come to know, but it does deserve its flowers for being a stellar attempt at futuristic combat in the franchise.

11 Battlefield Vietnam (2004)

Not much of an upgrade over the first Battlefield

The second game in the franchise, Battlefield Vietnam didn't have a lot to say that was its own. The Refractor Engine saw some incremental updates after the first game, and this sequel, too, didn't have any huge changes. However, it did give us urban maps in Battlefield, and there were some rather cool upgrades that players loved to talk about.

For starters, Battlefield Vietnam allowed players to carry tanks and boats into combat via helicopter. It was a fun time, sure, but it wasn't the huge follow-up to the game-changing Battlefield 1942 that everyone had expected it to be.

10 Battlefield V (2018)

An initial lack of depth and identity led to this one not resonating with players

Battlefield V's lack of depth and identity marred its launch and legacy. It was full of bugs when it launched, but even with those aside, the campaign just didn't have enough oomph to it to keep players happy, as it focused on obscure battles from the Second World War.

Pair that with a painstakingly slow rollout of fixes and new content and inexplicable weapon damage mechanics, and players were eager to leave the game. I stuck around, however, and what it became towards the end was nothing short of a marvelous and gorgeous WWI shooter that aged like wine.

9 Battlefield 4 (2013)

So much wasted potential in this one

After the industry-defining game that Battlefield 3 was, everyone and their dog was hyped for Battlefield 4, myself included. I wasn't disappointed by the quality of the campaign, but certainly by its length. There wasn't a lot different from Battlefield 3, and to the uninitiated, the game could very well have been Battlefield 3 DLC.

The multiplayer remained solid, though, and this was the game I spent the most amount of multiplayer hours in — two of my friends finally got around to building their PCs before Battlefield 4 dropped, which meant I could finally stop playing only with strangers. This one is a bit of a poster child for wasted potential in the franchise, but revisiting it is never off the table because of how tight the campaign kept things.

8 Battlefield 1942 (2002)

The Battlefield that started it all

The very first Battlefield game, Battlefield 1942 was nothing short of an industry-changer. When it came out in 2002 for PC only, Battlefield 1942 was the only thing around if you wanted large-scale infantry-based military shooters. Heck, it even had realistic tanks, flying, and even aircraft carriers. At the time, simply nothing else compared, and Battlefield 1942 stood head and shoulders above the competition.

The large-scale multiplayer combat experience was insanely realistic at the time. Of course, in hindsight, it does have faults, since that realism also meant that maps were vast and open, but you'd also end up running for really long periods of time before seeing anyone to shoot at. Still, this is the title that started it all, and what a fantastic start it was.

7 Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (2005)

A console-exclusive Battlefield with a rather interesting campaign

The first Battlefield game to have a single-player campaign, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat is one of the most unforgettable shooters from the PS2 era. This was the first Battlefield game for a significant amount of players, and the campaign itself was a rather memorable affair, revolving around a war sparked between NATO and China by a terrorist organization.

The campaign was all about swapping back-and-forth between operatives from NATO and China, and while it did have its flaws, it was the series' first foray into storytelling. A PS2/Xbox/360 exclusive, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat remains one title in this series that I don't think I'll ever stop talking about.

6 Battlefield 1943 (2009)

It's a shame this game never came to PC like it was supposed to

A console-exclusive Battlefield running on the Frostbite that came right after Bad Company, Battlefield 1943 isn't talked about as much as it should be, in my opinion. It looked great, it played great, and just like Bad Company a year before it, it only offered 24-player multiplayer lobbies, which, for consoles, was fine at the time.

Sadly, this one was supposed to come to PC, but it never did. I'm just glad that I had guilt-tripped my folks into getting me an Xbox 360 for Halo 3's release, which meant that I could trade in that DVD for Battlefield 1943 at the local retailer.

5 Battlefield: Bad Company (2008)

One of the most unforgettable Battlefield titles

Bad Company is one of the most unforgettable Battlefield titles, and for good reason. The environmental destruction we love the Battlefield series for, came from this one, as it jumped over to the Frostbite engine. A console exclusive that only came to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Battlefield: Bad Company had a lot of people moving to the consoles to see what the hype was all about, and they were all left wowed.

The single-player campaign here was a welcome change from the bulk of other war games, with likable characters behaving humanly. The writing, while serviceable, still managed to lift the campaign up on its shoulders, and despite the 30fps lock, the game looked and felt grand.