“What follows is frontline combat. You are not expected to survive.” Those are the words set on a stark black background. Immediately, players are dropped into the action: a French city coming down in pieces, Germans pouring in from all sides.

Another soldier yells into your face, “We’re surrounded! We have to hold this line!” as he dives headfirst into the action in only a service coat and garrison cap, a Remington M11 in his hands. You are a soldier in the 369th Infantry Regiment, the “Harlem Hellfighters,” in World War 1.

Battlefield 1 is not like other first person shooters tailored for the next-gen consoles. It’s campaign is not made up of one long campaign. Instead, it centers on six smaller War Stories, as they’re called. Each has a different playable character and takes place throughout Europe with parts of the Middle East. Each War Story has two to four smaller segments to complete.

Another new feature that differentiates Battlefield 1 from the competition is the death-respawn sequence. The player doesn’t pop back into life like “normal.” An individualized name appears on the screen, making gameplay intensely personal. My first was “Orville Jefferson, 1885-1911.”

Battlefield 1 is powered by an upgraded Frostbite 3, enhanced using photogrammetry, the use of photography in surveying and mapping to ascertain measurements between objects. Technical jargon aside, this means the graphics are so profoundly realistic, that some cutscenes look like they could be taken straight from a movie.

The stunning graphics, historical accuracy, and general novelty of a World War I-based game make it an enjoyable one, coupled with the fact that it has stopped trying to be Call of Duty make it an enjoyable game.

Be forewarned; its eighty dollar price tag and “M” rating due to blood and violence is not for the weak of wallet or stomach.