I agree there but also several along the way have been very well done. BF2, BF3, Bad Company 1, Bad Company 2, Bad Company: Vietnam. All very solid shooters. I would say that Battlefield is the best mainstream FPS by quite a distance.
Big fan of BF1 the map making is some of the best I have ever seen though I am a little disappointing with the weapons they chose to add. Makes the game a bit too arcade like for my taste but still very satisfying.
Hardcore mode is also unfortunately missing a couple features that make it a bit too hard to identify enemy vs friendly targets.