Many games aspire to be large-scale and epic, but few have done it as long and as successfully as the Battlefield series. Since the release of Battlefield 1942 in 2002, EA has been a class-leader in the FPS genre with an orderly use of vehicles, large maps, and player roles. In a way, it’s forged a war shooter genre of its own.
Battlefield 4, despite its name, is the 12th game in the franchise, and at this point the formula has been tweaked to what its developer hopes is perfection. Has it succeeded?
Your first impression is likely to be that BF4 appears quite similar to its predecessor. The Battlelog system is back, albeit with some new features, and the base presentation is familiar. But behind its shroud of strong Battlefield 3 influences is a fundamental improvement: the game’s engine. Frostbite v3.0, as its called, is an incredibly impressive engine that brings to life the game’s realistic environments. Destructible elements are in full-force, meaning that not only do you see explosions but the result of them. Your cover can be blown, literally.
The new engine does greater things than provide destructible environments, though. Each map transforms radically during the length of a match in what DICE calls ‘Levolution’. Paracel Storm’s vacation-friendly exotic islands are quickly overcome by storms that bring tidal waves. Flood Zone requires you to adapt to a city environment before it’s flooded with water. The series was already successful at providing a large landscape for battles, but this game adds density to each foot of real estate.
Speaking of which, water is a major element in this installment. There are new sea vessels employed for your use, and you’ll be quick to learn that they’re potent once you’re obliterated by them a few times. Don’t be mistaken, it isn’t just about making boats larger and equipped with more guns. There are amphibious vehicles that allow you to go from dominating water to rolling up in parking garage to defend a flag. If you’re prone to sea-sickness, you’ll get over it quickly.
The maps range well in style and design similar to previous games, with there being your impressively large open-world environments such as Siege of Shanghai, and your close-quarters infantry-centric maps like Operation Locker. These maps are much more vertical than in previous games. You can take elevators up to the top of skyscrapers then base jump to the middle of the battlefield (not very effective but one of the most fun ways to die quickly). Unlike other games that thrive on providing excellent close-range gunplay, BF4 is all about letting you eat from a smörgåsbord of tasty content. Not everything will suit your taste, but that’s okay because there are tons of other flavors.
Game modes are an important part of having options, and two new modes have found their way into the Battlefield world: Obliteration and Elimination. Obliteration is all about fighting over the other team to carry a bomb to objectives. In essence, it’s a lesson on patience. Running to the bomb mindlessly is a quick way to die, and the team that can master the ability to transport the bomb using vehicles and teamwork will be victorious. Elimination is basically a hardcore mode with no respawns. Both are worth trying out, but don’t do a good job of taking of advantage of BF4‘s strengths. Much of your mileage is likely to come from Conquest, which has been a mainstay since Battlefield 1942.
Gameplay hasn’t strayed too far from the series’ roots with shooting mechanics that are good but not perfect. Really, the most immediate improvement to the quality of life is the readjustment of how the unlock system works. Instead of crippling you until you clock several hours, you begin with the essentials such as smoke bombs for your tanks, and heat-seeking missiles for your jets. This is a very welcomed change, but it isn’t perfect. Unlocking major upgrades still is a daunting task that requires a lot of time investment. This particularly makes cross-kit play frustrating since you’ll usually end up with one kit that you play a lot being effective and the other three being gimp. If you’re going to play this game a lot then the deep trove of unlocks will keep you going.
Commander Mode is an important addition for fans of the series. If you happen to find your way into the role of commander, you’ll have a blast commanding troops and supporting them with scans and missiles. While you’re unlikely to be able to spend a substantial amount of time in the role, since only one player per team can be commander, you’ll almost always be influenced by its addition. It’s a dedicated job, now, and that means you’ll always have a leader barking orders in hopes of leading the team to victory. Every now and again you’ll be in a nasty battle only to have it ended by the massive devastation of a cruise missile. Hopefully it’s your commander that launched it. If so, don’t forget to thank him or her.
BF3 was a graphical powerhouse, and this game is similarly gorgeous. The drama of previous games has been given a boost by the new Frostbite engine. There is plenty of eye-candy, and those hilarious moments that give Battlefield character (like running over a guy then crashing into a wall and exploding) are more common than ever before. If you want to run it on your PC you’re going to need some killer specs to see the same visuals DICE has been demonstrating since the game’s announcement. If you’re able to, you’ll be treated to one heck of a visual display. If not, the game still manages to look and play smoothly on medium settings. If you must play on a current-gen console version, expect it to be watered down. Here’s your good reason to upgrade to the Xbox One or PS4 soon.
If you’re tired of competing with other players, there’s a single-player campaign. It holds the same degree of entertainment value as BF3‘s, which means it’s short and not very compelling. It’s likely you’ll have more fun heading to the test range where you can hop into any of the game’s vehicles and mess around. This is a multiplayer game at heart, so keep that in mind if you buy it.
Battlefield 4 is similar to its predecessor more than we would have liked, but there’s no denying how impressive its new engine is. This is the same game that emphasizes teamwork and commands strategy, so if you and your friends are into using the NATO phonetic alphabet to dominate opposing teams, or maybe just like freedom in your FPS games, it’s an easy recommendation that will wow you with a large-scale online experience unlike any other. However, if you don’t love Battlefield‘s methodical style, Battlefield 4 won’t change your mind.
Technical issues
For as fun as BF4 can be, it currently is wrought with technical issues. Freezing is extremely common (I’ve frozen about once per hour) and a complete buzz killer. It appears to similarly affect the console and PC version, so it’s not related to hardware or drivers. Hopefully, this will be patched in the near future so that it’s no longer a problem. We’ve docked .5 points from the final rating due to the significance of the issue.
Jonathan Leack is the Gaming Editor for CraveOnline. You can follow him on Twitter @jleack.
Review copy of Battlefield 4 provided by EA. Review based on PC version.
