Battlefield 4 - Review
Battlefield 4 is the next game in the long running and ever popular series and takes the series to new heights on Xbox One while maintain a familiar feel.
The single player component has you taking on the role of Recker, a member of the special operations squad known as Tombstone. Along with the other three members of the team, Dunn, Irish and Pac, they are tasked with retrieving Intel and escaping the city of Baku, Azerbaijan. This sets up the rest of the story that sees Admiral Chang of the Chinese Military planning a coup d’état and blaming the US.
The story takes you on a ride through various locations, including Shanghai and a sinking aircraft carrier. While the overall story does fall the predictable side, it is an enjoyable one and the character development does lead to some nice moments between the other members of Tombstone
Battlefield 4 is the first game out using the all new Frostbite 3 engine and it shows. The game is littered with minor graphical quirks, but none of those can hold a candle to how amazing this game looks when things are going bad for Tombstone. Buildings now crumble in various ways, and bringing down a wall to make an exit or even remove the cover the enemy is using is just fun.
The character models are well detailed, and the faces show significant expressions that allow you to see how they are feeling during cutscenes. However it is during the course of the battles that you notice a level of detail not found in other shooters yet. The games use of lighting shows off an impressive series of details you probably won’t notice if you’re not looking for them. The Shanghai level alone is filled with lots of neon signs, helicopter search lights and rain and water filled streets. And when you are moving through alley’s you can’t help be impressed by just how good it looks.
With destructible environments that allow you or the enemy to change the course of a firefight, each encounter won’t be won by the old run and gun tactic. You can of course choose to play that way, and there are times, when the AI of your squad mates make you want to do it, if not for any other reason than to move things forward. But doing so will get you killed, and fast. While the core concepts of the game are the same as the last entry, the enemy AI seems have taken a crash course in magnetic bullets, because you seem to be the only target at any time.
The game does break up the standard shooting sections with some nice vehicle segments one of which takes place on sea. Bouncing across the waves while attempting to take out enemy boats and helicopters is just fun. Of course this is all based on the single player experience and as we know the Battlefield series is built around multiplayer. The core tenants of the Battlefield multiplayer experience are now being integrated into the single player and it works well and gives you a sense to try different things.
When you take the game online you are presented with an almost perfect selection of maps to play on, spanning open areas, island chains and even some sections of downtown Shanghai. Each time you spawn you have the choice to choose one of four different player archetypes and these have not change all that much from Battlefield 3. Each class has a skill that compliments the others and allows for squads to be well rounded. Of course this does change depending on the map being played as being an engineer and repairing vehicles is not all that important when you’re running across rooftops.
While there is a nice appeal for a lone wolf style approach, it is playing with your squad and overall team that allows the best experience. Attempting to attack a control point on your own never works, when the other team is guarding it, but take a few other team mates with you and you have a chance. Each of the game modes is either just the same from the last game, or tweaked slightly and they are fun. Rush is probably my favorite mode for Battlefield where one team has to defend a series of objectives and the other team needs to destroy them. Upon the first two being destroyed the defending team has to fall back to the next area and defend the next lot. The flow of those battles can change pretty easily, and even more so thanks to the new element of Levolution.
Levolution is the term applied to multiplayer where you can change the maps and gameplay on the fly. In one map you can take down a levy and flood the streets, turning a pure run and gun level into one with boats everywhere. Using Levolution you can also interact with the maps in a more minor way. Turn off the lights in a room and use night vision to stalk your enemy. Perhaps you have just encountered a nice group of bad guys and need to get away, shoot the fire extinguisher located near them to create a smoke screen. Some maps even have road block aids you can deploy to store cars from being able to get around. Of course if you still want a little more from your game, the maps are dynamic which means that your little cruise in your boat taking enemies out on the island will become a whole lot more challenging when the swell kicks in and tress start to bend in the winds.
Battlefield 4 provides many moments where you will be blown away by staggering visuals and many “did that just happen” moments. The multiplayer kicks things into a who new gear with Levolution proving that you don’t have to “re-invent” the multiplayer experience with each new game but provide more of what players loved.
The Score
9.0
Review code provided by Electronic Arts
The Pros
+Destructable worlds, on their own and combined with Levelution
+Character that really feel alive
The Cons
-A few graphical hiccups here and there cause some frustration
-The single player campaign is predictable at times
