Battlefield 4

What is there to be said about the Battlefield franchise? Large-scale maps riddled with tanks, artillery, jets, and all kinds of war machines. Squad-oriented gameplay with a glossy, lens-flared look to things. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s enough to keep you satisfied, that is, if you can get it to work. At launch, Battlefield 4 is riddled with a long list of game-breaking glitches and bugs. The single-player remains relatively untouched in regard to game-breaking glitches, but the multiplayer has a strong chance of falling apart. Kotaku recently released a statement from DICE highlighting a few glitches that the developers are looking into.

As for the single-player, well, it’s what you’d expect. It’s linear, short, action-packed, and not entirely satisfying. There are vague elements of choice littered throughout the gameplay, but in the end your final choice and previous choices, if you can call them that, inevitably result in the same climactic outcome. But despite the narrative downfalls, the game manages to splice in adrenaline-fueled gameplay, impossible odds, and one hell of a ride. So if you’re willing to suspend any creative critique and forget that there was once a co-op feature in Battlefield 3, then you’ll be just fine.

Multiplayer is essentially the name of the game for Battlefield 4. It’s the strongest aspect of the whole package. Obliteration offers a unique, focus-locked game type set around a centralized bomb: each team has three bases, and each team must destroy the enemy bases. It offers a fresh experience against the monotony of usual shooter game types. A new term called Levolution has been prescribed for the level of destruction in the environment. Let’s do the basic history of this destructive feature. Battlefield: Bad Company illustrated Destruction 1.0, allowing walls to be chipped away, craters to be made, trees to be felled, and loads of other small levels of destruction. Destruction 2.0 was fully utilized in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, where buildings could fully collapse and kill players after sufficient damage had been done. Destruction 3.0 was shown in Battlefield 3, which utilized “micro-destruction”, where rifles and small-arms fire could effectively destroy the environment as well.

Levolution essentially utilizes predetermined parts of the map that can be altered or destroyed at a specific time, or any time, to change the flow of the map and game. The most notable is the skyscraper on Siege of Shanghai that can be toppled to litter the ground with dust and debris. Is altering the map with predetermined player actions a revolution in game design? No. Mid-game alterations have taken place in many titles. Does that make this feature any less effective? No. Jumping off a toppling skyscraper into a helicopter piloted by a friend is always going to be effective. I just find it strange that they gave it a name. Nevertheless, it’s a strong and adaptive feature.

The return of the Commander Mode is always an interesting aspect as well. Having a single player view the map in an RTS fashion, giving out orders, ordering missile strikes, and utilizing vehicle and weapon drops is an interesting mechanic to a seemingly chaotic match. The leveling system hasn’t varied much, but now includes battlepacks and field upgrades. At predetermined ranks and experience levels, players can acquire a bronze, silver, or gold battlepack that gives them random accessories for either aesthetic or practical reasons. If you’ve ever played the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, it’s essentially the same concept. The field upgrades are simply in-game squad upgrades for objectives and points acquired: faster sprint, better cover, more ammo, essentially the old squad perks from Battlefield 3.

All in all, DICE added some minute details to the gameplay that have proven to be effective and engaging. Their story lacked development and length, but was ridiculous and enjoyable nonetheless. The unprofessional amount of glitches are temporary hindrances that I’m sure DICE will fix in an ungodly large patch sooner or later. And the multiplayer is engaging; however, I find myself more regretting my current investment in Battlefield 4 as a console gamer, when it will come out for the next generation with sixty-four-player matches. Nevertheless, it’s a strong entry, and it’s exactly what I expected from them. A few Battlefield veterans will have to get used to the new digs, but all in all, it wasn’t a disappointing experience.