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Battlefield 4 Review


unr3al

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Before I kick things off here, I want to briefly say that I've been writing game reviews on another forum I'm a member of for years now, and my fellow forum members seem to enjoy them, so I thought I'd give sharing one of these on here a shot. I hope you find it entertaining and/or helpful.
 
 
 
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Some of you here may have been wondering where the Battlefield 4 review was since the game has been out for over a week and since I had already played the beta. I wanted to make sure that I gave this game some good quality time before I made a verdict because some game play experiences I found so brilliant that I had to slap a gold star on my monitor, and others I found frustrating to the point where I wanted to not touch another shooter for a while. Finally after putting some time in, I feel I can write a fair review of everything Battlefield 4 has to offer.
 
Story:
 
First to clarify the storyline. Without giving too much away, you belong to a unit of U.S. Marines that behaves a lot more like a Spec Ops group than they should. You play a young Marine that's part of a squadron full of equally ranked Sergeants, who eventually becomes the leader of the squad for a time. In whatever universe this game is set in, there is a  tyrannical dictator that has come to power in China, and as has been the case before (see the Bay of Pigs Invasion), the U.S. wants to tip the balance of power and alter the future of Chinese/US relations to something that will be in their favor. This involves freeing a VIP who is being held as a political prisoner so he can speak the words of truth and show all the Chinese citizens the light, or something like that. But of course, as with most military operations, nothing goes as planned. You soon find yourself under attack from one of the worlds largest armies, and find the U.S. Military unable to do very much about it. Your job is to rectify that by doing some more action film bold & daring Spec Ops work.
 
While I find the story this game tells to be a little bit more interesting than Battlefield 3's campaign, it is full of plot holes that actually bothered me during and after the 6 hours (yes 6 hours again, just like your average Call of Duty or Battlefield game these days) it took me to finish it. Firstly, I could buy into a scenario of China attacking our naval fleet that patrols the pacific ocean and potentially disabling us for a day or two, but to suggest that there wouldn't be any retaliation from U.S. Forces stationed elsewhere, or for that matter, any retaliation from any of our allied nations (England, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, etc) is absolutely ludicrous. If World War 3 were started, nations across the globe are going to very quickly pick sides. Another issue with the story is a passing comment I made earlier. You're character is in a Marine unit. By definition of your branch of military, you do not perform Spec Ops missions. We have things like DEVGRU and Delta Force for that. Lastly is the tie-in with the Russian army. They are considered enemy combatants in this game, but it isn't explained why at all that I noticed. Russia is no longer a communist country, so where's the tie in? Overall, the prospect of war with China isn't exactly far fetched, and Russia still considers us their biggest military threat. Members of all branches of their military will tell you that drills they practice involve scenarios with us as the opposing force. But the plot holes here are too big to ignore.
 
8xj1xj.jpg
 
No Irish, I'm not okay. This story sucks and I have no idea why we're even here.
 
What the story does better than the previous game is that it manages to hit home a little more. Chinese and U.S. Relations and ways of governing are very different and may eventually clash. They pose a significant threat since many of their weapon and vehicles technologies continue to improve, and they have no shortage of people to recruit into their military should the occasion of a draft arise. In addition, you will run into a few scenarios that may sadden you due to a couple of scenes where you get a feeling of helplessness during certain parts of the game, and you even get to see a little bit of the good in what the U.S. Military does abroad. The problem is these moments don't mean as much as they should because most of the characters that meet an unfortunate fate have very little (if any) development before they are “retired” from the story. All in all, I'd like to see DICE/EA hire a screenwriter like the Call of Duty team does. Their single player stories are also only around 6 hours, but they're much better written on some occasions. Battlefield 4's campaign isn't exactly throw away, but it's rough around the edges and lacks structure to say the least.
 
Score: 5/10
 
Graphics:
 
While I was fairly unimpressed with some of the visuals in the Battlefield 4 beta, I have to say that the full version of the game has panned out a lot better. Textures on other maps look very good, environmental effects are commonly used, and are placed extremely well (many places in Asia deal with severe hurricanes or monsoons, and you get a taste of that on both the single player and multiplayer levels), and character models have improved. The equipment you use has also been updated. American forces have ditched the hummers and traded them in for the new road-side bomb-proof vehicles we're supposed to be using now, new guns are available with all sorts of crazy attachments, and the animations are polished for the most part. One thing I'm very pleased to see is that you are no longer able to get half of your body into a wall or corner to hide yourself during a multiplayer map. As far as hardware goes, if you put everything on ultra using my hardware (Core i7 3770K, 6GB DDR3, nVidia GTX 670), you can run it very well, usually between 55-75 depending on what you're looking at on screen. Recording to the same hard drive you play the game on is not an option unless you lower the details to 'High', as the framerate drop will make the game unplayable. This game still doesn't match up to Crysis, but it's actually pretty close. Better motion blur, more lush environments, and better character animations would probably do it, but I'm sure the multiplayer would suffer as a result of it, so I'm happy with where it is.
 
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The Shanghai skyline looks amazing at night. Shame about the armed guards surrounding the entire hotel... except the side entrance. No need to guard that.
 
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There's some beautiful scenery if you have time to pause between sniper bullets and mortar shells.
 
Score: 8/10
 
Sound:
 
You'll be seeing some old sounds of vehicles and weapons returning, and plenty of new ones coming in as new items have been added to the game. Chief among them are the new selection of ground vehicles, jets and of course the all-mighty assault boats. Guns have what I would consider to be the proper amount of punch. Some old sounds of vehicles such as the horns and the four wheeler motor haven't been improved, which is slightly annoying, but ignorable since you'll have better things to worry about, like dodging bullets and shells flying around the map. The music used is extremely similar to that of Battlefield 3. Modern, electronic, sharp. Not something you'd listen to in your car stereo but it's very good for the loading screens. Buildings collapsing and walls breaking apart sounds very satisfying with my 5.1 headset on, and I'm sure a good 5.1 or 7.1 surround setup would be just as good if not better.
 
Score: 8/10
 
Gamplay & Lasting Appeal:
 
One of the biggest problems I have with nearly all video games today is “the grind”. I grew up during the 1990's. And in those days, shooter games were pick-up and go. Something you could play really briefly after work or before heading to school if you got up early for a spot of fun. Today's games seem to require a much heftier time investment, and Battlefield 4 is no exception. From a developer perspective, I understand why this is. Because so many people are playing video games, and are tired of the same old content and formula, game companies have to think of ways to extend the life of their games by adding in small content like new maps, weapons, vehicles, etc. And these things take time to develop. So in order to keep you playing, they give you things to do. In the case of a lot of shooter games these days, it's unlocking weapons, attachments, camos and “perks”. The beef I have with Battlefield 4 is that the unlocking process is in my opinion; far more agonizing than that of Battlefield 3 or any call of duty game, chiefly because the unlocks have now been randomized to an extent. In Battlefield 3, you would be able to pick a class, work towards a weapon, and once you get what you want, you could repeatedly use that weapon to get all the nice attachments for it after racking up a certain amount of kills, and if you were satisfied with that, you we're all done. All or most important guns were also unlocked by a certain level, too. In an attempt to stretch out the time it takes ever further, unlocks are a bit more complicated. You can indeed pick a class and start leveling it up to unlock new weapons, but you don't earn all attachments for it in a specific order. You are now awarded what are called “Battlepacks”, which are little bundles of random accessories and cheap thrills such as camos or XP bonuses to keep you going. The problem is just that, though; They are random unlocks. Nearly everything I've got from a generic Battlepack has been an accessory for a gun I'll never use, ever. Eventually, with enough use of a single gun, you'll also get Battlepacks specifically for the gun you're using, but they are still randomized accessories, so while the new scope or laser you get may be for your gun, it may not be in the order you want. So someone with some luck may get the cool night-vision scope right away, while others have to toil away and grind Battlepacks until they finally unlock everything. Meanwhile, I'm still using the one class I'm trying to trick out my gun for, ignoring objectives like blowing up vehicles or taking out enemy snipers at a distance because I'm focused on grinding a Medic (as an example), so in effect, the grinding can actually cause you and your teammates to lose games.
 
On top of that, the perks system in this game works a lot like... well, actually; Deus Ex. Instead of working hard and sinking lots of hours into the game to get permanent personal and squad perks for when you spawn in, you end up getting a specific “set” of perks (no customization) that you have to earn by keeping a kill streak. As an example, I'd have to get X number of kills in a row to get the squad ammo perk, because even though it's the only once I may be concerned with, it's not awarded to me when I spawn or even upon my first kill. And if I die, my team and I lose that perk and we have to start all over again. Some people may like this system, but I don't understand why I have to unlock something if I can't use it anyway without a kill streak. Bottom line here is that the unlock system is confusing at best, and terribly frustrating at worst. Again, I understand why developers do it, and Battlefield isn't the only game to do it, but this is without a doubt the most complex unlock system I've ever dealt with in any video game ever. I feel like I'm sounding like an old man here, but just give me my shit and let me play. I'm supposed to be a solider. Hand me the equipment I need to do my job and let me go do it. You're assigned a role in the real military and given the weapon you need to fulfill that role. You don't start off with a BB gun and work your way up to a .50 cal after you take down 1,500 Taliban members.
 
As far as the actual mechanics go, there are some improvements and some things that were touched that shouldn't have been. With the new physics system, weather plays a large role in certain maps. Large storm surges will make it rain, causing it to be a little harder to see, and the sea will swell with massive waves, making moving in a boat much harder, never mind swimming. Speaking of which, you can now finally dive under water to hide from people shooting at you. You do not have a breath meter that I can notice, so you need to pay attention to how long you've been under, or you'll start taking damage and eventually die. As mentioned before, you also cannot perform as many cheap tactics, such as hiding yourself in a corner with your body half way in the wall, making you less of a target, which is definitely appreciated. Those are some (but not all) of the positives. For the negatives, they've changed around the hit boxes for enemies and changed damage values for a lot of weapons. Sniper rifles seem to do more torso damage in soft core mode, while assault rifles do less. With an AK-12 it can take nearly an entire clip to kill someone if they're not standing still, partially due to the recoil, but mostly in part to bullet damage from the assault rifles not being too realistic. The only way to fix that is to get yourself a fast firing weapon, but those don't work well at long range, as you'd imagine. The solution to this problem is to play 'Hardcore' mode where all weapons can kill quickly, but there are less hardcore servers than normal ones, so finding a game you like may be harder. I feel that pistols and shotguns are balanced correctly, though I feel they ruined a few pistols that were great in the last game while introducing new ones that sort of take their place. I also find it unfair that a sawed off 12-gauge shotgun is considered a pistol in this game. Sniper rifles, although more powerful now have one more nerf on them. In addition to having scope glint in dark areas of the game (wouldn't happen in real life) there are also bullet tracers, even at short range so it's very easy to find where a sniper is if you don't have your back turned to him/her. As far as game modes, they have returned to the basics (mostly). They have introduced a couple of bomb oriented game modes, similar to that of Unreal Tournament or Counter Strike, on top of the regular Team Deathmatch, Rush and Concquest game modes. They have removed Capture The Flag, but I suspect they'll add it back in later on down the line after a few expansions packs come out. The maps are well thought out, and are generally fair to both teams as to where they spawn on each side. Squads now hold 5 members instead of four, and there is built-in chat for your squad, but not for your entire team. I'm not sure as to why that is, or if that will change going forward. I like the idea of making it more like Counter Strike for that matter, where you can toggle “all talk” on and off so you could potentially have all players on both sides talk to each other.
 
2uyj12s.jpg
 
"Weather plays a large roll in certain maps."
 
Big matches are fast and furious, and this time around vehicles don't seem too overwhelming on large maps, though I haven't ran into any servers that advertise “instant re-spawn” for vehicles, so maybe if those start becoming abundant again I might change my tune. Small matches are tactical and tense, and using a knife is more satisfying than ever. You get choices of knives to use (I use a machete), and there's even a counter-knife mechanic where an opponent has a chance to block your knife attempt, and stab you back if they press 'F' at the right time. Other than the things I mentioned, the game plays more or less the same as Battlefield 3, which I think is a good thing. If you were good at the previous game, you'll be good at this one. This game, remember is extremely team/squad dependent. If you play with random people, and they happen to be idiots, you're going to lose. Generally speaking, you can't carry your team, no matter how hard you fight. So play with friends to ensure victory, otherwise good luck. I've had minimal play time with friends, and I'm around a 55% win/loss ratio. I was around 75% (that's the top 1% in the world across all platforms) in Battlefield 3 because I had a clan full of competent people to pub with for most of the time I played it. While they have re-introduced commander mode for directing the boots on the ground, I don't find it being used that often, and when it is, players have the option of ignoring it, so to me it feels useless.
 
vqsfp2.jpg
 
"...you can't carry your team, no matter how hard you fight."
 
Score 8/10
 
Overall: 7.3/10
 
The good:
 
-Great graphics.
-A multiplayer game play formula that's already been tested and approved by millions.
-Dedicated servers.
-Plenty of customization.
-Wonderful use of weather, object destruction and map physics that end up affecting game-play in a big way.
-Excellent demonstration of teamwork affecting the course of a game.
 
The bad:
 
-Worsened weapon mechanics.
-Server and game instability at launch (that seems worse than the beta I played).
-Too few maps.
-Bad single player story.
-Horrendously complicated unlock system.
 
I do like this game, I really do. But being honest, this isn't much different than Battlefield 3. This is the exact same sort of “rut” that Call of Duty is in. Now that being said, Call of Duty breaks records every release, and people can't get enough of it. Battlefield has the same sort of pattern going for it too, so there's no need to change in theory. The game-play score can't get a solid 8 (or higher) from me until either that changes, or they polish up what new “features” they did add in, and address some of the veteran player complaints about weapon behavior and crashing issues. If you're a lover of military shooters with spectacular multiplayer, this is the game for you. I still claim that I'd take this game over Call of Duty any day if I could only pick one game to own. But if you're looking for a "new" or "different" shooter experience, you should keep moving. Maybe wait for another Borderlands or Fallout or something.

**FYI: all screenshots were taken by me, in game with no editing whatsoever.**
Edited by unr3al

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I'm bookmarking this to read it later. Thank you for your time and effort! 

No problem. I have fun writing them, I just don't always get the time and I can't always buy every game when it first comes out. I don't get sent review copies for free, sadly. :(

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I got the game on 4th November and I've been enjoying it so far, I'm surprisingly enjoying the campaign just now as I play it if my internet is having a huff my. For the online aspect do you not think that there's too many hardcore servers and most of the normal servers aren't equally balanced between maps (50x Seige of Shanghai yet 3x Flood Zone)

 

 

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There just shouldn't be single-player campaigns in Battlefield games...

Nah, I disagree. If nothing else, it's at least good to learn the game engine mechanics. Makes you a lot more effective in multiplayer early on. That being said, one exception to that rule was the 'Medal of Honor' reboot. I have no idea why, but they used the Unreal Engine to design the single player game with, and the Frostbite Engine to design the multiplayer with, since they outsourced it to DICE. That didn't end up well. But I do like a good story and some single player action that temporarily deviates me from raging over people who hack, have terrible ping differences or play cheap. But the multiplayer of modern day shooters is most definitely what I look forward to most.

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The only gripes I have with the story are:

1. There is absolutely NO mention of Sgt Henry Blackburn nor what his fate was from the end of BF3

2. Dima is now modeled after the voice actor, which although is pretty cool, it ruins the immersion seeing him changed so much

3. The story is too short and you spend most of it on a damn ship.

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Nah, I disagree. If nothing else, it's at least good to learn the game engine mechanics. Makes you a lot more effective in multiplayer early on. That being said, one exception to that rule was the 'Medal of Honor' reboot. I have no idea why, but they used the Unreal Engine to design the single player game with, and the Frostbite Engine to design the multiplayer with, since they outsourced it to DICE. That didn't end up well. But I do like a good story and some single player action that temporarily deviates me from raging over people who hack, have terrible ping differences or play cheap. But the multiplayer of modern day shooters is most definitely what I look forward to most.

 

That's my point exactly, only when campaigns are enjoyable, like the ones we used to see in Bad Company titles.

 

I think I've actually spent more time playing Call of Duty in single-player mode than in multiplayer mode with that P2P matchmaking BS... That's the one thing I look forward to when buying a Call of Duty game: its single-player campaign. But when it's as uninteresting and boring as the two previous Battlefield campaigns, they could just scrap the whole idea and increase the amount of things you can do in Test Range for example.

 

I think the devs of Titanfall had this right when they decided to focus solely on the multiplayer aspect of their game.

Edited by Sgt. Jackson
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Battlefeild 4 and COD Ghost is 80 percent the same thing From there later days of the games. i really  think it would be cool if they decided to add something different..I think they should have a Free play mod online and SP... Like a map size like GTA ... and Control points ,supply points , Local  Businesses and Random objective thur out the gameplay.. for example

 

1))When you enter the Gameworld! you start at base.. you get to pick what you will wear , weapons and so on. maybe add some Roleplay where the player should also get rest and eat to keep his Focus for aiming and Power up.... They will be Ai getting ready to do some random patrols and you are able to join them or not!...or even your able to start your own patrol and pick out a team to patrol with.

 

2))once you leave the base and start patrol you can get Missions or Callouts like , Convey being ambush , Looking for a War criminal , Protect the VIP in Town , Respond to a Shootout in a hotel . Raids , Taking back towns that was captured by the ememy and so on.(( if you get the idea)) ..

 

3) in gametime you get paid every hour. and completing missions that can help you buy new weapons and upgrades...

 

4) have it where anyone online can join and Pick what team they want and start off they war Career :).. i think it would add more freeroam , able to drive Vehicles , Fly Choppers , or even jets when you want....

 

This is just a idea of a mod they should add i think! it would be so cool. and it would be something new then they other verisons of the game that was 80 percent the same!! the only think i notice that change! the SP missions becoming more tense , weapons upgrades and more weapons , and Online modes to pick from! ....

 

looking for people on GTA online add me: NySwat19

 

"Chances always have a limit.  The question is when will your limit be up?" ((L.R GTa crew quote))

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Battlefeild 4 and COD Ghost is 80 percent the same thing From there later days of the games. i really  think it would be cool if they decided to add something different..I think they should have a Free play mod online and SP... Like a map size like GTA ... and Control points ,supply points , Local  Businesses and Random objective thur out the gameplay.. for example

 

1))When you enter the Gameworld! you start at base.. you get to pick what you will wear , weapons and so on. maybe add some Roleplay where the player should also get rest and eat to keep his Focus for aiming and Power up.... They will be Ai getting ready to do some random patrols and you are able to join them or not!...or even your able to start your own patrol and pick out a team to patrol with.

 

2))once you leave the base and start patrol you can get Missions or Callouts like , Convey being ambush , Looking for a War criminal , Protect the VIP in Town , Respond to a Shootout in a hotel . Raids , Taking back towns that was captured by the ememy and so on.(( if you get the idea)) ..

 

3) in gametime you get paid every hour. and completing missions that can help you buy new weapons and upgrades...

 

4) have it where anyone online can join and Pick what team they want and start off they war Career :).. i think it would add more freeroam , able to drive Vehicles , Fly Choppers , or even jets when you want....

 

This is just a idea of a mod they should add i think! it would be so cool. and it would be something new then they other verisons of the game that was 80 percent the same!! the only think i notice that change! the SP missions becoming more tense , weapons upgrades and more weapons , and Online modes to pick from! ....

You basically want a different video game than Battlefield.

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