It's hard to argue that Battlefield has emerged as EA's biggest weapon against Activision's monster title Call of Duty, but now that Battlefield is following the yearly release schedule can the game deliver the same quality as it's predecessors?
I managed to play Battlefield 4 on both the PS3 and Xbox 360, a rarity for me. So, I feel that I am able to give a full opinion on the game, based on the fact that I experienced what it had to offer on both last gen platforms. Firstly there is not a great graphical difference between the PS3 and the 360. The both look good, the 360 is a little darker, while the PS3 is a little sharper, but not some much so that you will be able to condemn one or the other. Battlefield 4 might actually be a step down from Battlefield 3. I'm not sure how that is possible, but the graphics seems slightly more simplistic in 4, than they were in 3. Either way the Frostbite engine makes good use of lighting and particle effects, and the sound is unsurpassed in the military shooter genre.
Now on to brass tax, does it live up to Battlefield 3? The answer in certain respects, yes, in others absolutely not. The multiplayer is mainly untouched, you can still play Conquest, Rush, Team Deathmatch, and Squad Deathmatch. Through DLC you can add Capture the Flag and Air Superiority to that list. Making it's first appearance is Obliteration, which set's two teams against each other to obtain the one bomb on the map, after the bomb carrier has the bomb there are 3 targets in which the bomb can be planted, defended, and eventually it goes BOOM. It's not a complicated mode, and if you are the bomb carrier you will find yourself the target of every enemy in the vicinity, as you appear as a big blip on everyone's radar. There is an achievement for "delivering 5 bombs" in Obliteration, meaning carrying, planting the bomb, and defending it until it goes off. If you favor your K/D or skill rating this is horrible for both. On Xbox I experienced minimal problems occasionally running into people killing me with 0 Health left, portions of the map disappearing, and a small amount of lag. The Playstation 3 however was a barrel of issues. I was consistently killed by people with 0 Health, my PS3 crashed every time the bomb went off in Obliteration, I would start with no weapon and an inability to switch weapons which resulted in many stupid deaths, I got stuck on walls and other objects more times than I could count, and I lost connection constantly. DICE is all the way up their 9th update and a lot of the problems still exist. You can gain Battlepacks for performing well with your weapon, or ranking up, which grants you weapon add-ons, skins, dog tags, and occasionally some double XP. If you have the premium service on top of getting all the DLC for no additional cost, you get some double XP events, and specially timed Battlepacks.
The Campaign was also a collection of headaches, my campaign was erased 3 different times on PS3, and when I got to certain section where a VIP get's shot on a rooftop, death on the roof would result in a never ending loading screen, while I could hear the game going on without me. Outside of the issues the campaign was an ok experience, that felt tacked on. Pretty as it was graphically, challenging or engaging it was not. I really didn't care about my team members, or wether they lived or died. Missions are linear and task you with the usual, find VIP A, escort to evac, fight a bunch of baddies while doing so. There are a few set-piece moments and missions that really show off the Frostbite engine including one where you have to make your way through a tsunami, or any of the hundreds of moments that something explodes in a burst of awesome. But over all I couldn't tell you what the hell most of it was about, and I have a Platinum on PS3.
All in all Battlefield 4 will fill your need for the kind of large scale skirmishes that only Battlefield can provide. But there are so many glaring technical issues, and a forgettable campaign force me to give Battlefield 4 a 7.75 out of 10, the multiplayer will keep you playing long after the problems subside, but they are just too common to forgive.
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