Battlefield 4: Pokemon for Gun Nuts
As you may already know, I fancy myself to be a Battlefield connoisseur. I've been playing Battlefield since its first debut on PC with Battlefield 1942, with Battlefield Vietnam, 2142, and BF2 taking up a ton of my time in college. I skipped over Battlefield Bad Company 1 and 2, but I really got into Battlefield 3.
After a short wait, we're now at Battlefield 4. At first glance, Battlefield 4 is just an incremental update to the tried and true Battlefield series. It looks fairly identical to its predecessor. However, once you dive in, the seasoned Battlefield vet will notice the changes fairly quickly. Here's my review after 3 weeks on the battlefield.
So first off, my thoughts on Battlefield 4 to newcomers to the series:
This is not Call of Duty. This is the one thing you need to wrap your mind around as you first enter the foray. If you think you're going to jump in and start 360 noscoping people all day long, you're going to have a bad time. If you think you're going to be able to pull of 10 headshots and then get some UAV to bomb the crap out of you just for getting a killstreak, you're going to have a bad time. If you want to jump into a game and play with your squad and team and attack some objectives, you are going to have a good time. Battlefield is true to its name, it is a digital Battlefield where individuals matter, but the team must operate like a well oiled machine if you expect to win. Having 24 recon soldiers on one team sitting on a hill taking pot shots and people will does not win a game. Also, you can't throw any knives.
You must manage everything from Battlelog. Including joining games. I know a few people who found the web based game join system to be annoying, They were pining for the ability to do that in-game. I think it's because most of us are used to playing games with built in game lobbies. Personally, I like the idea of having the game lobby screens on Battlelog. This allows me to do other stuff while I wait for my game to load. I can edit my preset loadouts, check my stats, go on Reddit. You just have to break away from the frame of mind that the program has to be actually open in order to join a game within it.
Stats. So many stats. Battlefield 4 has some of the best statistical record keeping I've ever seen in a game. I absolutely love it. You want to know how many shots you fired out of your 870 MCS? You want to know how many times you've been knifed? Battlefield has you covered. Battlefield 4 has also introduced leaderboards for the different kits, vehicles, weapon classes, etc. The leaderboards also drill down to your actual physical location. It will tell you how high you rank among other people in your town. My goal is to be the best damn defibrillator guy in the Midwest.
Guns. So many damn guns and accessories. Did you ever get into the Pokemon videogame? Did you spend countless hours wading through the grass to catch a damn psyduck? Well if you like collecting stuff, Battlefield 4 is definitely the game for. Not only are there dozens of weapons to unlock, but there are also dozens of accessories to unlock for each individual weapon. There are also accessories to unlock for all the vehicles as well. These unlocks happen when you hit a certain XP point marker, kill number, or other time consuming stat. It really fleshes out the RPGish grind in the Battlefield series. I'm not going to lie, I spent hours running around with my support kit, ammo box in tow, just to unlock C4 for my support kit. It was worth every moment.
My thoughts for Battlefield 3 vets:
Levolution may be a gimmick, but it is an awesome one. As a game progresses, the landscape can definitely change while you play. Can't access the rooftop of C on Siege of Shanghai? Easy, bring it down along with all of the defenders inside of it. Tank bothering you on street? Blow up the street and let it fall through the pavement. The increased amount of destruction in Battlefield 4 is a great addition. Hopefully they'll allow for more building destruction in the expansions, but so far this is a great start.
Use the test range to practice flying. Don't learn how to fly in the middle of a 64 player conquest large battle. If you crash the helo full of squad members into the side of a building, be prepared to receive a ton of hate mail. Use the test range to safely test out vehicles and equipment. Your not KIA squad will thank you.
Why is my aim so much better now? I don't know what it is about Battlefield 4, but I feel as if my aim has drastically improved. I think it might be the default mouse tracking speed settings that may be helping, as BF4 feels a little bit "slower" in tracking by default. Combine that with an adjustable DPI mouse and you have the perfect recipe for a headshot extravaganza.
Commander mode is back. You can now command an army on your phone or tablet while you take a shit. You can tell 32 people to follow your orders, resupply them with more ammo, and send cruise missiles at their enemies while you sit on the can. This is what I call next generation gaming.
This is Battlefield, play it however you like. You don't have to play the objective. You don't have to work as a team. You can go hide on a mountain with your M48B for all I care. Just go have fun. If you want to spend your day creeping through the brush knifing all the camping recons, more power to you. If you want to hide under a train track mortar spamming, enjoy it (because I certainly did). If you just want to hop into your transport helo and fly your friends around in circles around Siege of Shanghai, you can definitely do that too. Battlefield is whatever you make of it. It can be your CQB pistol frenzy, your large vehicle warfare arena, or your ATV + C4 playground. You're going to have fun doing whatever you enjoy doing. Just don't be a cheat.
Verdict: 9.5/10
You buy now.
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