Battlefield 4 Review (PC)

Battlefield 4, the latest instalment of the extremely popular Battlefield series has exploded onto the gaming scene. Is the hype justified? Or is it best avoided?

Title: Battlefield 4
Developer: DICE
Publisher: EA
Release Date: November 1, 2013
Platform: PC
Price: $49.57 USD / £31.72 GBP
Sponsor: GameHolds

Introduction
The Battlefield series exploded onto the scene with the release of Battlefield 1942 all the way back in 2002. It was a raging success and was highly acclaimed for its innovative game play elements. The combination of huge multiplayer maps, the large variety of drivable/flyable vehicles and infantry combat elements define what Battlefield is all about. Fast forward 11 years and we arrive at DICE’s latest creation in the series.

The twelfth instalment of the Battlefield series, Battlefield 4 still uses the winning multiplayer formula of its predecessors, and why shouldn’t it? It’s what’s made the series so popular in the first place and is what makes it stand out from the others. However, a single player campaign has also been added that continues on from the events of Battlefield 3’s campaign. The main question to ask then is “Is it any good?” That will be answered later.

Frostbite 3
DICE have used the Frostbite 3 engine to create this game and it is beautiful! Battlefield 4 is easily one of the best looking games out at the moment. This engine contains some nice feature upgrades to the Frostbite 2 engine used in Battlefield 3. These include an increase in tessellation technology as well as Destruction 4.0. This engine is incredibly customisable and, as this review is for the PC version of the game it would be wise to have a look at some of the PC specific elements and options that are on offer.

First of all, let’s have a look at the system requirements.

Minimum
• OS: Windows Vista SP2 32-Bit
• Processor: AMD Athlon X2 2.8 Ghz or Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz
• Memory: 4 GB
• Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 3870 or NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT with 512MB memory
• Hard Drive: 30 GB

Recommended
• OS: Windows 8 64-Bit
• Processor: AMD Six Core or Intel Quad-Core
• Memory: 8 GB
• Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7870 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 with 3GB Memory
• Hard Drive: 30 GB

The requirements are really very reasonable but the introduction of Windows 8 as a recommended spec could rub players the wrong way. Unfortunately this is something that DICE has no control over. Some of the features present in DirectX 11.1 that are required for the optimum experience in Battlefield 4 are arbitrarily limited to Windows 8.

Options and Campaign

For starters the options menu in the game is very detailed. There are a lot of graphical options to make the game look as good as it can be on your given machine. Notably there is a Field of View slider for the game which is always a welcome option to have. Field of View (FoV) is essentially how much of the surrounds the player can see on the screen at a given time. The lower the FoV, the less “peripheral” vision you have. Low FoV’s are fine for consoles because the player is usually sitting further away from the screen but on PC it can cause some players to experience headaches and motion sickness. What is on offer in terms of graphical customisation is very impressive and combined with some nice high resolution textures this should make the vast majority of PC gamers very happy.

Sound
Another impressive aspect of Battlefield 4 is the sound. The weapons and vehicles have impact and even the voice acting is of high quality. While each sound setting is great, it is hard to beat the sound that comes from the War Tapes mode. Enable it and hear the difference.

Campaign
As was mentioned earlier, Battlefield 4’s campaign follows on from the events in Battlefield 3’s campaign. The campaign is mediocre at best. The characters are boring, there’s nothing new, the story is unimaginative and the AI is brain dead. Many times I found enemies would stand behind a set piece of cover and pop their heads out only to shoot. Even when they had been flanked, they barely moved from the spot despite now being out in the open. I found it quite difficult at times to find the motivation to continue playing it.

The story is pretty weak, the level design is linear with short breaks and narrow corridors that seem to be there simply to break up the explosions. There are some more open areas but you can see the border’s so they still feel boxed in as a result and almost discourage you from exploring. This isn’t all bad though as it gives you lots of time to soak in the atmosphere and the scenery which is spectacular. The graphics in this game are really something to behold and not just at a distance either. Textures on most things up close are of a very high standard too and the skybox is phenomenal! However, water in this game is the stand out. There’s a section early on in the game where you run through a flooded corridor and the way the water interacts with everything around it, including light is as close to the real thing as you can get.

However, for some reason DICE has decided to limit the Field of View to 55 which can’t be changed. I mentioned earlier that a narrow FoV can make some gamers feel sick. That normally doesn’t affect me but I found myself feeling light headed after around an hour or so of play time. Another problem with the narrow FoV is that the gun model takes up most of the screen and can get in the way of the scenery, easily the most interesting aspect of the single player campaign.

If you plan on buying Battlefield 4 purely for the single player experience then I feel you would be wasting your money. In fact, the only reason to play the single player campaign is to unlock some weapons and dog tags etc so unless you have to have everything then avoid the campaign altogether. You won’t be missing anything.

Multiplayer

Battlefield 4’s multiplayer is nothing short of fun! There have been quite a few changes to Battlefield 3. Squad numbers have been increased by 1 to 5, Voip is back allowing voice communication in squads and the commander role has also returned. There is also a lot more soldier, weapon and vehicle customisation as well with a plethora of attachments and gadgets on offer once unlocked and Battlepacks; a new addition that allows you to unlock weapons or gadgets without the need for class or weapon progression.

The Frostibite 3 engine has given DICE the ability to create some of the most impressive multiplayer maps in the business. You would likely remember EA and DICE peddling the “Levolution” term a lot during the marketing campaign but it was always going to be a game of wait and see. They promised maps that altered the battle each time, with dynamic environments that could be affected by player interaction. For the most part this is true. A lot of the maps have something that the players can do to change the landscape and play style. A skyscraper can be levelled changing a particular capture point, a giant cargo ship can beach itself and a dam can be blown to create a more aquatic battlefield. These changes affect gameplay by changing the map dynamics to make it more infantry friendly and limiting vehicle effectiveness or vice versa. Now while these elements are impressive at first sight (or even third and fourth sight) what is more impressive is the natural weather patterns that occur in some maps. The landscape can go from calm seas, bright and sunny island environments to tempestuous storms within a manner of minutes. On a number of occasions I have found that this has forced me to alter my play style as the environment itself becomes another barrier. I have found on a number of occasions that a large ocean swell inducing storm has actually meant my current vantage point is no longer useful as the rolling seas interrupt my bullet and its trajectory. Many times a well place head shot has failed due to the bullet being swallowed up by a wave. Perhaps features like this would explain the long loading times.

Unfortunately there were issues on launch with multiplayer and a number of people worldwide were affected by server and client crashes and stats being wiped. It’s a shame that things like this still happen and it bids the question ‘What was the beta all about?’ The Battlefield 4 beta was essentially released to test such things as server load capabilities and despite the beta being very popular these issues still find a way to slip through the cracks. Thankfully a number of patches have been released and these crashes have been diminished drastically making Battlefield 4 very stable.

Another contentious design decision lies within the way the game is launched. Battlelog is a website that allows you to adjust your load out, search for servers and even chat with friends. It is loaded by default when Battlefield 4 is run and is required even for the single player. Battlelog initially came under fire when it was first released for Battlefield 3 as it was very different to what online gamers were used to. However, I have always been a fan and found it to be more beneficial than a hindrance. EA have gone a step further with the latest version as there is now a mobile application for it that allows you to view the map, view your load out and stats and even change them on the fly while playing. All in all it helps to complete the experience.

Time will disappear when in game. Hours seem like seconds and this can be partly attributed to the fact that the game environment is so engaging and also because it’s incredibly fun to play! The multiplier experience will always vary each time depending on team and squad dynamics so for the best experience you can get make sure to squad up with friends and communicate on VoiP constantly.

Conclusion

Given that the Battlefield series is primarily a multiplayer experience your money can stretch as far as you want it to. As I mentioned earlier, if you are considering buying this purely for the single player experience than I advise against that. It offers nothing new and is not long enough to pay full price for.

DICE will be releasing a large amount of DLC for this game which range from more maps to different weapons and cosmetic items. There also is a premium membership that allows you to access all the DLC including early access to content, extended access to multi XP events which happen frequently and server queue priority. The first DLC, China Rising is due for release in December and is available to all premium subscribers as well as anyone who pre-ordered.

A premium subscription will cost around £30, $48 USD or $53 AUD, which is about the same price of the game alone. It’s really up to you as to whether this is good value or not but considering the amount of content as well as other benefits it’s really quite good value.

Battlefield 4 offers a great experience online and follows its roots as a solid multiplayer game. Not only does it look and sound incredible but is scalable to suit many PC’s of varying power and with a vast array of future content planned it represents great value for money. Make sure you head to www.gameholds.com for a very good deal.

Despite the poor single player campaign it does show off the Frostbite 3 engine which sets a high standard for other games to follow. The dynamically changing multiplayer maps add a level of immersion not seen in many games to date and can often mean you have to adjust your play style.

Battlefield 4 is a solid FPS that caters to many different play styles and gives the player the freedom to experience the battlefield in their own way.

Pros:
+ Fun to play
+ High quality graphics and audio
+ Plenty of options for PC gamers
+ Well optimised for a broad range of systems
+ Lots of weapon, vehicle and player customisation options available
+ Great value for money

Cons:
– Very weak single player
– Issues from launch
– Long loading times between maps