Step forward the Xbox One, next gen (current gen now?) is here. And while the console is new, a lot of the launch games are from tried and tested games and game franchises. One of which is Battlefield 4. Battlefield, as most will know, is one of the two military FPS juggernauts of recent years. BF4 has already been out for a number of weeks on the 360 (a version of the game I only played during the beta period). For our impressions of the 360 version of the game check out the review HERE. So this isn’t going to be a comparison article (apart from maybe some graphical stuff). This is a review coming in with no previous preconceptions of how BF4 is on any other platform.
As expected, the main chunk of your time with Battlefield 4 will be with its multiplayer mode, which over the years has thrived to the point that most fans of the series don’t see the need for DICE to add a campaign mode at all, and maybe they have a point. Additional focus on the strongest selling point of the game, might well take it to another level. But as it is, the campaign is featured again, and it’s what we’ll take a look at first.
From the get go, you realise how much better graphically this new generation of games is going to be. Everything from facial features, lip-synching and water droplets on the environment look fantastic. In comparison with what I saw in the beta, this is a completely different class. There are plenty of comparison videos around the internet that can confirm that. Combined with the looks of the game, the frame rate of the game remains high with no noticeable reduction even when the action really picks up. The story itself is nothing fantastic. You are ‘Recker’ a member of Tombstone squad, out to save the world from the nasty Chinese, with a hint of Russian - all very standard then. There appears to be attempts to make you connect with the characters, but there isn’t enough build up with any of them to make any sort of emotional connection. And, strangely there is no voice actor for Recker who is meant to be the leader of the team. At no point did I feel I was the leader, with no reactions to questions, or actual ‘leading’. I just followed and listened like a tag along character being pulled along by the storyline, which seems to attempt to create a COD style spectacle, and rarely did I think ‘wow’ at any of the set pieces, being able to guess what was going to happen next a lot of the time long before it played out. You’ll be done with the campaign in around 6-8 hours.
And now time to move swiftly on to the, quite frankly, fantastic multiplayer. I was extremely keen to try out the 64 player mode conquest, a mode which has up to now been exclusive to PC. And I was blown away in just the first game. It was Siege of Shanghai, and I jumped in when we were 200 points down. But soon though (and I still don’t know how it happened), around 20 of our team were going round in what can only be called a pack, sweeping across the map like a wave killing everything and taking every capture point on our path. Team mates and enemies were parachuting in around us, helicopters were providing support from above and tanks hammered away at enemy positions in an action filled final 20 minutes of play. I was sitting on my sofa grinning from ear to ear after we won the game, and couldn’t wait to jump pack in to create some more memories. And this moment has is no way been a one off, plenty of times I’ve sat back and just watched what was going on around me, genuinely superb. And with the Xbox One’s game DVR feature you can record your personal highlights with ease (as long as you haven’t got your speakers on too loud).
Conquest is of course not the only game mode. But it is the only mode that supports the 64 players. Rush, Domination, Obliteration and Defuse are the other objective based games (where you need to capture, destroy etc.). Battlefield is at its strongest with the objective games, especially when you have a number of players that work together. I am disappointed that Capture the Flag is only available when you pay for additional DLC, as it is a mode that I enjoy on most FPS’. The deathmatch games are the weakest modes for me personally, as I’d much prefer to be doing more than just killing others.
There are plenty of variations of maps, ranging from massive open areas, to smaller maps on multiple levels. You do tend to see the same maps coming when you quickly jump into a game. But there is a search option for you to find the exact map you’d like to play coupled with the game mode and how many player slots are available. And of course, load out customisations are available, changing your weapons and attachments along with the equipment that you carry for each class of character.
There are a couple of small niggles that I have had. Now and again there are some sound problems where the majority of the sound, apart from footsteps and distant shooting, is non-existent and sometimes accompanied by a crackling noise before the sound kicks back in. Texture pop in is an issue from time to time aswell. And there was one time where I got kicked out of the game completely and back to the home screen. But this has happened to me more on other games when I’m playing online. So I’m putting it down to an Xbox Live stability issue rather than a BF4 problem.
I’ve never really got onto the Battlefield bandwagon in the past, more admired it from a distance, but not given it enough time to fall under its charms (with the exception of the Bad Company games). But Battlefield 4 has shot itself to the front of my ‘go to’ game when I want some multiplayer shooting action.
