Stuebs Reviews: Battlefield 4

Danny Stueber

Staff Writer

Two years after the very successful Battlefield 3 (BF3), the newest installment into the franchise has dropped on all consoles (including next gen consoles within the month). I tried Battlefield 3 and really did not enjoy it much even if it was the best looking shooter I have ever seen. So, I went ahead and tried this one out after enjoying the beta (and being sick of Call of Duty) and can say it’s really just the same Battlefield that everyone knows and loves.

Campaign:

The campaign in BF3 was boring and made no sense. But no one cared and went right to multiplayer. The same can be said about the campaign in BF4. You play as the leader of a navy squadron that is leading the war against some type of Chinese invasion. The characters are cool but the story is so confusing that you cant enjoy it. It started out great but they never explain why this war is happening and just throw out all these foreign names that you now know as the enemy. Nothing is shown about them being the bad guy, your just told they are. So yeah, story is trash. The mechanics are all great though and the constant unlock of weapons is welcome. Even though there are many weapons, you don’t feel like they are all good at the same time. I ran through the whole campaign with one type of sniper rifle, one shotgun, and one assault rifle. When you get the best stuff early on you don’t feel like switching it up. They also now award you based off a point system this time around, which felt good to me. It makes you try to get high points to unlock things for campaign and multiplayer which is fun but since its just A to B shooting (start here go here) it loses your interest fast. I also just really hate the campaign because I played 4 hours of it then came back the next day and all of my progress was gone. I then played 6 hours and the next day it was gone again. I went through this bland campaign three times just to be able to tell you it is “meh”, so hope you love me for it ha ha. The main part that I have complaints about though is the technical issues. Screen tearing everywhere, frame rate drops, helicopters flying through buildings as if it isn’t even there, the game crashed on me twice, and the dumbest AI I have ever seen. It’s a bad shooter when the enemies are hiding and you have to find them yourselves to continue through the story. Also saw enemies jump off a bridge in a level for no reason and the AI would survive when they landed in the water so I would have to search and kill them anyways. Just garbage.

Multiplayer:

Other than some changes in button layout from BF3 (more Call of Duty in nature) the online portion of BF4 has not changed. You have your four classes, each with their own pros and cons to use. I prefer the recon class since I enjoy sniping and the C4 charges. It is rather annoying that you cannot use all items in any class. I would like if they gave me a free slot just to design my own character but no such luck. You also have to work really hard to level up. I played for 5 days and am only up to level 4. I’m sure it also has to do with the fact that I’m not that great at it but still seems like the progress is really slow. Surprisingly the graphics and such are better than the campaign. I saw no real screen tears or frame rate drops and other than scenery popping in sometimes it was pretty smooth. Also, a lot of customization options to weapons and soldier alike to really allow you to go into depth with the system. A BIG part of this though is that until I had a friend to play with, I was getting really bored. The maps are huge in some cases and you can spend a long time just trying to find an enemy. But, once I found a buddy and we started messing with the other team I saw the joy and fun in the BF series that I have been missing out on. You need friends I feel for this game or you will probably get that feeling of boredom after awhile.

Conclusion:

BF4 is really just more of BF3 with a slightly better campaign, better graphics, and a bigger scope. It feels like more of an upgrade though as compared to say a sports game where it’s mostly just new rosters and a redesigned mode. For $60 (or $110 if you want the premium edition) it’s a good game if you have friends to play with, even with all its technical faults and minor things I felt about it. These games do not come out yearly so you will have a lot to do before you see a BF5. If you liked 3, buy it. If you have never tried BF before, then maybe now is the time to start.

Side note: the game mentions our school in the campaign!!! A soldier asks if Irish (campaign soldier) went to Wingate so shout out to the Bulldogs from BF4!!!

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Edited by Amanda Stewart (Online Editor)