SPLICED GAMING /
I
REVIEW / BATTLEFIELD 4
n fairness, there are times when it
manages to present some truly impressive
moments, but they’re fleeting and
often obscured by the fact that they’re
surrounded by mindless shooting
galleries. Somewhere beneath it all there’s a
storyline that may have been worth paying
some attention to, but it’s been butchered
to accommodate overwhelming amounts of
scripted tedium. If you’re not tired of this type of
solo campaign you may find enjoyment in it, but
otherwise don’t even bother.
Thankfully, Battlefield has never needed
a single-player component to grab attention.
Multiplayer is always where the real fun
is to be had – and BF4 is no different. As I
said before, there’s nothing else out there
that can match the scale of its concentrated
intensity. It’s class-based mayhem for up
to 64 simultaneous players, all battling for
supremacy using an impressive array of
vehicles, weapons, assorted gadgets and
the careless application of high-powered
explosives. Greater emphasis has clearly
been placed on waterborne combat in BF4’s
multiplayer design, and the addition of heavily
armed boats to be used on wide-open watery
battle zones makes for a nice change of scenery.
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ISSUE 02
Commander Mode returns from Battlefield 2, allowing select players
to direct teammates from an aerial viewpoint. In between telling squads
where they should focus their efforts, as commander you’re able to call
in support powers that’ll aid your team, like deadly gunships that circle
the map, and scans that reveal enemy troops on the minimap. If you’re in
the mood, it’s a fun alternative to battling it out on the ground.
Environmental destruction has been a
Battlefield staple since Bad Company, but it’s
never been so extensively catastrophic as it is
here. Levolution is a very welcome addition,
ensuring that levels gradually evolve throughout
the course of each ferocious skirmish. Some of
these evolutionary elements are more instantly
impactful: the much-touted skyscraper that can
be toppled on Siege of Shanghai, for example,
or the rising waters of Flood Zone that quickly
change the nature of the map. Others are
brilliantly atmospheric environmental effects,
like the vicious storm that ravages Paracel Storm
and turns its calm waters violent. Maps are
destructible on a more intimate scale too. Tank
shells cover the ground in craters, and maps
often feature small buildings that get torn to
pieces by incessant warfare, eventually crashing
to the ground and killing anyone unfortunate
enough to be inside when it does.