Reboots are always difficult. It’s quite literally the same pressure as having your second child. What if he’s not as good? What if he walks funny? What if she can’t make friends? Battlefield 4 is the difficult next child to the awesome Battlefield 3, so how have Dice done?

Awesome with a touch of improvement needed.

The first place you’re going in the game is the Campaign mode. Take control of a soldier named Recker, make your way through the storyline and get to the end.

An online review of BF4 rashed the Campaign mode like it didn’t deserve a mention, saying it was purely an engine for trailer material. Spot on. Sadly.

The cinematic cut scenes are beautiful to watch: stunning graphics and good enough script-writing. My main problem with this though was the length of these cut scenes. They’ve taken the whole “games are the new movies” thing too literally for my liking, but that’s prob because I’m not a fan of action films much.

Aside from that, Campaign mode is so full of American clichés, it’s more painful than watching a Jerry Bruckheimer film that’s been re-done by Michael Bay and then again by the guy who did Man of Steel (I don’t care what his name is).

You’re putting millions of development into a game that’s gonna sell millions; spend a bit of scratch on a scriptwriter with at least one original thought. Like I said above, I’m a bit tired of the format: American bravery, Chinese inferred-Communism, female humanitarian risk-taker going on a military mission, you know the rest.

But let’s assume you love action movies with no original ideas in them. Will you enjoy the gameplay? In short, YES! It’s impossible not to.
BF4 has shocked me with how much fun it is. The missions are long, but even on the hardest setting, manageable, and each new mission brings at least one new challenge with it. Like sneaking up on a moving tank to plant a sticky bomb.

You will be driving cars, ramming tanks around, flying stuff. BF4 does this all well. However, “well” isn’t good enough anymore.

BF4 has the unenviable task of following the release of one of the most anticipated and successful launches of a console game in the history of the sport of weekend-long couch bum moulding. Heard of a game called Grand Theft Auto 5?

In GTA5, as in BF4, you can run around town, drive cars recklessly, shoot various weapons with precision, blow stuff up with glee and interact with surroundings. The difference between the two is that in BF4 the shooting, stalking and aiming is epic, next level, awesome. In GTA5, EVERYTHING is epic, next level, awesome. Seriously, after playing a game of golf in GTA5, you won’t ever feel the need to buy another reboot of PGA Tiger Woods.

My point is that GTA5 took the bar, blew it up and repositioned it so high that all other games, regardless of their genre have to meet that level. Driving in BF4 is a bit clumsy and a little unintuitive. And I bet you that if they offered golf or tennis in BF4, it would be the same. But luckily it’s a shooter, so I’ll forgive it immediately.

And moreover, BF4 has got little to do with the Campaign mode. It’s all about multiplayer, and this is where BF4 shines.

They’ve taken Battlefield 3’s 24 player mode and upped that to 64 players, a considerable yet pointless jump if you’re going to stick to Story Mode, but I beg you, please don’t.

They’ve also included Commander Mode which allows anyone to play the game via a real-time strategy style view of the battlefield. From here you can set objectives, send supplies, organise artillery support and vehicle drops, or highlight enemy positions. You’ll need a level 10 at least to access it, but I really like that it’s also available on your iPad, proving that Dice recognize that the console gaming environment is changing.

Battlefield 4: get it, play the campaign so you can say you did it (but don’t be one of those tossers who skip the cut scenes. Clichéd they may be, but a lot of work went into them) and then enter online mode for one of the most enjoyable multiplayer experiences your money can buy.

Get it: R700
From: DKExpressions.co.za