Battlefield 4

[BasementShaxx]

Wasn't going to pick this up until I got my PS4, but it actually worked out cheaper to buy it on current gen and then buy the PS4 upgrade than to get the next gen version outright.

I've only played the multiplayer because the campaign will almost certainly be shit again, but so far so cushty. There have been significant improvements to the control layout - having tag enemy mapped to R2 rather than select is a stroke of genius, although forward/reverse and left/right for ground vehicles is all on the left stick which I'm not a fan of. Being able to counter knife attacks is great, really hard to pull off but so satisfying. The 'Levolution' stuff is pretty great for the most part and does a good job of completely altering your tactical considerations for a map, although on one map the streets get flooded meaning you have to swim everywhere if you're not on the rooftops and that's not particularly fun. Commander mode is a welcome return, when you have a good commander and responsive squads then the whole team gets ticking nicely and you can steamroll the other team, and when two well-commanded teams face off you get some of the most intense firefights I've seen in a multiplayer fps. And of course, being a Dice game, the sound design is incredible - nothing makes you haul ass quicker than hearing the unmistakable crack of a sniper's bullet whip past you!

One thing to note, if you're planning on getting this on PS3 don't get the official wired controller. It's a nice looking controller with proper triggers, but according to user reviews from people who bought it you can't actually map aim and shoot to the triggers so you still have to use the bumpers. Not 100% sure if that's true but it does seem like quite a blunder if it is.

[AndyKurosaki]

Yeah I picked this up for PS3 today, considering Game give you £40 trade in for the PS4 version, you can't go wrong really. Played a lot of Battlefield Bad Company 1 and 2, not much of 3 though.
Anyone wants to hit me up for a game, feel free to add me

[DomsBeard]

You can change the vehicle controls back to Battlefield 3 style in the options. I really want to get 4 but I want premium so I'm not prepared to lay down £80 right now.

[Dr Mcfluffin]

I will be on this evening. Enjoying it so far...although textures seem to take 30 secs to load in at the beginning of a round...including on the iron sites! Eek. Looking forward to the upgrade in a few weeks, but this is plenty to quench my thirst in the meanwhile.

[BasementShaxx]

You can change the vehicle controls back to Battlefield 3 style in the options. I really want to get 4 but I want premium so I'm not prepared to lay down £80 right now.

Cheers for the tip, I will get on that. The cost of Premium does take the piss compared to season passes for other games, but they know chumps like us will end up shelling out for it anyway.

[AndyKurosaki]

Played a few rounds, it takes a little adjusting to when you've put so many hours into COD. But as usual, Battlefield has so much depth to it. Conquest is pretty fun, as is Rush. Even the Campaign is alright so far.
Don't fancy paying £40 for Premium just yet...

[DomsBeard]

I bought Battlefield 3 Premium for £45 a year ago which I thought was fair. I would've paid £60-£65 day one for 4& Premium but £85 is taking the piss. So they are saying that you're not getting the best version of the game for not shelling out £40?.

[magicjoef]

It is definitely a lot, I was in two minds whether to wait for Premium or not. I'm playing on PC so you can get the base game a bit cheaper, but Premium is still the full £40.

I decided to do it because I had a voucher to make it a little cheaper, and I will be playing this for the next couple of years, but I think you could definitely wait and get premium when the first DLC comes out and think of it as a season pass if you've been enjoying the game. The only other extras are a few 'Battlepacks' which don't seem to have anything that game changing in them. There are so many unlocks in this game you won't feel you are missing out.

So far I've had a lot fun playing, particularly rush mode as it really gives the maps focus. The fire-fights are intense as always, and those moments where you kill an enemy, vault over a wall, see a building fall down and avoid a crashing helicopted by six feet looks as spectacular as ever!

[BasementShaxx]

Put about 5-6 hours into it now and I'm really enjoying it so far. One problem I've found though is that certain maps are just not suited to some of the game modes, so I've stuck to Conquest because that works on all the maps.

Managed to shoot a chopper down with a tank shell yesterday, first time I've managed that in a Battlefield game, and got a fabled multikill thanks to there being 4 people in the chopper. Moments like that make you feel like such a boss!

[AndyKurosaki]

Yeah so far I'm liking Conquest and Rush, reminds me of my Bad Company days.
Campaign is a bit of a mixed bag, I've had quite a few bugs/glitches. First it forgot my progress and I had to start all over again. Then three times I've had moments where I've won a battle, killed all enemies, but I couldn't go on as my squad stayed in cover and refused to come out. As they were responsible for progressing the rest of the mission, I had to do the fight all over again. And finally, I finished one objective, started climbing a ladder, only suddenly to be flung through the air, clean through the floor and to my death. Which was amusing, until I had to sit through the same 2 minute speech moment to try again.

[Indiana747]

Epic stuff made. Doin shit like that never gets old. Was playin some Golmund Railway last night and I rpg'd an attack chopper on Warehouse (E conquest point, i think) from the railroad tracks, its about 350m. I was over the bloody moon. But ive had plenty of practice on BF3, i've takin out fast moving jets with unguided tank shells before and a few with rpgs over time. Jet pilots get cocky & sometimes swoop low for infantry kills, thats when i nab em. Its judging the trajectory & speed that comes with obsessive levels of play that does the trick.

[dezm0nd]

To those playing BF4, how are the large maps? I've got strong memories of BF3's 64 player maps. Caspian Border, Damavand, Firestorm, Kharg etc.

I'm getting genuinely excited about getting back into it but this time on the PS4. I'll see you on.. the... what's it called?

[RoboticMonk3y]

I'm getting genuinely excited about getting back into it but this time on the PS4. I'll see you on.. the... what's it called?

dancefloor?

[Indiana747]

To be honest Dez the maps on PS3 feel small. They have condensed many of them barring say Golmund Railway. The blacked off no mans land is pretty close compared to what ive seen on the more opened up PC versions. Its full of bugs & glitches on PS3. Looks like BF3 without makeup on, ie:very fuckin rough. Looking at it i would have to say it was rushed, seems so unfinished. The netcode is atrocious too, constantly being shot behind cover or just before i round a corner, whereas on the enemy's screen i was probably out in the open. Leaves for very frustrating & a step or two back from BF3. Server crashes & lost XP is also quite common.
Ive put about 24hrs in already & despite it looking like a bears hole after a vindaloo i find the game fun with friends. Changes in controller settings doesnt help matters as most players instintively have the BF3 buttons burned into their brain, muscle memory has caught me out so many times. I know this is all a bit of a downer in this post but the light at the end of the tunnel is next gen. Due to early reports, its the version to get for console owners. The Dice programmers must have been spread thin on BF4 with the A-team working on the PC & next gen versions, cause it certainly looks that way while playing PS3.

[ratsoalbion]

Sounds a bit poopy to be honest so I'm glad I decided to wait for the PS4/PC version. Saying that, those who are playing the current gen version now but planning to upgrade will get to enjoy the differences - hopefully a massive improvement!

[DomsBeard]

It was a beige mess in the beta but I stupidly presumed they'd be a day one graphics patch.

[AndyKurosaki]

Potential is certainly there, and it's certainly got me excited for the PS4 version.

[magicjoef]

It was a beige mess in the beta but I stupidly presumed they'd be a day one graphics patch.

Textures have improved on the PC, but I haven't seen the console versions. I think some textures just simply weren't there in the beta.

I'm still playing quite a lot of this. I always find Battlefield very difficult (I'm a below average shooter player!), but for those moments where you are on a team that is working together, it is worth the painful rounds of getting shot from every direction!

Hoping that I will improve as I learn the maps more. Some of the rush maps are really wide, which creates some interesting dynamics as it feels like teams can flank and push from more directions.

[AndyKurosaki]

Finished the Campaign, it's in the same class as B3's: complete it, then give it a few months and you'll forget all about it. Seriously, I completed Battlefield 3, and I can't remember a thing about it, the story, the characters, any of it.
It's not terrible in this,there are some decent setpieces. But the "plot" is barely there. Halfway through the game I found myself thinking "hang on, why am I doing this again? Who am I up against?". It doesn't help that you're a silent character the entire game. Your squad talks events and such like, and the whole time you don't say a bloody word. Find it annoying when games do that, like they can't even be arsed to drag someone in to do your lines.

Had several more glitches through my playthrough, 3 more instances where I'd killed everyone in the area, but my squad wouldn't acknowledge that so I was stuck. Twice during a cutscene on different missions it utterly froze up and saved like that, meaning the entire mission had to be restarted. It also froze up once on the weapon select screen. So as well as being nothing special, it's pretty knackered in places too.

Going to play through COD Ghosts' campaign now. Something tells me it won't have to try too hard to beat this.
But at least Battlefield 4 is brilliant online though. So there's that.

[Indiana747]

Agree with Andy, single player is broken in many ways. Even with such a short campaign i still managed at least a glitch per level, resulting in me having to restart a checkpoint. The hit registration is off too, when i aim through a sniper scope at an enemies head i expect a hit when i shoot, not so in BF4's campaign, might expect that due to lag issues in MP but in the SP its inexcusable. Really poor, they should give up on this single player crap. Also, I don't know what constitutes 'hard' now in these games. Finished on hard & only got killed half a dozen times in the whole campaign. Now, Bad Company's campaign was hard, bring that style back. Probably would have enjoyed it more if it was more of a challenge and wasn't such a glitchy mess. Proof again that this gens versions were fired out the door to get out before CoD and focus on next gen. No wonder they offer a £10 upgrade from this to next gen version, its cause they felt guilty.