POSTED 3/11/13


BATTLEFIELD 4

EA
PS3 (also on PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC)

A well-worn PR adage declares that sex sells. With the amount of games covering the subject, war must come a close second.

So much so that we’re surprised some enterprising developer hasn’t instigated something gamey featuring soldiers fucking everybody that moves. Before killing them. Then probably fucking them again. Oh, but simulating mass killing’s OK, yet something as natural as bonking?

P-WOOORRRRH! Dang, somebody just done shot our soapbox out from ’neath us!

Anyway, rather than pumping out an annual entry in their long-running Battlefield series, EA take a more considered approach. This one took two years, and – for many - the fruits of this patience will show.

Battlefield 4 is, in many ways, two quite different games. If you prefer single player action then you may be left a might famished. Set in the near future, you help avoid World War III, basically due to the implication of the USA in an assassination of a Chinese leader. Don’t get us wrong, it looks amazing and plays OK, but it may be too hors d'oeuvresque for the hardcore...

Much like Battlefield 3, multiplayer’s where Battlefield 4 excels. Wisely, little’s been messed with much. The big new thing is the awkwardly titled ‘levolution’, which takes a leaf out of tragically underrated racer Split/Second in that you can trigger events to radically alter the environment in which you’re battling. As previously, you can fight them on land, air or sea, and those into the latter will enjoy added boatiness.

Meanwhile, if you’re a less hands-dirty type, ‘Commander Mode’ (Depeche Mode’s second cousin) makes a return after a sojourn, where you basically have the opportunity to get your inner Churchill (erm, or Hitler) on.

Ultimately, if you get off on army stuff – particularly doing it online - then Battlefield 4 will give you a happy ending.

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