Christmas is looming and game developers are bringing out their big guns for the holiday season, and in the world of first-person shooters that means that three titles are going to battle it out for the top FPS spot this year.
With beautiful graphics, dynamic and realistic combat, and an interesting and fun campaign “Battlefield 4” already looks like it’s going to lead the pack this year. 12th in EA’s series of Battlefield titles, this time it seems that the game’s developers have gone back and looked at what made past games so incredible and improved on them.
The Battlefield franchise isn’t particularly well known for having the greatest campaign modes, but this game proves they can do it. This time around the campaign feels like something that the “Call of Duty” franchise would have done, an actual honest component of the game, not just something slapped on at the last minute like with “Battlefield 3”. Collectables are back, a variety of weapons and dog tags hide in every level, but often I wanted to find out what happened next and barely bothered to find them. Unlike in “Battlefield: Bad Company 2” however, the campaign isn’t funny, and feels much more somber, though this hardly hurts as the writing seems top notch.
Of course multiplayer is where this game truly shines. The battles are dynamic and incredibly fun, and the exceptionally expansive class customization from BF3 remains, with weapons, gadgets, and upgrades galore. Classic game modes are back like Rush and Conquest, with a couple of new ones including Obliteration and Defuse, which emphasize team play. Gone are BF3’s frustratingly brutal and often one-sided slugfests. The maps are open, and much like BF:BC2, open to attack at almost any direction. This means that a battle won’t necessarily pan out the same way twice. One round, set in a flooding city, opened up with an all-out assault reminiscent of “Saving Private Ryan”, while a second play through felt like an infiltration mission from a Tom Clancy game, with heavy armor pounding the city from afar.
There aren’t many games that I can’t recommend enough, but “Battlefield 4” is definitely one of them. It is honestly the most complete fps game I’ve ever played.

Five out of five stars