Oh Battlefield, what am I going to do with you?
We’ve been friends for a long time now… a long, long time. I’ve been with you through thick and thin, through the good times and the bad. We’ve had so many good times too. Remember that time when you actually worked properly and didn’t crash all the time? Those were the days…
But times have changed, and I’ve been dreading writing this review. You see, I’ve been playing the PC version of Battlefield 4 for the past few weeks, and things have been rough. Like, really rough.
What went right?
I’m about to say some things that might be hard to hear, but before I do, let’s talk about what’s working well in the world of Battlefield.
- The graphics are as beautiful as ever. The scenery alone is often breathtaking, and that’s not hyperbole. Maps like Altai Range make me want to go for a hike. You know, without bullets whizzing past me.
- Battlefield 4 is a TON of fun when it works properly, ie: isn’t crashing, lagging, or otherwise glitching out. Sometimes I just play like crap, and sometimes I unload a clip into a person’s eye socket at close range with no effect because the netcode is… ugh, let me save this for later.
- The sound effects are fucking fantastic. Explosions boom, choppers whirrrr, and bullets snap past in a truly believable fashion. The world looks great on its own – and believe me, it had to carry its own weight because the sound would often completely die – but the sounds really bring the whole thing together.
That sounds great, so what’s the problem?
My description does sound lovely, doesn’t it? If only this were the whole picture. If only the game actually worked as described. Unfortunately that’s not the case, no sir… not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the game is often times so broken, that Polygon actually went back and lowered their review score because they felt bad recommending such a broken game to their loyal readers. Good on them, by the way.
It’s not just that a few guns are tuned properly, or even something much deeper like the gameplay being boring. The game is, as I’ve said, a ton of fun when it actually works. The problem is that Battlefield 4 clearly needed another few months in the oven. Did EA simply push it out the door to try and compete with Call of Duty? As far as I’m concerned, yes!
This manifests itself in the form of constant crashes (including BSODs, what is this, 1999?), players being unable to join servers, exceptionally poor netcode, and a wide range of other bugs, like certain sniper rifles permanently killing sound on the server when fired, and single bullets doing 100% damage because of overlapping hitboxes and calculation errors.
(Click to see the animation)
This would be fine for a free mod project, but not for a game that for all intents and purposes costs over $100. To me, that’s completely unacceptable.
So that leaves me in a bit of a bind. On one hand, Battlefield 4 has a ton of potential. I really like the direction that DICE is going with the game itself. Simply put, it’s fun… when it works. As for the launch itself and the way that EA has handled it? Well, let’s just say I’m not even vaguely satisfied. Actually, that was too polite. Let’s just say, fuck you EA. I hope people vote with their wallets on this one, and that you realize it’s not okay to turn your customers into paid alpha testers.
Though it pains me to do this, I give Battlefield 4 a 2/10. I can’t recommend this game until it’s actually working properly.
