Drunken Reviews: Battlefield 4 (XBOne)

This was the first game I played on the Xbox One and I was completely blown away (and sober). The graphics in this game were unreal… and with the addition of some surround sound it was a completely immersive experience. This is definitely one of those titles I will advise you to play on the next-gen console of your choice, the difference between the current and next gen graphics are like night and day. But enough of my gushing for one day, let’s get down to the nitty gritty (oooh yeah).

Battlefield 4 has a short-but-sweet single player campaign that has clearly been designed to give players a good dose of what gamers are in for with the next-gen systems. The story is not bad, but it’s also not note-worthy compared to some other titles on the market right now. The good part? This is an FPS, and with all FPS single player campaigns it is short and to the point, mostly just blasting you with extremely realistic scenes of rain drops on facial stubble. Don’t get me wrong, the campaign is still longer and more enjoyable than some of the other FPS games recently released (cough Call of Duty: Ghosts cough). The whole point of the campaign is to warm you up for the multi-player, and believe me when I say that you may want to actually warm up for this.

Battlefield’s multi-player exists on an epic scale above most other shooters, having 32 on 32 with a commander on each team. Commander mode is unlocked at level 10, and is one of the few mechanics in this game that reign in the chaos that comes with having 64 players on a map and helps to prevent things from taking a campy turn for the worst.

In standard class based multi-players, the 4 classes are available for play immediately; consisting of Assault, Support, Recon and Engineer.

• The Assault class is probably the most drunk friendly since players essentially run around shooting whatever they can with an assault rifle (after level 4 this can be switched up), reviving fallen team mates that they come across, and dropping the odd med pack.
• Support is another drunk friendly class, as you primarily run around with a light machine gun (that can be swapped) and drop ammo for team mates. Eventually the Support class unlocks the ability to rain mortar strikes down on their enemies (a stunt that would be completely useful in certain real-life scenarios involving that misery-inducing boss, or anyone else that behaves cringe worthy).
• Playing Recon requires a little more cognitive clarity, so I would recommend this class at the start of the night or if you plan to stay within the sober to buzzed range of inebriation. This class is, at the core, a sniper class that has enemies highlighted on both the map and the screen – to replicate a sniper’s eagle eye vision. Primarily using the sniper rifle (obviously), Recon players are also able to lock onto vehicles allowing team mates to fire at your target with ease.
• The Engineer class is another class you would want to play in that sober to buzzed range, as this is mostly a utilitarian class. This class primarily uses SMGs but can readily use RPGs, and if the situation calls for it you can also utilize stinger rockets or drop anti-land vehicle mines to decimate your opponent’s vehicles . You are also tasked with repairing friendly vehicles keeping them battle ready, and depending on the intelligence level of your team mates this alone can be a frustrating-as-hell task.

Eventually each class has the ability to switch between a shotgun, their primary weapon, a carbine or a DMR. After level 4 the Support class unlocks the shotgun for all other classes you play, while the level 4 Recon class unlocks the DMR for all other classes.

Once you hit level 10 the Commander mode is unlocked, giving you the power to disperse your team throughout the map and to keep other (potentially wasted) players on task and not forming an all out camp-fest. Commander mode seems like a huge responsibility, but you can actually just wing it, while drunk.

In addition to choosing your player class, there are troves of vehicles you get to choose from and race towards. You get to go after ATVs, Jeeps, tanks, jet planes, AC 130s, helicopters, boats (take that GTA V) and it is just a massive playground full of fun and killing. Yes, I know how psychotic that last sentence sounded, it’s best to just get over it.

Battlefield 4 would have been a chaotic mess without the Commanders and the excellent use of the squad system. Your entire team is broken down into small groups up to 5 players known as squads. Players can only voice communicate with other players in their squad, thankfully eliminating a deafening experience of 31 other people screaming in your ear. When spawning, players are able to spawn on their squad giving you a fighting chance and preventing spawn camping.

What is most beautiful about this game is the enormous amount of unlockables, giving you motivation to play for hours and hours and level up. Every few levels players receive ‘Bonus Packs’ that can unlock additional scopes, barrels, experience boosts and weapon skins. 

There were a few unfortunate hiccups at the beginning of this game’s life with the DDOS issue and the DERP hack-attacks, but these are all forgivable. The flawless multi-player with 64 player conquest mode more than make up for what happened in December, and to really wrap your noggin around how epic this game is you just have to play it. This game can be fairly intense and isn’t for the faint of heart, so if you aren’t wetting your pants from excitement go back to your standard cookie-cutter run-and-gun and give us a call when you put your big-kid pants on.