The Battlefield 4 beta has started. Betas are not representative of the final product in many cases, but people with a little bit of intelligence can gather enough from pre-final build material to assess how the overall product will be compared to the last. Case in point, despite the terrible experience I had with the Battlefield 3 beta, I had a good vibe coming out of it and eagerly anticipated the launch of the final game. The same can be said about Battlefield 4 and my experience with its early beta.
The beta for Battlefield 4 features one map (surprise, surprise) and it’s the one they have been showing quite a bit of: Siege of Shanghai. There are a handful of game modes announced for the final product, but only Conquest, a staple to the series, and the bite-sized version of that mode, Domination, are included in the beta. Domination was pushed out in Battlefield 3’s Close Quarters expansion, an expansion that I personally enjoyed quite a bit.
Siege of Shanghai, in its larger variant, was a blast to play. Two objectives sit on one side of the map, a small body of water wraps around the middle objective, and a lone flag sits on the far side of the map (or near, depending on which team you play). The water added a variety of possibilities when attacking B, the center objective, and while swimming I could pull out my sidearm to shoot people camping over ladders or on the shore. The flip side of this is people camping in the water, hidden by a wall so that when enemies dropped into the water they became an easy target.. I saw that happen a few times in my small selection of games I played at night, but I figure that will settle down when people become more aware of it.
My single favorite part of this map is the over-under bridge. In one game, I rushed past all of the objectives, stayed to the outside of the map, and came to a bridge near the enemy spawn. I heard a tank getting close, so I ran down some steps. At this point, I noticed I was on an underpass beneath the bridge. The tank rolled over me as I booked it for the other side. I was nothing short of happy when I ran up the steps and killed two unsuspecting snipers.
Conquest plays like it always has, and there is nothing new there. During the three games I played (taking about an hour to play through), I did not get to see any “dynamic environment shifts”, which was rather disappointing. Granted the maps are still fresh, so I am still learning them, but I had hoped to see something come crashing down at some point. Perhaps I was dead when it happened and just didn’t notice. Either way, I was really let down by that as that is one of the features I am looking forward to most.
Much like Conquest, Domination plays like it did in Battlefield 3. It’s super-frantic, and is essentially team deathmatch with an objective. I played this for about an hour straight, and it felt great. The field is a much more confined space, and kills come rapidly. It’s easy to get caught up in running around killing each other that it gets difficult to remember to play tactically. That said, during Domination, I noticed more of the “dynamic environments”. Some of the containers scattered around in one area can be shut, providing a brief hiding place or brilliant camping place if you feel like being a jackass. A glass ledge can be broken, dropping a ramp up to a higher vantage point. Also, metal gates can be lowered over windows and doors in one of the few buildings on the map. None of these are completely game changing, at least not in the grand sense I was expecting, but they are nice touches nonetheless.
I played long enough to gather a little bit about the evolved progression system, a forward step from Battlefield 3. Class-less guns, like the shotgun for example, are not unlocked by playing with a particular class and reaching so much XP in said-class. But guns are no longer unlocked by leveling up the general class. Instead, by using an assault rifle, you will unlock more assault rifles. So if you prefer shotguns, you can use shotguns in whatever glass you want, but the only guns you are going to unlock are shotguns, not, say, a sniper rifle while using the Recon class. It’s a nice change of pace, because I tend to use shotguns a lot on smaller maps, but have no interest in unlocking SMG’s or carbines.
Weapon unlocks work a little different, too, and are another welcome change. Once I obtained the SCAR, my first weapon unlock while playing with the Assault class, I switched to it and noticed it was barebones. After 10 kills, I got a red dot, but the second red dot had to be unlocked with a Battlepack, something I did not get to sample. But from what I gather, at certain level intervals, you will get a Battlepack with a few random modifications, like a green laser dot instead of the generic red one, or a weapon camo. So you can get some modifications unlocked by using the gun, but they’ve added a random element to spice things up.
Normally, I’d be opposed to this random act of giving. But after playing a lot of Payday 2, which has a random loot element to it, I have high hopes that I will be rather addicted to this system. My only problem with it is that the Battlepacks are given every 3 levels or so, and I spent quite a few hours playing and only got to level 1. This may be because it’s a beta, but I don’t want to go a week before getting my first Battlepack. So we’ll see how that turns out.
Overall, I’m rather impressed with the Battlefield 4 beta. It has given me indication that it is an evolution from DICE’s last Battlefield game, and not simply an iteration on the same concept. The texture pop-ins and other little glitches I’ll overlook (for now).It may not be the next Bad Company (I sank dozens of hours in the BC2 beta), but Battlefield 4 is still one of my most anticipated games this fall, and has cemented itself in that pool after my time with the beta.
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