BattleField 4 - nice, but
Posted on:November 17 2013
More then ten years ago, I played the first version of Battlefield. Last week, I bought the latest edition, Battlefield 4. The game basically is still the same, and is fun to play. It now looks much better, has an incredible high demand for hardware resources and forces you to use some ugly Steam clone named 'Origin'. Those are basically the major changes I noticed.
Although the game is very fun and looks great, I'm still kind of disappointed by the technical defects. It started with the installer not working properly - I had to install the game twice: The first time, Origin seemly installed the game to /dev/null (or whereever, the game couldn't be started and wasn't to be found anywhere on the disk), which is a bit frustrating since the installation needed about one full hour. The sound engine in the game decides to stop working from time to time, simply shutting down sound for one or two minutes. Sometimes, the game stops to recognize mouse click events. And the game crashes about once an hour for me. Also, there are mandatory patches, promising fixed bugs (didn't fix them for me), which are one GB in size. WTF? How can you justify patches - which are likely only fixing some parts of your executables or maybe even some of your data files - to be that huge? Diffs anyone?
You would think that a team of programmers developing a product with such a big budget, and based on software which already had all those major features even ten years ago would be able to deliver a product which doesn't have such major defects. But I guess they focused on other stuff.
But apart from that, it's a nice game, I like it.
Although the game is very fun and looks great, I'm still kind of disappointed by the technical defects. It started with the installer not working properly - I had to install the game twice: The first time, Origin seemly installed the game to /dev/null (or whereever, the game couldn't be started and wasn't to be found anywhere on the disk), which is a bit frustrating since the installation needed about one full hour. The sound engine in the game decides to stop working from time to time, simply shutting down sound for one or two minutes. Sometimes, the game stops to recognize mouse click events. And the game crashes about once an hour for me. Also, there are mandatory patches, promising fixed bugs (didn't fix them for me), which are one GB in size. WTF? How can you justify patches - which are likely only fixing some parts of your executables or maybe even some of your data files - to be that huge? Diffs anyone?
You would think that a team of programmers developing a product with such a big budget, and based on software which already had all those major features even ten years ago would be able to deliver a product which doesn't have such major defects. But I guess they focused on other stuff.
But apart from that, it's a nice game, I like it.
Comments:
I share your pain. I keep having irregular crashes even after I was forced to install a 1 GB update (before being able to play again - guys, please split code and asset updates). BF is ideal for an occasional gamer like me and I played all parts so far, but I still mourn part 2. Parts 3 and 4 have become better in terms of visual and audible quality, but are just less fun. K/D rate part 4 < part 3 < part 2. Maybe it's all the graphical detail, maybe it's me getting old, maybe both.
matt
Quote2013-11-17 14:33:00
Sadly, the programmers only get a small part of the budget, with marketing and artists getting the big chunks. Also, there's usually a braindead non-technical manager behind rushed releases because they need a certain time-frame respected.
Kat
Quote2013-11-18 09:24:00
Yes, that's probably it.
niko
Quote2013-11-20 08:58:00
I like battlefield
BB
Quote2013-11-21 00:04:00
I quit on battlefield 3 and won't buy 4 as i don't expect it to be any better. Sadly the good battlefield times are over IMHO. Too much focus on stats and distracting graphic effects.
Lenx
Quote2013-11-24 17:32:00
Yes I too get audio problem. I played single Player Campaign of which some levels were good. I found it equal to Crysis 3 in enjoyment which is not much. Graphics definitely are very nice rivaling Cryis in indoors and cities (but not Jungle :)) Also I think Battlefield 2 was great (SP with bots). Though my favourite is Star Wars Battlefront in Conquest mode.
Kinjal Kishor
Quote2013-11-28 17:57:00
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