History VideoGame / Battlefield4

A closed beta was released on October 1st, 2013, for players who had Premium from [=BF3=]. An open beta released on October 4th. The game was released on October 29, 2013.

The first expansion pack, ''China Rising'', had been announced as bundled with the retail game, containing four multiplayer maps, additional weapons and gadgets, and two new gameplay modes: Air Superiority and Defuse. [=BF4=] Premium members got early access since December 2, with December 17 as release date for regular users.

The second DLC, aptly named ''Second Assault'', was released on February 18th for Premium members and March 4th for regular players. It reintroduced several maps from previous game with added features: Gulf of Oman, which now has a large sandstorm cover the field partway through the battle; Operation Metro, which now has chunks of the ceiling that can be dropped on enemies by shooting out the wooden supports; Operation Firestorm, which has added effects for when the oil wells are destroyed; and Caspian Border, which has a wall splitting the map that must be crossed for the two forces to reach one another. Capture the Flag returns as a new playable game mode, brought over from [=BF3=].

The fifth and final DLC, ''Final Stand'' was released on 18 November, again early for Premium members, and then two weeks later for regular players. It features futuristic technology such as the XD-1 Accipiter - an experimental anti-missile drone, a new target detector attachment for carbines and marksman rifles and equipment like the DS-3 Decoy - a radar jammer of sorts. There are also several {{Call Back}}s from [=BF2142=] in the form of early prototypes, like the Rorsch Mk-1, a handheld railgun, and the [=HT-95=] Levkov, a ''hovertank''.

** Subverted with the MAV, SUAV and EOD Bots, which behave closer to {{Surveillance Drone}}s as they were meant as support tools. Alas, player creativity carried over from [=BF3=] hasn't stopped anyone from improvising them for more lethal purposes.

* InterfaceScrew: The flashlight from [=BF3=] is back, and it can blind night vision devices as well as normal vision. Laser sights have a milder blinding effect, flashbangs and road flares will mess with your vision and your characters eyes need to adjust after looking into bright lights or fire (such as that made by white phosphorus grenades).

The latest 'modern combat' entry in the ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' franchise, and the 12th installment overall, ''Battlefield 4'' is a direct sequel to the 2011 game ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}''.

The game takes place in 2020, six years after the events of [=BF3=]. The war between the United States and the Russian Federation continues, but it seems the Chinese have an interest in the war as well...

*** The [[http://lifesgreatadventures.com/wp-content/gallery/latest-pictures/the-milad-tower-in-tehran.jpg Milan Tower]], a background asset recycled from ''Battlefield 3'', stands-in (albeit badly) for the much shorter [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Singapore_Changi_Airport%2C_Control_Tower_2%2C_Dec_05.JPG Changi Air Traffic Control Tower]].

** There is lots of unsubtitled Mandarin dialogue, though certain key bits are story-relevant[[note]]for example, [[spoiler:Hannah]] telling the Chang-aligned troops that [[spoiler:Pac]] is already dead so they should just grab [[spoiler:Irish]], one of the Chinese assault troops onboard [[spoiler:the ''Valkyrie'' during the final mission]] coming to other Chinese troops that [[spoiler:Jin Jie's still alive and aboard the ''Valkyrie'']], and even "''Chang''" actually being surnamed Zhang[[/note]]. However, the quality varies quite a bit, from being "very good" to "hilariously broken". The final story-important exchange on the ''Valkyrie'' is actually completely and [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign utterly screwed in its grammar]], becoming a minor meme on the Chinese community.

* CrapsackWorld: It seems Dima and Blackburn's sacrifice in stopping Solomon was in vain with the US still fighting a war against Russia who's trying to overthrow the moderate government in China and replace it with one loyal to them. The Shanghai mission shows that much of China is chaos, with riots breaking out in the streets and the PLA enforcing martial law. Not to mention the Chinese have taken over ''most of Asia'' and the Suez Canal with little difficulty... and for no reason.

! Spoilers for ''VideoGame/Battlefield3'' will be left unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBennWarned!

* HeroicMime: Recker follows in the mould of Miller and Hawkins rather than Blackburn, and save for a quick curse under his breath at the very start of the game (complaining when he checks the ammo on his starting SCAR and sees the magazine is empty), never utters a word. Interestingly, the game seems to actually poke fun at this, where he's put in command of the squad at the end of the first mission despite his refusal to speak, only to promptly ''lose'' command of the squad after the second mission because he did nothing to stop one of his subordinates from overstepping his bounds and taking in several hundred refugees their ship wasn't equipped to handle.

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: One of the soldiers tries to turn off the radio (which was supposedly playing Total Eclipse of the Heart) as your car is sinking at the beginning of the game, saying he doesn't want to die to the tune of this song.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is the first thing you hear upon starting the game... while you & and your squad are trapped in a sinking car. It's also {{lampshade|Hanging}}d, as the first line of dialogue you hear in the game is Pac noting that he doesn't want to die to that song.

** Another bug can cause Irish in the intro to the Shanghai mission to brake hard to avoid hitting two pedestrians, but completely ignore a third one - who won't mind too much since he can ''phase through'' the van. Sometimes as well, the elevator ride in which you accidentally open onto the wrong floor and alert the Chinese to your presence can have the game completely fail to render the actual room, leading you to get shot at by Chinese spec ops who have no problem with floating several hundred feet in the air.

* ObviousBeta:
** Despite hopes that [=BF4=] would be 'polishing' [=BF3=] and be near perfect, it is not. The game has tons of bugs, some returning from [=BF3=] and the single player apparently haven't been playtested (e.g. choppers fly into the mountainside during scripted events, and it's relatively easy to get stuck because of flags not flipping properly), and in multiplayer the TV-guided missile blowing up your own helicopter still exists.
** The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of the game are ripe with graphical glitches, screen tearing, and texture pop-in. It also doesn't help that [[GameBreaker vehicles]] are even more overpowered than before, meaning that the majority of players in a 24 player match well spend most of their time cooped up in heavily armored tanks.
** The PC version of the game ''constantly'' crashes server side, which wipes out the round for everyone in the server. One big example being Siege of Shanghai crashing any time someone blows up the big central building.
** There's also the still unpatched (as of version 1.02) bug reported on multiple platforms which sometimes fails to save/deletes your campaign progress. Cue ClusterFBomb when you choose resume campaign and hear Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" start to play...

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: [[DiscussedTrope Addressed.]] In RealLife, double-action revolvers have a trigger delay, which was reflected in-game as a small delay between pressing fire and the revolver actually firing the bullet, [[http://youtu.be/zPPDGXtwBOY seen in this video]]. Unfortunately, this is hard to emulate in a video game where players expect the gun to fire immediately after pressing a ''button'' versus actually handling the gun and pulling the ''trigger'' to drop a hammer to fire. With the 2.0 update, this was removed entirely, making the game closer to its ''Battlefield 3'' counterpart.
** The AN-94's hyperburst feature only happens when the rifle is set to burst, while setting it to automatic gives it a steady 600 RPM fire rate. In real-life, the first two shots on automatic are also in burst while the rest of the rounds are discharged at a steady rate, and this was also how the weapon was portrayed in Battlefield 3. It was probably removed to incentivize switching between automatic and burst frequently rather than just keeping it on automatic and using a disciplined trigger to fire off hyperbursts.

* CreatorProvincialism: Despite the [[UsefulNotes/SwedesWithCoolPlanes Swedish military]] being a no-show, the CBJ-MS and Ak 5C are usable weapons, and are a part of the Swedish Steel assignment. Presumably as a reminder that [=DICE=] is a Swedish company.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Played mostly straight with infantry, who, aside from suppression (which is separate from your HP anyway), bloody screen, and reduced colouration can fight as well at 1% HP as they can at 100%, but completely averted with vehicles; first, there's critical hits: If you take at least 30% damage from a single attack, you suffer a Mobility Hit which makes you move slower and more awkwardly for 5-10 seconds, or if you take 40%, you suffer a Mobility Kill which completely immobilizes/stalls your vehicle for 5-10 seconds. Finally, when your vehicle is reduced to 10-15% armour, it becomes disabled, meaning it will be permanently in a state of mobility hit and if not repaired, will catch fire, burning away the last of its remaining HP.

** Despite hopes that [=BF4=] would be 'polishing' [=BF3=] and be near perfect, it is not. The game has tons of bugs, some returning from BF 3 and the single player apparently haven't been playtested, choppers fly into the mountainside during scripted events, in multiplayer the tv guided missile blowing up your own helicopter still exists. Singleplayer FOV is hardlocked at 60°.

** The PC version of the game ''constantly'' crashes server side, which wipes out the round for everyone in the server. One big example being Siege Of Shanghai crashing any time someone blows up the big central building.

*** The nearest airports to the CBD are Sembawang and Paya Lebar Air Bases. Even so, the objective airfield is stated to specifically Changi International Airport, even further east of the city, a good 30 minutes travel by car, let alone a tank.

* WaterloggedWarzone: The multiplayer map "Flood Zone" features a Chinese slum that starts slightly flooded due to the constant rain, but triggering the Levolution event by destroying the concrete levee will divert floodwaters to rapidly fill the playable map area with a rising tide, denying conventional ground vehicles and giving way for naval vessels such as boats, jetskis and amphibious IFVs to spawn instead to navigate the now-flooded city, as well as forcing infantry combat to the rooftops of the buildings.