Still Playing: Battlefield 4 – why its solo campaign can never replicate the drama of

January 26th, 2014, 00:49 Posted By: wraggster

Battlefield’s singleplayer is fine, but the game truly comes alive with 64 players on a multiplayer map.

From the satisfaction of a long-distance headshot to the unstoppable power of a well-placed anti-tank rocket, there’s a thrill to playing Battlefield 4 alone. But only multiplayer can inspire the sense that you’re playing a part in some bullet-ridden orchestra, moving across its maps with teammates in perfect harmony. There’s a swaying rhythm as the focus shifts to different checkpoints while gunfire’s melody builds toward a deafening crescendo – a jet screaming overhead. The moments where teams form a dialogue and begin communicating to take the upper hand are more powerful than any scripted event.You don’t notice you’re part of these instances until you’re in the middle of one, and committed to the fact. There’s a sense of scale here unlike any other – I’ve never felt more in awe of war than during a heated conflict in the crossroad intersection of Dawnbreaker, watching a multitude of jeeps and tanks hunker down at each side of the bridge while helicopters swooped in to deliver new players to the battlefield. There’s usually an abrupt end to battles like this; when the focus of the skirmish shifts elsewhere, players use focal havoc points as the perfect distractions to sneak off and capture unguarded conquest spots. This goes on for what seems like forever.What’s really impressive is how choreographed it often feels, though it’s entirely spontaneous. The fact that battles can turn into theatre this dramatic is a wonder considering there are so many individual minds whirring independently in each lobby. In Rogue Transmission, a desperate final push to overrun the satellite dish resembles a set piece from a Ford-Coppola movie, a mass of human soldiers cascading towards their target. A multi-helicopter assault on the main building in Hainan Resort results in major casualties, but we managed to take the base. It was worth the sacrifice.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...f-multiplayer/

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