The Good: Fantastic visuals, amazing audio, excellently executed gun play, fun multiplayer suite
The Bad: Campaign is a serious let down, multiplayer feels a bit too familiar, doesn't do enough to be really considered a true sequel
The biggest competitor against Call of Duty has always been Battlefield. While both games have drastically changed over the years they both still compete for the most action packed single player campaign and an addictive multiplayer suite. Battlefield has been the superior game for the past few years for many reasons. Not only does the game look better but the campaign actually has a decent story and feels more organic and better paced. The multiplayer is actually challenging and requires a lot of skill rather than who can quick scope the fastest.
While many fan boys may disagree and send me angry emails about that statement one thing is for certain. Battlefield is a huge game, but did anyone even want BF4? BF3 was a fantastic game and was well balanced. BF4 feels very similar to the last game without much changes besides a new campaign and maps. The campaign is actually rather disappointing and not nearly as fun as BF3's campaign. It's short, typical, and feels very generic compared. The story is forgettable despite having some ground. A civil war in China has broken out and the US government is involved but you never really know why. There's a lot of loose ends and loop holes and by the time the credits role you just won't care.
Multiplayer is as fun as ever but doesn't have as memorable maps as BF3. I loved having all the same modes and an easy to navigate server browser on the console. The game feels just as balanced as BF3 but there's just a little bit of that magic missing. I didn't have the same long play sessions I used to have with BF3.
The graphics are fantastic and they make BF4 one of the best looking next-gen games out right now. The textures are superb, the lighting is gorgeous, and the sound and physics are top notch. I'm not kidding about the sound. Battlefield has had some of the best sounding guns and explosions since Bad Company and that still hasn't changed.
Overall Battlefield 4 just doesn't do enough that's new like BF3 did. I honestly felt the game could never have been released and fans would still be happy with an HD upgrade of BF3 for consoles. As it is, if you can find it cheap enough, BF4 is well worth the purchase and play through. Just don't expect anything as ground breaking as BF3.