Battlefield 4's release was full of problems. Servers weren't working, and players simply couldn't find games for months, and months. I was one of the people that experienced this. Now that I have been able to spend some actual time with the game without losing connections (fingers crossed that it keeps working), I can finally give it a final review.
Personally, I've played through the Campaign twice, and each time, I've lost 100% of my progress. That was a big issue at launch, and many players experienced this as well. I haven't really built up the ambition to play through the lackluster Campaign mode again, just because it was kind of a let down. Most of the story includes a bunch of scenes in which your character (the same character throughout the whole game) escapes death in the most ridiculous ways. It seems like every ten minutes you're in a building that blows up, or right in the middle of something you'd likely never make it out of. Yes, it makes for a great display of a next-gen experience, but it also feels very scripted, and rather unrealistic for a game that's shooting for realism.
The multiplayer mode, however, seems to be the focal point of EA and DICE for this game. The large scale maps make games very strategic, and very vast. Almost fully destructible environments, and 64 player servers allow games to get a bit crazy with vehicles flying overhead, tanks driving by, and randoms on ATV's having a grand ol' time. There are lots of weapons to unlock in this game, but the only issue is that you only really start with around 4 or 5 weapons. This makes it quite a bit difficult to get yourself started, because most other players online will already have a bunch of new weapons and better attachments/upgrades than you will initially have. Once you can get some of those weapons, and open a few Battlepacks, though, you'll be good to go.
When you shoot, you show up on radar, which means you'll probably be killed very shortly after you get a kill yourself, so it's tough to get killstreaks in this game. The recoil on your stock weapons is incredibly fierce, and aiming accurately is quite a challenge. Trying to snipe is extremely difficult, because you have to lead shots, calculate distance, and you generally have to hit them more than once (unless it's a headshot). You will definitely experience some campers, simply because of the nature of sniping in the game. Call of Duty players may find themselves having a hard time as you won't get a kill simply for shooting someone in the big toe, and "quickscoping" is almost eliminated as sniping in Battlefield 4 takes a bit more patience, and calculation. Bullet drop needs to be accounted for, as well as the zeroing distance on your rifle.
Maps aren't incredibly well-designed, but it doesn't really matter considering most of the time the maps are destroyed completely within the first three minutes of the game. I've found myself getting stuck on ledges that should easily be jumped over, and a lot of times I'll get stuck and won't be able to move. All in all, though, the multiplayer is very fun, and keeps you coming back.
There is also a DLC pack that can be purchased for around $49.99 (only $10 less than the retail price of the game itself) which will give you access to a bunch of weapons right off the bat. To me, $50 isn't really worth it, but the option is there if you get frustrated with trying to earn your weapons/attachments.
The Verdict:
As I mentioned before EA's servers were a big issue post-release. This is going to cause me to take 2 points off of my final verdict, because I believe that an unfinished game should not be released in that condition. EA has done this before, and although the game would deserve a 9, I'd say this game gets a 7/10. If it worked correctly and was a bit more stable at launch, I would have given it what it deserved. Still, it's a fun game, and seems to work for most people as of now (1/20/14).