In publisher Activision’s modern-military shooter Call of Duty: Ghosts, players can partner up with a highly trained canine that fans have made into the game’s unofficial mascot. In Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 4, players will watch as a character punches a highly trained canine.
If you read between the lines, I think you can see that EA and Battlefield 4 developer DICE were going for with its use of combat dogs.
Battlefield 4’s punchable mutt appears in the closing moments of the story trailer for the first-person military action sequel. DICE released the video earlier today, and it reveals tidbits of the plot gamers will shoot their way through.
Battlefield 4 is due out Oct. 29 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. It will also hit PlayStation 4 on Nov. 15 and Xbox One on Nov. 22, when those consoles finally hit retail.
The story trailer highlights Battlefield 4’s single-player campaign. It focuses on a group of special forces who take on a new female squadmate that they do not trust. Meanwhile, coastal American cities and sea ships are exploding until players are sailing on what is possibly the “only ship left” in the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet.
EA is positioning Battlefield 4 as one of its tent-pole titles. It expects it to perform well at retail, just like competitor Activision’s Call of Duty does every year.
Activision will launch Call of Duty: Ghosts on Nov. 5 — a week after Battlefield 4. Activision’s and developer Infinity Ward’s military shooter also follows a group of spec-ops troops as everything blows up around them. During the Microsoft Xbox One reveal event in May, Activision demonstrated Call of Duty and revealed that players will control a new dog character named Riley. Fans latched onto the character and turned the “Call of Duty Dog” into a meme.
It’s possible that it’s just a coincidence that the latest Battlefield 4 trailer shows a character punching a similar-looking dog while yelling “get off me,” but it’s also possible it’s a subtle jab at a competitor.