The modern-military shooter Battlefield 4 has a reputation as a broken game, but developer DICE claims it now works better than any other entry in the series.
Since releasing Battlefield 4 in October, DICE has worked to fix and improve the first-person shooter. This continues today with a free fall update that introduces some major changes. This is one of Electronic Arts’ most important franchises, and regular patches is one way that the publisher is trying to prove fans can trust the series going forward.
Changes in the fall update for BF4 include changes to how characters move as well as improvements to the “netcode” that connects players online.
“[The ‘netcode’] is now the fastest in the franchise’s history,” reads the Battlefield blog. “The delay is now lower than ever, and we’re also looking to improve hit detection.”
When it comes to character traversal, DICE is taking a step back, but fans will likely consider that a good thing.
“Player movement has been improved to more closely match that of Battlefield 3, while still maintaining the animation fidelity of Battlefield 4,” the blog continues.
Other new additions include reduced visual recoil on a number of guns. This means you’ll see less shake when firing weapons with medium- and close-range sights.
DICE also claims it is streamlining the in-game user interface. It is giving players more options to “tinker” with what they see when playing the shooter. New toggles include the ability to turn off icons that indicate teammates when looking down the sights of a weapon.
The last big change is the inclusion of a Classic Mode. This introduces a more “hardcore” experience where players can only spawn on their squad leader. This requires more team work, and the studio built it specifically for longtime fans coming from Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 3.
That is a lot of stuff to include in a free update for a game that came out in October last year. But fans still have doubts that Battlefield: Hardline, the next release in the franchise, will work when it debuts. Just yesterday, GamesBeat reported that developer Visceral Games, which is making Hardline, is out in the public promising that the new game (due out in March) won’t have Battlefield 4’s problems.