Non-Premium members will have to wait two weeks later to receive the DLC pack.

Battlefield 4: Dragon’s Teeth introduces 4 new multiplayer maps set in “dense Asian Pacific cities”, five new weapons, the Ballistic shield and a new game mode Chain Link, that sees players “linking together capture points to win the battle”.

The fifth and final expansion pack dubbed Final Stand will be released later this year, however it’ looking like that it’ll miss summer.

Second Assault includes four maps from Battlefield 3 updated with the Frostbite 3 graphics engine and with Battlefield 4 gameplay. The maps are Operation Metro, Caspian Border, Gulf of Oman and Operation Firestorm.

The game’s third DLC offering is dubbed ‘Naval Strike’, and it features four all-new water-based combat maps: Lost Island, Nansha Strike, Wave Breaker and Operation Mortar – along with new weapons, gadgets and amphibious vehicles. It’ll be released in late March first for premium Battlefield subscribers, and two weeks later for us regular folks.

The employee chose to remain anonymous for obvious reasons while sharing what he thinks went wrong on a Swedish games site, but here’s what he had to say, courtesy PCGMedia:

When a code that’s not “thread-safe” executes on multiple sources, it’s a coincidence if it works or if it crashes. All the codes become “timing dependent” and different hardware combined with different background processes and OS’s, have different timing.

We are working hard on solving all the remaining problems within the game, and apparently many of the problems have been fixed in the last patch.  But since the game is so timing-dependent, it’s hard to say how many problems we have left to fix.

Unfortunately, if you have a certain CPU and you run a certain OS and at the same time you run a certain background process, you could get “bad timing” more often than other people, Timing that will cause the game to crash or other bugs.

My thing is DICE simply needed more time to make sure that everything in their game worked how it’s supposed to. But they didn’t and now EA’s in a whole lot of trouble. Hopefully this’ll be a lesson for the industry.

The class action lawsuit lead by US law firm Robbins Geller which accuses the publisher of misleading investors on the performances of Battlefield 4 between July 24th and December 4th, and “charges Electronic Arts and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.”

EA is accused of issuing “materially false and misleading statements” between the two dates “highlighting the purported strength of the Company’s rollout of version 4 of its all-important Battlefield video game series, which had provided approximately 11% of its revenues in fiscal 2012.

“Based on the purported strength of the Battlefield 4 rollout then underway, defendants issued strong fiscal 2014 financial guidance for the Company and actually increased that guidance on October 29, 2013. The price of Electronic Arts’ stock steadily climbed on these statements, reaching a Class Period high of $28.13 per share by August 23, 2013 and allowing certain of Electronic Arts’ senior executives to sell their Electronic Arts stock at artificially inflated prices.”

The complaint also references Battlefield 4′s launch bugs, which saw the company’s share price dive after it was revealed that EA had halted development of future DICE projects and Battlefield 4 DLC in order to focus on fixing the game.

It continues: “The price of Electronic Arts stock fell on these disclosures, declining more than 7% from a close of $25.96 per share on November 14, 2013 to close at $24.06 per share on November 15, 2013. Then, on December 4, 2013, it was disclosed through discussions defendants had with video game bloggers that due to bugs, connectivity issues, server limitations, and various other problems plaguing Battlefield 4, Electronic Arts had been forced to indefinitely halt the Battlefield 4 rollout and other projects until the problems with Battlefield 4 could be fixed.

“The price of Electronic Arts shares declined on this news from a close of $22.34 on December 4, 2013 to close at $21.01 on December 5, 2013, sending the share price down more than 28% from its Class Period high.”

The complaint goes on to label statements made by EA between July 24th and December 4th as being “materially false and misleading because they failed to disclose and misrepresented the following adverse facts which were known to or recklessly disregarded by defendants:

“(a) Battlefield 4 was riddled with bugs and multiple other problems, including downloadable content that allowed players access to more levels of the game, a myriad of connectivity issues, server limitations, lost data and repeated sudden crashes, among other things;

“(b) as a result, Electronic Arts would not achieve a successful holiday season 2013 rollout of Battlefield 4;

“(c) the performance of the Electronic Arts unit publishing Battlefield 4 was so deficient that all other projects that unit was involved in had to be put on hold to permit it to focus its efforts on fixing Battlefield 4;

“and (d) as a result, Electronic Arts was not on track to achieve the financial results it had told the market it was on track to achieve during the Class Period.”

Battlefield 4 launched on October 29th, 2013, for last-gen consoles and released on PS4 and Xbox One when said consoles saw their respective launches in the month of November.

Via Business Wire.

December 17 PlayStation 4 Patch Notes

• Reduced the probability of the “Kill trade” issue (see below for details).
• Fixed a common crash that could occur during round transition.
• Fixed a crash that could happen for players that had lots of friends.
• Fixed a problem where the “end of round” screen was adding up scores several times in the rank bar, resulting in the rank bar showing a higher value or rank than players really had.
• Fix for the game mode specific ribbons being counted twice in the multiplayer progression.
• Fix for a graphical glitch that could appear on terrain.
• Fixed an engine audio dropout that could happen when driving IFV’s.
• Fix for a camera glitch that could occur when players were switching weapons while moving in crouched stance.
• Fixed an animation bug for passengers on the China Rising dirt bike to make sure that the character is pointing in the direction where the player is actually aiming.
• Fix for an issue where 4x the damage from a vehicle’s minigun would be applied to the chest when a player had the Defense specialization equipped.
• Tweaked the War Tape audio setting to remove distortion.
• Fix for the SUAV (introduced in the China Rising expansion pack) not exploding when hitting enemy soldiers. While these indeed should be deadly, they were never designed for “roadkilling” opponents.
• Servers with users playing on them are now by default placed on the top in the Server Browser.
• Servers that friends are playing on have a higher priority in the server list.
• Server Browser is no longer showing empty or full servers by default.
• Servers that are completely empty will be shown only when the “Empty” option is checked in the Server Browser filter.
• Server Browser filter will count a server as full if all “Soldier” slots are occupied, unless the “Free Commander” slot is checked.
• Balancing jet handling across all stealth and attack jet classes.
• Fixed a bug in Defuse mode where defenders could win a round by killing all the attackers without disarming the bomb. If the attackers arm the bomb, the defenders need to disarm it to win, even if they have killed all the attackers.
• Fix for players getting stuck in the revive screen.
• Fix for players getting stuck in the kill camera after being revived. Note that you might see a graphical bug on-screen after being revived when accepting a revive within 1 second. This graphical bug will be removed in the next patch.
• Fix for a Defuse bug where none of the teams would win a round by letting the timer run out.
• Fixed the instance where players suddenly would transition into Spectator Mode while playing the Defuse game mode.
• Fix for the death camera/screen being displayed too early.
• Raised the first-person camera slightly for walking in crouch to more accurately reflect the actual position of the character.
• Lowered IED explosion sound to not bottom out the HDR.
• General stability improvements.

Kill trading issue

We’ve addressed the so-called “Kill trading”. This refers to when two players fire at each other and, seemingly, both die at the same time. The time window where a bullet could cause damage from an already dead player is now calculated as intended, decreasing the time frame when players with high latency could get a kill, even though they should be dead according to the server. This should reduce the probability of kill trading.

December 17 PlayStation 3 Patch Notes

• General stability improvements.
• Fixed one of the most frequently occurring crashes that could happen during round transition.
• Reduced the probability of the “Kill trade” issue (see below for details).
• Fixed a crash that could occur when bringing up the scoreboard.
• Fix for player tags not always showing quickly enough. This could often lead to confusion or team kills on Hardcore servers.
• Populated servers are now by default placed on the top in the Server Browser, where previously empty servers would be shown.
• Servers that friends are playing on have a higher priority in the server list.
• Fixed the instance where players suddenly would transition into Spectator Mode while playing the Defuse game mode.
• Fix for players getting stuck in the revive screen after being killed.
• Fix for players getting stuck in the kill camera after being revived. Note that you might see a graphical bug on-screen after being revived when accepting a revive within 1 second. This graphical bug will be removed in the next patch.
• Fix for the death camera/screen being displayed too early.
• Fix for a Defuse bug where none of the teams would win a round by letting the timer runs out.
• Fix for the SUAV (introduced in the China Rising expansion pack) not exploding when hitting enemy soldiers. While these indeed should be deadly, they were never designed for “road killing” opponents.
• Fix for an issue where 4x the damage from a vehicle’s miniguns would be applied to the chest when a player had the Defense specialization equipped.
• Balanced vehicle miniguns to do more damage versus infantry.
• Fix for the game mode specific ribbons being counted twice in the multiplayer progression.
• Fixed a bug in Defuse mode where defenders could win a round by killing all the attackers without disarming the bomb. If the attackers arm the bomb, the defenders need to disarm it to win, even if they have killed all the attackers.
• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in infinite loading when connecting to a server.
• Fix for side gunners in attack boats and transport helicopters experiencing jitter when aiming.
• Fixed the issue with Levolution events sometimes not being triggered properly when playing the Rush, Defuse, Obliteration and Team/Squad Deathmatch game modes.
• Removed the SCAR-H and Ace 52 damage tweaks that were included in a previous patch.

Kill trading issue

We’ve addressed the so-called “Kill trading”. This refers to when two players fire at each other and, seemingly, both die at the same time. The time window where a bullet could cause damage from an already dead player is now calculated as intended, decreasing the timeframe when players with high latency could get a kill, even though they should be dead according to the server. This should reduce the probability of kill trading.

December 17 Xbox 360 Patch Notes

• General stability improvements.
• Fixed one of the most frequently occurring crashes that could happen during round transition.
• Reduced the probability of the “Kill trade” issue (see below for details).
• Fixed a crash that could occur when bringing up the scoreboard.
• Fix for player tags not always showing quickly enough. This could often lead to confusion or team kills on Hardcore servers.
• Populated servers are now by default placed on the top in the Server Browser, where previously empty servers would be shown.
• Servers that friends are playing on have a higher priority in the server list.
• Fixed the instance where players suddenly would transition into Spectator Mode while playing the Defuse game mode.
• Fix for players getting stuck in the revive screen after being killed.
• Fix for players getting stuck in the kill camera after being revived. Note that you might see a graphical bug on-screen after being revived when accepting a revive within 1 second. This graphical bug will be removed in the next patch.
• Fix for the death camera/screen being displayed too early.
• Fix for a Defuse bug where none of the teams would win a round by letting the timer runs out.
• Fix for the SUAV (introduced in the China Rising expansion pack) not exploding when hitting enemy soldiers. While these indeed should be deadly, they were never designed for “road killing” opponents.
• Fix for an issue where 4x the damage from a vehicle’s miniguns would be applied to the chest when a player had the Defense specialization equipped.
• Balanced vehicle miniguns to do more damage versus infantry.
• Fix for the game mode specific ribbons being counted twice in the multiplayer progression.
• Fixed a bug in Defuse mode where defenders could win a round by killing all the attackers without disarming the bomb. If the attackers arm the bomb, the defenders need to disarm it to win, even if they have killed all the attackers.
• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in infinite loading when connecting to a server.
• Fix for side gunners in attack boats and transport helicopters experiencing jitter when aiming.
• Fixed the issue with Levolution events sometimes not being triggered properly when playing the Rush, Defuse, Obliteration and Team/Squad Deathmatch game modes.
• Removed the SCAR-H and Ace 52 damage tweaks that were included in a previous patch.

Kill trading issue

We’ve addressed the so-called “Kill trading”. This refers to when two players fire at each other and, seemingly, both die at the same time. The time window where a bullet could cause damage from an already dead player is now calculated as intended, decreasing the timeframe when players with high latency could get a kill, even though they should be dead according to the server. This should reduce the probability of kill trading.

“We will be rolling out the Xbox One game update today, starting 10AM UTC / 2AM PDT. Players may experience some downtime as we upgrade our services. Expect patch notes to become available soon,” said the developer.

The PS4 Battlefield 4 patch was released two days ago and has fixed a good amount of issues that the game’s been experiencing. However the continuous crashing problem still remains.

Nothing works right, you can’t get into games and when you do, you’re booted during play — mostly when you’re completely kicking butt. Let’s face it, the game is unplayable, and if that’s how DICE and EA are hoping to take Call of Duty’s throne, they’re in for an unpleasant surprise.

Seriously, you can’t release a game so broken. It should be illegal to do this. I mean, after purchasing a game, I expect to play it, not wait for developers to patch it and then hope it works. This is what happens when you’re chasing another product in a careless effort to beat it to market.

So yeah, Battlefield 4 is pretty rubbish right now, so we’re hoping the upcoming patch fixes it (facepalm). In the meantime stay away from this dicey game. It’s not a title you’ll be even able to play, far less enjoy.

Here we are, waiting for the next generation of consoles to come into our hands, or at the very least, discuss the many topics that can be started over them. And if Battlefield 4 is anything to go by, I can say the timing for a new generation couldn’t be better.

To kick off, I’m picking arguably the most improved aspect of Battlefield 4: the campaign. Believe it or not, this 7 hour long trip is more than just a very good tutorial mode for the franchise’s main subject, multiplayer. DICE looks like they learned from Battlefield 3′s mistakes, and proceeded to fix them with the sequel, or at least tried to. Enter Tombstone Squad, what starts as a 4-man team of Marines on a top priority mission that goes awry. I appreciated the new direction the story took; unlike Battlefield 3, I can say this time it felt like being a soldier and not just a spectator that happens to hold a gun. You’ll visit many different locales, from the intimidating city of Shanghai to a huge warship, and from prison slums to a snowy mountain. Every level is connected, making the story feel like a chain, something Battlefield 3′s campaign structure failed to achieve. In general, you’ll encounter everything (hence “perfect training for multiplayer”): you’ll drive a tank, a boat and you can play around with a ton of weapons and attachments. Speaking of which, a new game-changing feature (for the campaign) is the inclusion of weapon crates across the map. Interacting with them lets you change your loadout completely; two weapons, and two equipment pieces. For example, for the biggest part of the campaign’s length, I rolled around with a carbine or assault rifle, a sniper rifle or a shotgun, and whatever equipment the mission asked for: from rocket launchers to C4.

What starts off as an interesting story for a military shooter with some twists, though, quickly stumbles on its own weight. After certain events, you’re appointed the leader of Tombstone Squad, and can order around your squad (which is very handy in enemy-heavy situations). But even then, you’ll encounter no shortage of “hey, open this door” while the supposed lower ranking members just sit on their asses and order around their leader. But at least, they’re not dead weight. Performing actions such as killing or ordering your squad for a kill and them successfully pulling it off awards you mission points. There’s three medals to be won through point accumulation for each mission, and they grant you new weapons for use in the campaign. Furthermore, you can search around the map for collectables, which unlock goodies like exclusive dog tags that can be used in multiplayer. I’m now wearing a Shakespeare dog tag alongside the Hellenic flag, which is titled “Good Play”. It’s almost as awful as my puns, so I loved it. Overall, it’s a very enjoyable rollercoaster ride, and serves its purpose well.

And with that said, we’re now getting to the meat of the Battlefield series: multiplayer. Ditching the unsuccessful co-op mode of Battlefield 3, you can only play competitively now in a slew of modes. A new, slicker and streamlined menu allows for easy and quick navigation, even in the server browser with its many filter options. Pick one of the seven modes, old and new, and start the battle. Whether you pick classics like Rush or Conquest, or new modes like Obliteration and Defuse, the fundamentals are the same. Battlefield always revolved around team play, so having the highest kill count can easily get you on the bottom of the scoreboard if no objective points were awarded. To spice up the formula, DICE introduces Levolution — as you might understand, this combines “level” and “evolution”. How does this translate into the game? In every map, there’s at least one building or point in the map where you can destroy it (given enough firepower) and completely change the course of the match. The most famous instance of Levolution hails from the beta map “Siege of Shanghai”, where the players can demolish a skyscraper that houses one of the objectives at its top. When it’s one with the ground, obviously the objective has become neutral again, and is in a completely different spot — adapt and you can win. This can completely alter the flow of a battle, and change the tides to your favor (or the enemy’s). Sadly, it’s not always as “wowtastic” in every map, and given the amount of time and firepower it needs, it’s a bit of a letdown when you don’t get something spectacular. Nevertheless, let’s not forget it’s debuting here, and DICE can further refine it in DLC maps and subsequent games based on feedback.

Another feature that debuts in Battlefield 4 are the Battlepacks. Earned through levelling up and through paying real money, they come in three tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold) and unlock different stuff each; in the vein of Mass Effect 3. Having purchased the Deluxe Edition, I was entitled to three Gold packs, which unlocked camouflage patterns, attachments and dog tags, as well as timed XP boosts; nothing huge. If this is any indication of the nature of the unlocks, I don’t think they will prove to be harming the game’s delicate balance. After all, everyone has access to them through simply levelling, so “pay to win” claims hold no water anyway.

The other half of Battlefield’s multiplayer DNA is the class and progression system. Actions like suppressing the enemy or healing and providing ammo to your teammates earn you points, apart from FPS staples like killing and assisting kills. These work your XP bar up, and with each level (general soldier level or class-specific level), you earn new attachments, perks and weapons. It’s amazing how much stuff there is to combine in Battlefield 4; guns, multiple attachments, player skills, camouflage, dog tags — there’s no shortage of rewards in this progression system. The four classes — Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon — are very versatile and can accommodate various playstyles. For example, the Recon class is not limited to long range sniper rifles anymore, and can equip shorter range weapons to complement its gadgets, the stuff that defines each class. You can get up and close for recon using your Recon tools, and are no longer restricted to fighting with a sniper rifle against a shotgun, should the occasion arise. There’s also the fact that knife attacks from the front allow the opponent to counter-attack, whereas backstabs net you the usual dog tags as a reward. And speaking of guns, I will need some of your opinions: I believe the gun sounds are the most fantastic a Battlefield game has had so far, and might I say, some of the most impressive sounds in any FPS. Would you agree?

What defines Battlefield, though, is vehicular combat combined with infantry battles. In the course of one minute, you can literally fly a jet, jump off and parachute to the ground, ride an ATV, reach and swap it for a tank, and invade the enemy objective. It will bring some smiles to the faces of seasoned players to hear that aerial combat is now more balanced out. Given that each class has access to weapons that can, given enough effort and support, bring down a helicopter, spawn camping with a chopper is no longer viable unless your team hands down allows it. Refined controls allow for better control of vehicles and foot soldiers, and I can say I adopted DICE’s new control scheme and haven’t looked back since. Having the “Spot” ability set to the R2/RB, for example, allows for much fluider spotting as opposed to the old scheme where the button was set to “Select”, and wanted me to let go of the left analog stick. The new, more convenient scheme lets you pull off Battlefield classic crazy stunts better than ever before, chaining the actions that lead to parachuting through a window or dropping to the ground to deploy your bipod for quick suppression more easily.

The re-introduction of Commander Mode allows tablet users to jump in the battle and aid their teammates, should they prove effective enough, as it all depends on trust, relationships and team coordination. As a Commander, you can perform feats like sending in UAV’s, which can prove invaluable. How the Commander handles the flow of the battle from above earns or loses the trust of their teammates, and can allow them to kick the Commander off his seat. And as far as new modes go, Obliteration involves bringing a bomb to the enemy’s objectives and defending it until detonation, and repeating this step three times. Defuse is, basically, a 5 vs 5 Counter-Strike mode, where everyone has one life and attackers defend a bomb the defenders have to… Defuse. Domination is Conquest bar vehicles, which adds an interesting twist to the usual Battlefield formula, though for me, Battlefield means vehicles and infantry. Lastly, a Test Range is also in place, a much requested addition that allows you to experiment with weapons, attachments and vehicles without having your teammates pray to God when you try to fly a helicopter, for example. But still, from my experience so far, some people neglect it and proceed to learn how to do basic things like driving during ranked matches.

However, it’s not all rainbows and roses. New modes like Obliteration are not always at home in every map, since most of them feel like they’re designed around signature modes Conquest and Rush. Plus, it’s disappointing that current generation consoles can only handle 24 players at most and in some modes only, and thus the maps feel awkwardly big at times. Couple that with many graphical shortcomings and glitches, and the overall graphic quality, and you know that PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360′s age shows very much. By all means, though, Battlefield 4 is not an ugly game. But keeping in mind that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can accomodate up 64 players max in the corresponding modes, you understand where the need to upgrade stems for. Aliasing is also an issue, with textures sometimes looking not much different than Battlefield 3′s, even though the Frostbite engine running Battlefield 4 is an upgrade.

Conclusion

So, summing up: the campaign is a step up from the previous game, but nothing spectacular, although still great training for the multiplayer part, which also includes a training mode for the first time. Maps and modes are great, old and new, but they don’t always match up so good. Tons of stuff to be earned through levelling up, and Battlepacks can make it easier for dedicated players. But technical shortcomings on the consoles’ side, while not breaking the experience, it doesn’t allow it to shine through.

Does this all mean the game is bad on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360? Hell no, it’s probably in the top three Battlefield games ever released, combining aspects from nearly every Battlefield game to date. But if you’re going for it, and want to get the most out of it, you might want to do so on a PC or next-gen. Keep in mind, upgrading your Battlefield 4 game from a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version (respectively) will cost you $10, so you can just as well buy it for your current-gen console and upgrade once you get your hands on the next-gen console of the same family. And if you like shooting games in general or just Battlefield, you will want to play this series’ love letter sooner or later.

Deluxe Edition: Buying the bigger Battlefield 4 edition will net you access to the China Rising expansion pack that will release soon, three Gold Battlepacks, and a neat steelbook. For just $10 more, if you’re not the type of gamer that spends tons of money on games each week like I am, I can’t see why you wouldn’t want to go for it. If you’re lucky, you might even get some good stuff through the three Battlepacks.

Speaking to Game Informer, Battlefield 4 executive producer Patrick Bach said that next-gen controls will be much different than current-gen offerings. From driving to spotting, the controls are not the same, and there’s a reason why.

“When we looked at controls in Battlefield 4, we placed the team play aspect of our controls as the highest priority. We wanted players to be familiar with using spotting and the communication rose in multiplayer as well as the engage and tactical visor in single player. To accomplish this we needed a button that allowed players quick access while also enabling the player to still perform all the necessary functions of Battlefield, like shooting, aiming, moving, and melee. We also know that players require consistency, especially players who will want to move from a PS3 to a PS4 or a Xbox 360 to a Xbox One.

With this in mind, we moved our teamplay functions to a bumper button, which required us to make additional changes, all to highlight one of Battlefield’s key strengths. It also enabled the use of the communication rose with a controller.”

A Veteran scheme will be present, for players who prefer Battlefield 3 controls instead of the new ones.

“For people who don’t like these new controls you are offering a Veteran scheme that basically returns the controls to the Battlefield 3 standard, with one major difference —  the comma rose is still married to the right bumper whether you are on foot or in a vehicle, which moves countermeasures and melee attacks.

We recognize that change is hard, and the veteran control schemes are our nod to players who wish to have a Battlefield 3 control style,” he added. “We continue to see teamplay as a key area for Battlefield, and that meant that we could not purely duplicate the old setup.”

If the beta is anything to go by, I preferred the new controls. Battlefield 4 releases tomorrow for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions available at their launch.

The battle of the next-gen consoles rages on, and YouTuber Jack Frags posted on reddit promising a video comparing footage from both consoles. Direct feed 1080p gameplay footage of the two will be coming on the day Battlefield 4 releases, October 29th. Spotted by NeoGaf user Nirolak.

I’ll be posting Xbox One and PS4 footage – Direct capture 1080p on the 29th October – I’m not allowed to post before then. I have several hours of PS4 multiplayer and the full single player campaign on Xbox One recorded.

He also said without details that one version looks “definitely better” than the other.

I can’t talk specifics until the 29th but I can say that one of the next gen console versions definitely looks better than the other.

Not saying which one is the better one as he says, he at least mentioned on Twitter that we’ll be surprised.

And finally I think you guys will be very surprised when you see Xbox One vs PS4 footage!

It’s true he’s just a popular YouTuber and thus not an official source, he’s in direct contact with DICE and is often invited to their private preview events; he posted a video straight out of such an event.

What do you think the best version will be?

Frostbite engine technical director Johan Andersson of DICE confirmed that 15 games are in development using the Frostbite engine.

.@SzymonPusz yes the plan is once Mantle in #BF4 is done it’s part of Frostbite & mostly ‘out of the box’ to use the rest of our 15+ games

— Johan Andersson (@repi) October 20, 2013

We know that Battlefield 4, Need for Speed Rivals, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mirror’s Edge 2, Star Wars: Battlefront and the next Mass Effect are all using the Frostbite engine. What are the other eight of them though?

In the latest story trailer for Battlefield 4, the action goes crazy. Dog-punching crazy. Is that a nod to Riley, the Dog of Duty? Doesn’t matter — Battlefield 4 releases on November 1, and the trailer will get you pumped.

Videogamer got confirmation from an EA UK spokesperson about Second Assault, the second Battlefield 4 expansion pack, launching first on Xbox One at the console’s release (November 22).

The expansion includes updated Battlefield 3 maps, running on the beautiful, updated Frostbite engine. For our impressions on the beta, you can head here and share the excitement.

So here we are, a day after Battlefield 4 beta has been made open for Medal of Honor: Warfighter owners, pre-orders and Premium owners 3 days before everyone else. I’ve played a ton of it, and since I know it’s a much anticipated game for a lot of our Games Thirst people and that not everyone got in early, I’ll give you some of my impressions and experiences with the game so far.

More dynamic than ever

Imagine this: playing Conquest, an objective is based at the top of a skyscraper. Strategic helicopter fights are a must, and you have to defend the position with everything you’ve got, since elevators are the only other way up there. Unless you got some big guns. And bring the skyscraper down. And the objective is now placed among the debris, while a huge wave of dust has covered everything and your vision is now not as clear. Done picturing it? Now, go make it a reality in Battlefield 4.

Seriously, if people were disappointed with DICE’s Battlefield 3 beta map choice (Operation Metro), then they’ll be pissing their pants in joy this time around. This feature alone promises so much for the future. You can now shape the battlefield to your own needs, and tactics can change on the fly; if the skyscraper goes down, for example, your “air superiority” squad must now change. The helicopter should drop marksmen off at the top of a nearby building and let them snipe people from afar, while ground troops take the flag. In how many maps, and in which ways, will this be available? I’m intrigued to find out.

More fluid than ever

After capturing objective B at the aforementioned skyscraper, my work there is done. My teammates are setting up their defences, and me and a squadmate have to move on to objective C, which is based inside a mall on the ground. We look at each other, organize through our mics, and jump off the building. After some air time, we open our parachutes, and land on the top of the mall’s glass roof. We quickly hide, exchange ammo and health packs (which are now not area-of-effect, but single-use pick-ups), and sit atop the glass roof, capturing the objective. An enemy notices us, shoots the glass, and we’re now dropped into the mall and disorganized. I quickly shoot for suppression, sprint and vault over objects while reloading, when suddenly another enemy appears in front of me. Luckily, he has his back turned to me out of confusion, and I don’t miss the chance to stab him, and then my reload continues from where it left off — perfect.

Meanwhile, my squadmate has wiped the floor with the previous enemy, and we’re now kings of of two objectives. He says over the mic that turning on and off your laser sight in the enemy’s face is disorienting them, and it’s just at the press of a button (PS3 version, PC’s had this). This, my friends, is nothing more than a typical Battlefield 4 scenario. You can do crazy stuff like this and much more, you just need to think of it, have an ideal chance to perform it, and off you go. There’s also stuff like diving when in water, or using your pistol when swimming; the new tactics you can come up with are endless. Imagine a full-on assault from underwater, just how great would that be?

More small details than ever

So, my team only has to get objective A now, which is located in the metro and is accessible from a station at the west. It’s underground, so the enemies might as well bunker in there and not allow anything in; simple enough. That’s when we have to come up with something to make them lose their calm. So we think, could this fancy concrete art-thing over the metro’s glass roof be destroyed? It’s worth a try.

And off we are to board a M1 Abrams, and I serve as the gunner (just like I did back in the army days!). We cross the bridge that connects the map’s two parts, and there’s retractable/detractable short bollards to prevent vehicles from coming over. I get out, lower them for our tank, then raise them back up to at least steal some time if the enemy brings vehicles over (the amount of people I saw not knowing what to do was astonishing — granted, I didn’t know at first, but curiosity got the best of me and I explored around and found that a switch does the trick). Now we had the big guns at the ready, so we fired our missiles, while some ground troops fired their RPG’s. The result was the big beautiful thing over the metro going under, into the metro, and raising dust and all hell with it. We swiftly jumped in through the now-open roof, stormed the enemies, and claimed objective A.

Elevators and street bollards were usable in this map, and it makes me think, what other objects are usable in other maps? It’s a complete game-changer if you use it right; for example, setting an awesome, air-only team to fight the enemy’s helicopter seals of air entrance to objective B, and having a team cover the elevators is a death sentence for the enemies that try the only way up.

New small stuff that make a difference

As previously mentioned, health and ammo packs are single-use pick-ups. That changes a lot; camping is not as fluid and viable anymore. Another small in context, big in action change is that every starting gun (at least) comes with an optic. Mind you, it might be a weak one; but still comes with one. Iron sights are not my thing in Battlefield (AEK-971 was the only gun I could aim with its iron sights), and this certainly is a welcome change. The support’s gun (my class of choice) also sports a dual-scope, changed at the press of a button. Subtlety is evidently a prominent feature in Battlefield 4, and one pulled off greatly.

In other news, there’s country dog tags, there’s a truckload of dog tags in general, the menus are easier to navigate and respond faster, and inviting friends over/seeing how a friend does is easy and non-detracting from the experience. For example, a friend of mine was playing yesterday, and I already was in a match. When he got in a match, a small pop-up opened at the top right corner to notify me, and I didn’t even mind it.

Graphically, there were some pop-ins, mainly in textures, but it’s a beta. If they transfer over to the retail game, I’ll surely complain then, but for now, I won’t.  The dust cloud is also a great addition, one you won’t understand unless you experience. The power of the cloud (huehuehue)! Improved and more colorful than Battlefield 3, and may I say, cleaner. The screen isn’t cluttered, even when a lot is going on at once (at least on this map, Siege of Shanghai), or when massive destruction takes place (which is more detailed, by the way). Matchmaking is almost instant, server browser is there from the get-go for consoles. There’s so much work put in there… it shows from the moment you pick up the controller/mouse-keyboard.

And this is, my friends, my day one experience of the Battlefield 4 beta. I’m looking forward to more of you coming in, as it’s absolutely something that mustn’t be missed. We’ll post more stuff as the days go by, and we’re preparing for a huge Games Thirst Battlefield 4 beta meet-up! So, until I see you by my side, I’ll go kill some people and blow buildings up

Pre-load is now available for everyone in the Exclusive #bf4beta. Download now to be among the first to fight on Oct 1.

— Origin (@OriginInsider) September 30, 2013

And with this tweet, a wave of Battlefield players are now on their way to pre-load the beta in anticipation for tomorrow’s opening. Take advantage of it, go get it now, and be ready to join the fight from the first minute.

Previously, we told you what game modes to expect in the beta and game overall, and that we’ll be having fun with you on our side once it launches. Will you join us, soldier?