Battlefield 4 Open Beta (PS3) - "First Impressions"

I fully realize that this game is still in the "Open Beta" state, and that changes are likely coming in the days leading up to the game's release date. Even so what I have experienced while playing the Open Beta leads me to believe that many more patches will have to be put into place following the game's official release in order for it to even be a near flawless experience. As far as complaints go I'm finding a lot of glitches pertaining to the use of the knife as well as the sensitivity of the knifing effect. Other gripes include the poorly rendered map (Siege of Shanghai), and the less than current-gen look of the game as a whole. I know that some of you will disagree about the graphics, but in all honesty the game's visual points are basically glamorized current-gen lighting, and reflection applications. Nothing more, and nothing less.

While the reflections in windows, and skyscrapers look pretty damn impressive other objects on the map seem to be lacking in design. Shipping crates found on the map, and even the soldiers themselves for example are less than noteworthy when compared to CoD's offerings. As much as that kills me to say so, it is the truth. I realize that EA was probably trying to capture the various perspectives of a soldier, and their combat scenario without overdoing the design, but you do get to see the soldiers, and their environments well enough to know that they look rather generic in construction. The fact that the soldiers look like fleas when at a distance only further negates their importance as a part of the game. With that being said I fully understand that the game is grander in scale than a CoD game. Does that justify the poorly crafted characters & maps? No.

As far as the "Siege of Shanghai" map goes it is your basic Battlefield map, and doesn't look that much different than the previous BF3's offerings. The only real difference I noticed were the massively improved environmental destruction features. Things like skyscrapers falling, and other building structures being reduced to rubble compliments of a nearby battleship were damn good features. I even had the privilege of being caught in the top of one of the falling skyscrapers when it fell. What a roller coaster ride that was! Even with these "WOW!" moments the game still felt like a less than retail experience.

Another thing I wanted to touch base on was the gun play. Being a gamer who had previously owned, and played BF3 I was made aware of EA's glitching knifing mechanics early on. Sadly this same half-assed mechanic has yet again made it's way into the game. Sometimes you'll find that while you are trying to blast your enemy away into oblivion with a gun that you will immediately switch over to your knife midway into firing causing your untimely demise at the hands of your enemy. I do not know if it's due to the game's thumbstick sensitivity settings, or the fact that the game is broken in that area, but it is !@#$% annoying being killed in-game because of such an issue. The other theory I have on that is that hackers have invaded the game, and have found a way to !@#$% you over using the gun switching mechanic. Trust me when I say that that is actually a thing. It happens all the time in CoD.

One thing is for certain, and that is that hackers have indeed already invaded the Open Beta. I've seen it with my own eyes folks. These guys with trolling PSN ID's and high K/D's after each round only further prove my point. What gets me about the whole thing is that EA has yet to implement a proper in-game reporting feature. Call of Duty games have had such a feature for quite some time now. Why doesn't EA take the hint, and outdo CoD's reporting feature? Sony sure as hell isn't going to do anything about the hackers. Their grief report system is pure BS since you can't report a gamer unless they message you, and the fact that Sony's website based reporting system doesn't work is a kick to the balls. What the hell makes you think Sony is gonna get off their duff now, and do something about hacking? I guess what I'm getting at is that game developers should be just as much responsible for the quality of the online experience as the console makers. EA should definitely make a way so that you can report hackers/cheaters in-game.

Last, but not least is the soldier, and environmental object collision featured in this particular iteration of Battlefield. As some of you might already know navigating the island that gets reduced to rubble where "Point B" stands in the "Conquest" multiplayer mode can be hard to run through. At certain areas your soldier will get caught up on invisible boundaries leaving you vulnerable for an attack while you are trying desperately to get the hell out of dodge. This in itself lets me know that the game's design is nowhere near complete, or professionally created for that matter. It is not the seamless experience that such an intense war based game requires to be successful, that's for sure. In order to patch something like that it would take a hell of a lot of work, and the fact that there are multiple trip up spots in the rubble area of "Point B" only makes things worse.

Do I think EA will have their shit together by the 29th? I seriously doubt it. The game's already been hacked, and it hasn't even been released yet. The fact that it has a significant amount of in-game issues that are piling up by the day only furthers the concern that the game will not be fully fixed by release date. Factor in the 90% of Open Beta participants who could care less about finding the game's faults, and more about exploiting them, and you have yourself a shit storm waiting to happen. I for one will not be wasting my money on such an incomplete, and exploited experience. Screw that! I'm going for some "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag". Ill gotten booty here I come!!!