Artwork for Battlefield 4

In Battlefield 3, newcomers to the multiplayer shooter experience were put at a significant disadvantage due to the lack of tutorials, training modes or bots for players to teach themselves the game and map. Vehicles that require some extensive teaching, namely aerial vehicles as an example, were not even usable by players looking to win since there was no way to simply try them out on your own.

This is just one example of many of needed updates or missing features from previous installments that developer DICE aims to bring back and improve with Battlefield 4. There will be a training mode for test driving vehicles and players will even be able to customize them, not unlike customizing their characters and weapons.

In the latest blog entry on EA's official 'The Road to Battlefield 4' series, the team offers a guide to BF4 vehicles to emphasize player choice.  Senior Vehicles Designer Patrick “Posh” O’Shaughnessy explains how they designed the selection of naval vehicles to make them relevant, from having combat boats be able to battle any other type of vehicle - including air- to offering the most customization options to water transports to make them useful.

As for the ground and air vehicles, they've been changed as well. Like infantry weapons, players will be able to customize not only the loadouts of the vehicles but their camouflage patterns as well. On the weapons and equipment side and the idea of the game adhering to the "Rock-paper-scissors"  balancing, every vehicle will encourage and reward player choice depending on maps, circumstances and enemy forces. On example uses the standard anti-air vehicle, a generally one-purpose vehicle, and even it has been given different ammo types. On tanks, players don't now have more options so they can choose a typo of optic and a type of defense, rather than one or the other like in Battlefield 3.

Vehicle damage is another concept that's been overhauled. When vehicles are "disabled" they may be made immobile for a few seconds but can then recover, unlike in BF3 where an engineer repair was required otherwise the vehicle would stay on fire and explode - giving players little reason to stay in the vehicle. Now they can stay in the fight and it's up to attackers to be smart in how they approach and engage armored vehicles. Shots on angles may deflect or will at the very least, do less damage than a straight-on shot. Shots from high ground are now devastating, giving players a chance to be tactical in getting to rooftops or shooting down from a helicopter.

For console gamers looking for the next-gen Battlefield experience, EA has officially announced the release dates for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of BF4. While the game releases on October 29, 2013 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, it'll hit the month after for next-gen systems coinciding with their respective launch dates - November 19 (North America)/November 21 (Europe) for Xbox One and November 12 (North America)/November 29 (Europe) for PlayStation 4.

  • Playing early on the Xbox 360 or PS3 means you will be able to learn maps, unlock items, and build stats in Battlefield 4; or create your Ultimate Teams and more in FIFA 14 and Madden NFL 25.  You can then seamlessly carry over a lot of cool content from the current gen game to a new Xbox One or PS4 version to get a jump on the competition.
  • Offers from many of our retail partners will help you buy Battlefield 4, FIFA 14 or Madden NFL 25 on the Xbox 360 or PS3, and then upgrade to an Xbox One or PS4 version for as little as $10.

For more on Battlefield 4:

Battlefield 4 releases October 29, 2013 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. PS4 and Xbox One release dates have not been announced.

Find Rob on the Battlefield at @rob_keyes.

Sources: DICE, EA