Battlefield 4 single-player campaign to be less linear than Battlefield 3

2011’s Battlefield 3 faced many complaints—most of them leveled at the game’s hyper-linear single-player campaign mode. The developer, DICE, aims to fix this with the upcoming Battlefield 4. DICE General Manager Karl-Magnus Troedsson talked about improving the single-player campaign of Battlefield 4 in an interview with the Official PlayStation Magazine UK, where he stated that the company will be using some of its expertise in designing multiplayer games into singleplayer.

“There are signature multiplayer elements that we want to bring into single-player,” explains Troedsson. “We want to give the player a choice. Do they want to go for the sneaky approach with a sniper rifle and a silenced pistol, or do they want to take a jeep and have the entire squad shoot at everything they see?”

EGGSPLOSHUN!

The game will have other choices that don’t just mean ‘sneaky or guns-blazing’. Players will have command over their AI squad in the campaign mode, where they can be ordered to, for example, provide covering fire while you flank an enemy. The level design will also be improved, going back to the Bad Company design philosophy of having sprawling open ground filled with vehicles.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Troedsson states that the company is hoping that the new Frostbite 3 engine’s improved destruction will also help players make their own way through levels. “It’s about the human element,” he explained. “You can get very up close and personal with your characters – that’s what we want to dig deeper into with Battlefield 4. This is one of the biggest places where Frostbite 3 comes into play.”

Battlefield 4 is set to hit the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on October 29.