Battlefield 4 is a military first-person shooter set in the near future and follows directly from Battlefield 3 . The focus is on its multiplayer mode, where players can choose to be an assault (front soldiers with medic abilities), recon (snipers), support (front soldiers who can give out ammo) or engineers (explosives experts). All classes have special abilities and gadgets that can be unlocked over time. In various team-based playing variants, including conquest and rush modes, players face each other on usually big maps with a variety of vehicles to use.
The most significant change is the interactive "Levolution" elements, which emphasize destroyable areas. Each map has one level element that significantly changes how the level looks and plays when destroyed. Battlefield 4 also brings back naval warfare and commander mode. The commander is an additional player who sees the level from an overhead map, gives orders to the team members, and can assign missile strikes.
The game features a singleplayer campaign, where a Chinese general overthrows the government and starts a war with the world (allied with Russia), and the USA must save the day. The player takes on the role of a faceless soldier named Recker, who must survive several missions in a Call of Duty-style format: linear levels with a lot of action and enemies to shoot.
The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions have smaller multiplayer maps due to only allowing 24 players at a time.