Damn, been waiting a while to finally post in this thread! Being banned while my most anticipated game launched was certainly a bummer. Nonetheless, here are my mega impressions...
*Based on the 360 version. I know. Dont patronize me.
Being at school and away from home, (and my PC) I told myself I was going to wait it out until the next gen version of the game released so I wouldnt have to suffer through the awfulness that would surely be current gen Battlefield 4. But being the BF fan that I am there was, of course, no way that I could miss the launch of a Battlefield game. I picked it up for 360 the week of release and am certainly not suffering. In fact Im having more fun with BF4 than I have since BC2 on consoles. Putting aside the spotty but better-than-BF3 netcode and the occasional hard locks, Ive been really enjoying it so far.
So, why all the love coming off BF3 which was generally horrible on consoles? Im not quite sure to be honest, but everything in BF4 feels refined and overall much more solid than it was in BF4. Weapons feel better to shoot, the maps flow better, customization is (mostly) properly balanced, everything simply comes together better than it has in the past. DICE made a good decision in giving every starting class and vehicle a basic set of customization options so newcomers werent left out to dry in terms of base loadouts. I still wish they would at least start you out with a sight/basic accessories for each gun. Thankfully each class now starts with gadgets, though keeping the med box for a late class unlock for the assault class was a poor decision.
The UI on consoles at least is drastically improved over BF3. The spawn in screen is great, seeing a feed of your spawn point before you jump in is nice, vehicle spawning is handled much better (no jet spawn rape thank you) and everything is tightened up. Even viewing a weapons stats or customizing your soldier is easier and looks better than it did in the past, which is a step in the right direction for UI from DICE. This also leads me to Battlelog integration, which I am THRILLED with. Battlelog clearly was something that DICE needed to test run, and they clearly learned a lot from BF3. Battlelog is implemented much, much better than BF4 and I have a blast using it. Having my laptop open next to me, finishing a game and then instantly seeing the entire stat report from that game is a thing of beauty and honestly feels a bit next-gen to me. (if you want to call it that) Even though its been done before, there is something about how fast the game communicates with Battlelog that makes the entire experience much more enjoyable. Opening Battlepacks, customizing loadouts, and on PC and next-gen at least, having the Battlescreen running all make playing BF4 that much more engaging. On consoles, being able to use a proper desktop server browser to join a server and having that instantly appear on screen is a thing of fucking beauty.
I recall a discussion some pages back about stats and how there is too much of a focus on that in a BF game. While I agree to some extent, the fact that you can track almost everything you have done in the game right from Battlelog I think is a really great feature that more games should offer, even if they arent heavily stat oriented. It also helps that Battlelog has better and faster as it has evolved. DICE nailed it with Battlelog this time around and I cant wait to have Battlescreen loaded up for each game once next gen rolls around.

Final thing Ill mention for now is the maps. Much improved over BF3 but there are still some throaways. Hard for me to comment on 64p Conquest versions but overall I feel that the map design is smarter this time around. The levels of destruction are fantastic, and seeing tank shells rip apart buildings on Golmud Railway brings Bad Company 2 memories rushing back. On both a micro and macro scale DICE held mostly true to their promise of improved destruction and it paid off. As far as Levolution goes, ehh. Cool the first time you see it but it really doesnt do all that much to the map. I will say though that the storm in Paracel Storm is fucking immense. So cool to be out on the water when it rolls in and the firefights become that much more intense and crazy. Lancang Damn is just not very good, Operation Locker induces the rage of Great Odens Raven in me and Dawnbreaker is generally shit for everything other than Obliteration. Everything else is pretty solid and provides fun, varied gameplay. And simply in general, Im finding myself not getting pissed off from pure bullshit kills like I did in BF3, but rather from stupid mistakes I make.
Oh, and one last thing... Obliteration is FANTASTIC. Damn good gamemode, perhaps my favorite next to Conquest. Even on big maps the action feels focused, chaotic, and all the while team play is absolutely crucial in winning, more so than Conquest or Rush. I remember Sethos saying I wish the days when I could singlehandedly turn the tide of battle and thinking that simply doesnt apply in Obliteration. One well calculated jeep or jetski run to detonate a bomb can cause a huge swing in momentum for your team. I havent been this invested in a game mode since Ranked Team Slayer in Halo 3, because pulling off a thrilling, epic win just feels so damn good. Much shouting has happened when planting a clutch final bomb against all odds. Its a really well designed game mode that works beautifully in Battlefield. (might consider putting a 30min time cap on it though)
Overall Im very pleased with BF4, more so than I thought I would be, and this is all based on my current gen impressions. Thankfully next gen is only a few weeks away bringing 64 players, 60fps and dat resolution with it. Very much looking forward to it. Hoping that the server and crashing issues are ironed out soon because underneath all of that BF4 is an improvement over BF3 in almost every respect, and it will keep me entertained for many hours to come. At the end of the day does it really do much different than BF3? No, not at all, and it can be certainly criticized because it doesnt do anything new. However, it is a stepping stone for bringing BF into the next gen and I think DICE has done a fairly good job.
Favorite weapon so far is the M416. Favorite map is tough to call...Paracel and Golmud are pretty solid.
/tl;dr The game is all around very solid on consoles, much better than BF3. Looking forward to the next gen version.
