I’ve played 1,500 hours of Battlefield — here’s why Battlefield 4 is still the most essential entry in the series

I’ve played a lot of Battlefield. Across the series, I’ve spent more than 1,500 hours running and gunning through its virtual combat zones* — that’s about 0.7 per cent of my entire life. And as our Battlefield 6 review details, 2025’s flagship first-person+ shooter from Battlefield Studios has put t

<![CDATA[ <article> <p>I’ve played a <em>lot </em>of Battlefield. Across the series, I’ve spent more than 1,500 hours running and gunning through its virtual combat zones* — that’s about 0.7 per cent of my entire life. </p><p>And as our <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/battlefield-6-review"><em>Battlefield 6</em> review</a> details, 2025’s flagship first-person+ shooter from Battlefield Studios has put the long-running franchise back in the spotlight after an extended off-season. It even beat <em>Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 </em>to become the best-selling FPS game of 2025.</p><p>However, <em>Battlefield 6</em> didn’t release with a <em>huge </em>amount of content, and not everyone loved the game’s compact maps, weapon balance, or seasonal update cadence. I myself felt let down by the glacial progression system. </p><p>To its credit, Battlefield Studios <a href="https://www.ea.com/en/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/seasons/battlefield-2026-roadmap" target="_blank">announced a roadmap</a> in April 2026, led by a third season designed to stir nostalgia for Battlefield’s previous present-day installments, <em>Battlefield 3 </em>and <em>Battlefield 4</em>. </p><p>Having spent a cool 675 hours in-game, <em>Battlefield 4</em> is one of my most played titles of all time — for comparison, I’ve put 135 hours into <em>Battlefield 6 </em>since launch. It seems Battlefield Studios is keen to remind us of the good old days, so when Season 3 came around, I plugged in my PS4 to see how far my favorite shooter series has come. <br><br>(*675 hours in BF4, 510 hours in BF1, 135 hours in BF6, 50 hours in BFV, and an estimated 200 hours in BF3. Sheesh.)</p><h2 id="back-to-basics">Back to basics</h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1920px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="CWybTVGT3jTJcuUz8FY2GP" name="Battlefield 4™_20260625103900" alt="Battlefield 4's Golmud Railway map was remade for Battlefield 6 Season 3" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/CWybTVGT3jTJcuUz8FY2GP.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1920" height="1080" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Jamie Richards / Future)</span></figcaption></figure><p>With my bipod knife equipped, I was ready to jump into <em>Battlefield 4</em> — but finding a game in 2026 isn’t as easy as pressing ‘Quickmatch’. </p><p>Amazingly, there are still a few official PS4 servers, but they’re always empty. The server browser is the best way to find a game via community servers, which means dealing with smaller map rotations, unofficial rules, and the occasional power-tripping admin. </p><p><em>Battlefield 6</em> has the opposite issue — a server browser is on the way, but for now, your <em>only </em>option to find a game is to quickmatch into a lobby full of randoms. That’s a win for<em> Battlefield 4</em>; I’ve always enjoyed learning the ebb and flow of a server and its residents over the course of a few matches. </p><p>Once I got online, I was genuinely surprised by how the game felt. It’s <em>much </em>slower-paced than I remembered; the sliding and vaulting and diving that defines <em>Battlefield 6’</em>s movement system is totally absent, maps are larger and sparser, and it takes longer to get in and out of combat. </p><p>All of this speaks to how <em>Battlefield 4</em> is designed — compared to the infantry-focused corridors and choke points of <em>Battlefield 6,</em> older Battlefield games were built from the ground up as huge clashes between coordinated squads of troops, armored ground vehicles, and air support. </p><p>Furthermore, certain weapons are class-locked in <em>Battlefield 4</em>, meaning you can’t use, say, a sniper rifle and a rocket launcher at the same time. It asks for a bit more thought in how you approach your in-game role, which makes laying down suppressive fire as a Support class or rushing objectives as an Assault player feel more considered and rewarding. </p><p>As I settled in on classic maps like Dawnbreaker and Siege of Shanghai, I found myself choosing fights carefully and wordlessly working with my teammates to take objectives. In contrast, matches in Battlefield 6 can often feel determined by the skill of each team’s best individual players.</p><h2 id="spice-of-life">Spice of life</h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:1920px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="kMH5g3DB7UtMqLREB6BR8X" name="Battlefield 4™_20260621194420" alt="Battlefield 4 map Dawnbreaker" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/kMH5g3DB7UtMqLREB6BR8X.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1920" height="1080" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="caption-text">Battlefield 4's variety of settings, factions, and weapons keeps the game feeling fresh, even after hundreds of hours </span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Jamie Richards / Future)</span></figcaption></figure><p>Another thing you notice pretty quickly about <em>Battlefield 4</em> is just how much <em>stuff </em>the game has to offer. </p><p>The Premium edition, which includes all five paid DLC packs released in the year or so after launch, has a total of 33 maps and 107 primary and secondary weapons, more than any other entry in the series. </p><p>The differences between each weapon are less noticeable than in future games, but this means that gunfights aren’t always decided by who happened to pick the right weapon for a certain engagement distance, or indeed whose split-second reactions were fastest. </p><p>And then there’s the destruction that <em>Battlefield 4</em>’s maps offer — while <em>Battlefield 6</em> will let you knock through a wall or blow up the odd building, <em>Battlefield 4</em>’s maps come with ‘Levolution’ gimmicks that range from leveling a skyscraper to flooding the entire map. </p><p>Some of these maps are amongst the most creative in the series history – the jungle terrain of Guilin Peaks, locked-down streets of Propaganda, and crashing waves of Paracel Storm are as inventive as Battlefield gets. </p><h2 id="fidelity-and-fiction">Fidelity and fiction</h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:3840px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="dGkyNbRaEs7L2vXpwi5GR7" name="BFS6" alt="A promotional action shot of online players in Battlefield 6 Season 3." src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dGkyNbRaEs7L2vXpwi5GR7.png" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="3840" height="2160" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="caption-text">Battlefield 6's fictional universe is much less compelling than its predecessors'. </span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Electronic Arts)</span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Battlefield 4</em> looks pretty good for a game released in 2013. The game’s art direction shines on maps like Hainan Resort and Giants of Karelia, but its low-poly terrain and flat lighting are getting harder to ignore as time goes on.</p><p>There’s no real contest with <em>Battlefield 6</em>, which is simply one of the best looking games I’ve ever played. Season 3’s revamp of <em>Battlefield 4</em> map Golmud Railway is a great example – its vibrant fauna and detailed villages provide a great contrast to the carnage. </p><p>The way I remember <em>Battlefield 4</em> looking is the way <em>Battlefield 6</em> <em>actually </em>looks — playing both games in sequence makes it clear just how far we’ve come graphically in the past decade.</p><p>Somehow, <em>Battlefield 6</em>’s campaign kicks it up another notch – an early-game paratrooper sequence had my jaw pinned to the floor. From a writing standpoint, though, that campaign is more of a mixed bag, with a noticeable lack of real-world grounding. </p><p><em>Battlefield 4 </em>saw the USA, Russia, and China locked in a tense conflict. The characters in its campaign always felt secondary to the overarching geopolitical threat — a smart choice when you’ve only got a few hours to develop your story. </p><p>As such, <em>Battlefield 4</em>’s online matches gain another layer of emotional investment from its worldbuilding.</p><p>In contrast, <em>Battlefield 6</em> features a vaguely American NATO, and the fictional Pax Armata private military company engaged in seemingly random skirmishes across the globe, which doesn’t have quite the same gravitas. </p><h2 id="warfare-modernized">Warfare, modernized</h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:3840px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.25%;"><img id="pRrPGdjAxL45TXQDU9CMUo" name="MW4_MP_004_BRANDED" alt="A Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/pRrPGdjAxL45TXQDU9CMUo.png" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="3840" height="2160" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="caption-text">Call of Duty has had a huge impact on Battlefield's newer entries, and Modern Warfare 4 could pose some strong competition to the franchise when it releases later this year. </span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Activision)</span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Battlefield 4</em> is still the quintessential Battlefield experience, the benchmark from which the series’ future efforts are measured. Despite its slower gameplay and aging visuals, it still offers a rewarding mix of arcade and tactical shooter elements that subsequent entries haven’t quite matched. </p><p>I’m still a huge fan of <em>Battlefield 6</em>’s faster, more constrained experience, and I’m keeping a keen eye on upcoming seasons, which promise five new maps and the introduction of naval combat by the end of 2026.</p><p>I think it’s important that Battlefield Studios makes this mix of vehicle and infantry a priority. There’s no denying that the rebooted <em>Call of Duty: Modern Warfare </em>series had a massive impact on the series’ latest entry, and with <em>Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 </em>set to land later this year, Battlefield would be best served by updates that emphasise its difference from Activision’s champion franchise.</p><p>If you’ve yet to experience <em>Battlefield 4</em>, I’d suggest picking it up as soon as possible – the multiplayer servers for spin-off <em>Battlefield Hardline</em> shut down on 22 June, and while <em>Battlefield 4</em> is still supported, there’s no knowing when that could change. </p> </article> ]]>