Battlefield 4 Lead Designer Discusses Multiplayer Gameplay

Thomas Andersson, a lead designer for Battlefield 4, has revealed details about the game's multiplayer modes. He begins by stating that kits from Battlefield 3 - Engineer, Recon, Support and Assault - will return for Battlefield 4.

"While keeping these core kits intact, we are increasing the ability for players to more strongly specialise their combat role while also increasing flexibility and catering to different play styles. At the same time, we're maintaining a distinct flavour in the different kits and building more meaningful interactions between them," Anderson writes on the official blog.

Anderson also strongly stresses what he believes are significantly improved gameplay mechanics for the multiplayer mode. The emphasis, he says, is now on better team play. The game now offers Field Upgrades (inspired by a similar feature from Battlefield 2142).

"Field Upgrades are chained boosts that can affect a number of gameplay mechanics for your player. Similar to the specializations in Battlefield 3, these can for example provide you with faster sprint speed, stronger personal armour, or expanded ammo capacity," he explains.

These are to be earned through squad-based achievements like healing members, completing objectives and re-supplying squads.

Andersson also explained Levolution - a DICE design that allows players to not only inflict large-scale destruction on the in-game environment but also find themselves affected by constantly changing weather conditions, often as the result of their actions.

Meanwhile, Battlefield 4's multiplayer component has a wider array of weapons and vehicles than previous versions.

Battlefield 4 is to release in the UK on 1 November and will be available on the PC, the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Microsoft Xbox One.