BATTLEFIELD 4

RATING: 8.5/10

FrostBite 3 takes the rendering of the environment to a whole new level. Everything looks much more realistic than you would expect from a video game. Buildings crashing down, helicopters colliding and tanks punching through walls -- all are rendered with the utmost visual fidelity. Realistic post processed rainfall, lens flares and advanced bokeh depth of field along with everything else is part of the package. This next-gen graphics and physics technology is not just eye candy, it's an integral part of the game engine. It has its prices though, requiring a beefy system to run it. While DX11 is highly recommended for this to run to its fullest capacity, DX10 cards can also run the game with decent looking graphics.

The system the game was run on: 
Core I5 3470 3.6Ghz
4Gigs Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz
Radeon HD6970
OCZ Vertex 2 SSD

This system produced an average of 45 frames per second at Ultra quality on a 1200P (1920x1200) screen. Don't get demoralised, because the performance difference between High and Ultra is huge. When tuning the settings down a notch from Ultra, the average skyrocketed to 65 frames per second. Given the little yet noticeable difference between the two settings, the performance gain experienced when going from Ultra to High is highly commendable. You will be able to play the game with ease if you have at least an i3 CPU and a GPU that is no less than Radeon HD6670 or similar. Don't forget the RAM because 4gigs is highly recommended. Point to note, this is the BARE minimum I'd suggest to someone running a 1080P screen.
All in all, Battlefield 4 is truly a treat for sore eyes. It's everything it promises to be. As any other game, it has its bugs and optimisation issues out of the box, but that is nothing the developers cannot patch. It's one of the first true next-gen titles, which means X360s and PS3s will obviously give a bad experience. PC and next-gen consoles are the way to go for this title.

*insert PC master race slogan*