You know what's better than multiplayer shooters? Multiplayer shooters with tanks. And the Battlefield series is the only one that consistently delivers, from the beginning with the classic yet humble Battlefield 1942 to the futuristic Battlefield 2142. And since we (well, people who bought it) are getting Battlefield 4 in two weeks, let's have a little preview, shall we?

The core gameplay hasn't changed much. It still plays like a regular first person shooter with the biggest difference being suppression (now somewhat weaker) and bullet drop. The four classes are broadly the same as in Battlefield 3: Assault heals and revives (or, if they're dicks, replace their defibrillators with underbarrel grenade launchers, giving them some morally questionable flexibility); Engineers provide repairs and anti-vehicle capabilities, while the Support hose downrange with machineguns and a constant supply of fresh ammo. As for the Recon...well they’re mostly just camper dicks.

Now, while the Assault remains pretty much unchanged (besides the one person heal pack that's unlocked before the usual medic pack), the other classes did see some alterations, although they do fall short of the innovation promised in the past. Hopefully, the Engineer RPG won't lock on in the full game because RPGs locking on targets is a real immersion breaker. Still, they're much more fun to shoot now, going as far as replacing Assault as my personal favorite class. Support shows off one new LMG (basically an assault rifle) and the XM25 airburst grenade launcher which proves to be the bane of any man hiding behind a wall unless it’s used to harass vehicles and to smite people running below. Recon now gains access to C4 instead of Engineers. Why? Well, probably to make people hate them even more. DMRs and carbines aren't totally new things, but they add more variety to the classes – or reduce boundaries depending on how you look at it.

The infantry based customization options aren't anything revolutionary – at least the ones showed in the Beta aren't. While you will have scopes, barrels, silencers and holo sights enough to almost make a Blacklight player jealous, the most important thing is that guns still feel good to use. Even the weedy PDW that Engineer starts with can be a joy and it's a real pleasure to switch to single fire and plink away at distant targets. What matters the least are much touted camos, bot now you can camoflage everything from your gun to the vehicle you are controlling. I’m still holding out on the dark red “camo” that would help me and my PLA Assault (looks a lot like Russian Assault) live out my Nod trooper fantasies. The new emblem system, on the other hand, is great – I've only seen one phallus and people are generally creative and well-meaning when designing them, but maybe that’s because not everyone got into the game yet. Seeing that the enemy gets to see your emblem when you kill them adds a personal touch to the lead gift you gave him just seconds before. They also appear on the vehicles you pilot, but you don't really see it because, well, you’re inside most of the time.

Progression and unlocks are handled again through the BattleLog. Kills, score per minute and other stats are still tracked but the weapons and toys still unlock by not only gaining rank but also using that type of weapon to get a new one. This time item stats are presented in numbers rather than vague descriptions, so you now know if it’s the time to drop the old gun like it was a furry on fire. All in all, the menus look more fun and the descriptions are more helpful. Another new thing, Battlepack, is like a loot bag earned at pre-set points of progression and gives you camo options as well as some alternate gear for your gun. They’re not exactly game changers, but having more, for example, grip options helps you to fine tune your weapon to your own style of play.

Out of the 10 maps that will be in the finished base game, only Siege of Shanghai is featured in the beta. This map is a bay that has three land segments connected by bridges. The sides feature Chinese and US starting points while the middle bit is comparatively small, but features both the only overland connection (important for tankers) and the skyscraper that we saw collapse so many times. Basically, it’s an urban downtown area. There's enough water to make the customizable boats worthwhile and make for some sea battles between ships and IFVs. You'll also be surprised by how many unlikely places you can stuff a tank.

As for the game modes, conquest is still the best, with 64 players duking it out for control of capture points. Domination, which lessens the scope and takes away the vehicles, is probably only present in order to attract Call of Duty players and isn't that fun, especially in a map where you need helos to take care of the damned snipers. Obliteration is a good spin on the whole MCOMM destruction which used to have all the fun and dynamics of WW1 trench warfare. When players have to fight for the bomb itself, they are not camping one location for the entirety of the game. The bad thing is that respawn drops you with a parachute in an open area which is what those pesky snipers want for Christmas.