A skyscraper collapsing mid-match, and everyone screaming into the headset at once.

Battlefield 4's profile is surprisingly consistent toward the top. Feel with a controller in hand puts it ahead of 84% of games, the soundtrack also ahead of 84%, on few votes in both cases, so treat them as unconfirmed. The wish to rediscover it for the first time is high too, ahead of 79%. Attachment holds up, ahead of 64%, fun ahead of 59%, art style right in the middle. And then one line breaks everything: desert island, ahead of only 19% of titles. There's the real tension. Controller in hand, it beats the vast majority. But alone on an island, with nobody across from you, nobody wants it. That's logical and almost touching: Battlefield 4 only exists through other people.

That's the nature of the big multiplayer war game. The campaign is a pretext, the real thing happens thirty-two players deep, with vehicles, falling buildings and organized chaos. Against more intimate shooters, it refuses solitude.

So, who's it for? For you if you love massive battles, spectacular destruction and the feeling of being one piece of something bigger. Much less so if you play alone, offline, or if you want a game that stays with you when nobody else is around.