User blog comment:PresidentEden78/Battle Blog 10: New Trailer, More Info on Singleplayer Campaign/@comment-3326681-20110911025534/@comment-28584497-20110911040139

From my perspective, as one who is abnormally familiar with Refractor-style coding, there really weren't that many major changes made from BF1942 to BF2142. From a gameplay point of view, BF'42 and BFV were almost completely identical. BF2 did make quite a few major changes, but BF2142 after it did not from what I can see (other than those walker things).

However, even major changes made from BFV to BF2 were largely aesthetic; generally, textures were of a higher resolution, animations were better, some minor gameplay features were added, etc. However, the core elements of the games remained the same as when they were first coded for Codename Eagle.

The change to Frostbite, and all of the changes it entailed, were innovative in the truest sense of the word. Those were massive changes, all of which for the better, and all of which innovative: destruction, the sound system, etc.

On the whole, however, Battlefield isn't particularly innovative. And perhaps that's for the better, as DICe  perfects that which already exists with each subsequent game, and to a normal gamer (who isn't intimate with Refractor coding) that makes it better, even if very little has actually changed.

I know, I ramble.