The destruction system in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 allowed players to collapse all manner of buildings, and even alter the terrain to the extent that players could take cover in the indentations and craters caused by explosions.
For some reason or another, the destruction was nixed in Battlefield 3 and reduced to the point where buildings could only be destroyed in a predetermined fashion, prompting users to feel, well, a little ripped-off by the inexplicably poor capabilities of their explosive weapons.
DICE is determined to bring the destruction system back to Bad Company 2-levels in the upcoming Battlefield 4. Battlefield 4 producer Aleksander Grondal revealed in an interview with Edge that they plan to do just that.
“I think Bad Company had a better level of destruction than Battlefield 3 and we are the first to admit that. Battlefield 3 didn’t necessarily deliver what we wanted it to be on the destruction level so we’re upping that.”
Grondal further revealed that the Siege of Shanghai map, which featured in the E3 demo, had buildings that were in a pre-weakened state so players could choose to demolish large sections of the map. He described the collapse of a tall skyscraper as a "player-triggered event" that players could opt to carry out while playing on the map.