The game that Battlefield fans have been waiting for is finally here. Will this game succeed in quenching fans’ anticipatory thirst for a battlefield game that can live up to previous titles, or will it get smashed on the battlefield? Let’s grab our SMGs, assault rifles, and rocket launchers in order to find out if this Battlefield is worth the expense.
The Good
Single Player Campaign: The single player experience was pretty entertaining, but it was very linear. I personally had fun playing it for the few hours it lasted. However, it felt like a mixture between BF:BC2 and Call of Duty at times. This can be a good or bad thing depending on what you were expecting.
If you are more of a hard core player that enjoys more of a sand box experience you may want to just skip the single player and go right into the multiplayer portion of the game. That’s right; you can expect a ton of rail sequences, quick time events, and parts of the game where you are unable to open doors until a member of your squad opens it for you.
Multiplayer: This is where Battlefield 3 really shines. At Battlefield’s core is an experience that provides gamers with numerous amounts of vehicles and weapons at their disposal. Conquest is the capture the flag mode that BF veterans will most identify with. There is also Rush, which is returning from the Bad Company series. Basically, you either attack or defend two main com stations and if both of them are lost the Battlefield expands. In addition, there’s also a death match mode. Overall, the multiplayer provides a solid experience that old school fans can appreciate.
Graphics: BF3 is one of the best looking games released to date. This time around they have DX11 as well as some tessellation. Battlefield 3 is not just your run of the mil console port. The developers spent a lot of time optimizing the game for every rig and fine tuning the details. In fact, upon release it ran much better than what people were probably expecting, while maintaining the visual fidelity that made our jaws drop. Furthermore, both the 360 and PS3 manage to pump out impressive visuals as well, but it is no question that the PC version of the game is ahead in the graphics department
COOP: Unfortunately, this mode is limited to two players and 6 missions. However, the missions you get to play are executed with enough detail to keep it from seeming like an afterthought. COOP is a lot of fun and you even get to unlock some multiplayer weapons by completing missions. However, with only 6 missions you’re going to have to play those same missions over and over again to get all of the weapons unlocked.
The Bad
AI Hiccups: Your teammate AI can range to slightly helpful to absolutely terrible. Usually your so called helpful squad will fail to shoot enemies that are right in front of them. You will probably wonder why they didn’t just deploy a one man army to the battlefield in the first place.
Fortunately, the enemy AI is a bit better. However, at times they can seem either too overpowered or just weak. For example, you may spot an enemy, but they already have their sights on you before you even make a noise. It’s almost as if they had some sort of aimbot cone of death pointed right at you. On the opposite end of the spectrum, sometimes the enemy AI fails to recognize you for a bit and this can make them a bit too easy. Overall, the AI was somewhat acceptable, but sometimes the AI, whether it’s your friends or the enemy, just seems a bit off.
Bugs: There are still some bugs lurking around here and there in the game. Most of the bugs I have experienced were in the single player portion of the game, but no doubt there are still some here and there in the Multiplayer portion as well. Having been in both the Alpha and the Beta test, I can say that DICE has done a pretty good job fixing up most of the problems, but their job isn’t over yet.
Conclusion
Battlefield 3 successfully manages to bring back that old school Battlefield feeling. There are still some elements that may make it feel a bit like Bad Company, but overall it should meet most expectations of hardcore fans. BF3 is the full package with a singleplayer, Coop, and multiplayer portion of the game. While the single player isn’t exactly what hardcore fans would call a Battlefield experience it still manages to entertain enough to be a worth while endeavor. The Coop is a lot of fun, but it simply needs more levels to prevent it from becoming a grind to unlock a few multiplayer weapons. BF3’s multiplayer is what the game is all about and it definitely delivers. Overall, BF3 is the full package that most hardcore BF fans will enjoy.
Battlefield 3 Review by FacTor-X
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Battlefield 3 Details
04 February 2011 11:27 AM | No Comments -
Battlefield 3 12-Minute Trailer
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Battlefield 3 Campaign Gameplay
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great review, unfortunately I probably won’t be getting around to picking up BF3 till the holidays come by.
I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would.
The main problem with conquest mode is that the maps are too small and all the cap points are clustered in the middle. Doesn’t feel entirely like battlefield because you no longer need to bunch up inside a helicopter/boat/apc to get to the next location, you just run 200 meters & you’re there. There are no maps that come even close to the giant scale of a map like Fu She pass in BF2. That map was epic.
I’m not gonna even talk about lack of mod support. So, we can’t hope for something as epic as Project Reality on BF3. That’s really sad, because it seems such a great engine & Project Reality on Frostbyte 2.0 would be pretty amazing. Unfortunately, they care more about selling DLC than providing a breeding ground for amazing mods like PR. (They are a business, so I can’t fault them for it. It’s just disappointing)
Oh well, maybe they’ll add more maps that feel like classic BF maps. These maps still feel too much like BF:BC2 to me. Undoubtedly they’ll be DLC and we’ll have to pay for them. Such a shame.
Still, it’s a good game tho…..just really, really disappointing in some ways.
But what really irks me. There is a message that plays during the campaign. Something along the lines of “If you really want a challenge, turn off auto-aim & turn the difficultly up to hard”
What auto-aim? There is no auto-aim. Must be something left in there from the console side. *sigh* As much as they tout this as a PC lead game….why are console specific messages still left in the game? Makes me think maybe PC wasn’t as “lead” of a platform as they say. I know it’s probably an easy mistake…..but you would think if anyone did any testing they would catch something like that. I must have seen that message every other load screen. If the PC were the “lead” platform, wouldn’t messages like that be added after the fact when they’re developing the console side of the game? Oh well, I digress…..The game may have been developed with PC as lead, but the game as a whole was definitely developed with the consoles, and their inherent limitations in mind. There’s just a lot of little things that like that get on my nerves about they game. Including the gigantic “consoley” UI. Holy crap what’s up with the chat box? It’s way too big, as well as pretty much every other element of the UI.
Oh yeah, don’t get me started on the friggen peripheral support. I hooked up my Logitech G940 only to find out that it’s not supported. it appears that the game can only detect 1 joystick at a time….but the G940 shows up as 3 separate joysticks (throttle, joystick, and pedals) So, I’m forced to use my Xbox Controller, which, SURPRISE, works friggen perfectly. (sarcasm) This is the EXACT same thing that happened with BF:BC2 and one of the main reasons I stopped playing within a week or two. (That and the TERRIBLE chopper flight mechanics)
It works perfectly, until you try an remap the axes. I tried to remap the throttle up/down to the up/down on the left stick & it gives some weird error & throws up a whole new field with some strange programming tag. *sigh*
I’m not expecting miracles am I? Could I be crazy to think that a “PC lead platform” game could support joysticks? BF2 had a near-perfect controls remapping screen. That was what, 6 years ago? Why have they taken a step backwards in this area? I can’t even be mad at stuff like this anymore. I’ve been putting up with it for years now. I love and hate this game so much. :S
Oh yeah, flight controls are like a mix between BF2 & BF:BC2…..which isn’t too bad. There are nannies that wont let you completely flip the choppers upside down…..so no more epic stunting & crazy flying like in BF2. It hasn’t really been “dumbed down” but it’s not as deep as the BF2 (Or BF:V, or DC) controls. My main problem with the choppers/jets is that they make you grind to unlock all the stuff that should be there form the beginning. This is one of the trends that I absolutely hate about “next gen” gaming. They no longer make deep mechanics that you progress with skill…..but rather just make you unlock everything as some form of “progression”.
Yeah, yeah…I know “TL;DR” BF 1942-BF2142 stole literally thousands of hours from my life. I just can’t see this game keeping me interested beyond a month or two.
Great review, I pretty much agree with 99% of it.
Good point I did notice that flags are a bit close together. However, there were times where there were no vehicles around. So, yeah the 200 meter or so run as you put it actually made me praise the fact that you could somewhat make it around the battlefield without a vehicle. I mean sometimes you die pretty quick from someone you didn’t see. It would suck to have to run all of the way there again after you died or something like that.
Maybe they could have put some more jeeps here and there and then expand the map? IDK, I guess I am unlucky quite a few times wondering around for a vehicle here and there hehe.
As for your controller, damn that sucks! I hope you can get it working eventually.
Indeed. Having to run long distances can suck.
But that is part of the appeal. The “openness” allows for greater tactical freedom. The ability to plan insertions where you want to attack from (AH-6 Littlebird roof drops, water-based boat sneak attacks, one squad draws attention while another comes in from behind, etc etc). Giving the option to remain stealthly (sneak in from behind) or also allowing for multiple attacks from multiple angles. You could plan & execute your approach however you see fit. Although, since they’ve removed the commander & VOIP, I don’t think multi-squad real-time cooperation exists anymore in the battlefield universe.
But I don’t believe it would be too big of an issue to space things out some more, considering you can now spawn on squadmates & lay down spawn beacons. (Project Reality had HUUUUUGE maps, and it also had the ability to lay down individual squad spawn points. even tho the maps were like 3X the size of these maps, getting “into the fight” was never an issue because of the multiple ways to spawn in.)
That way, if any member of your squad is still alive on the front line, you could just spawn on him & continue the fight…….but if you all get wiped out, you could spawn back at base, collect transportation & try again from another angle of attack.
As the maps sit now, it’s just kind of a “meat grinder” in the middle of the map. Don’t get me wrong, the stalemates at chokepoints are fun in some maps, I’d just like a bit more variety.
They probably wont fix the joystick issues. As I’ve said, it’s been like this since the release of BF:BC2….and from the way they’ve responded via twitter & other “social” sites joysticks seem rather low priority.
At least infantry combat is tight.
Some of my favorite moments from BF2:
Sniper Recon squad, feeding enemy movements to the commander so he can assign other squads tasks. We’d rarely actually fire a shot, we were more the commanders “eyes”. This was usually a squad of 2, sniper & spotter. Squad leader to commander VOIP necessary for such a role. This made for some INTENSE gameplay because the ghillie suits actually worked pretty well for camouflage. I don’t know how many times I’ve had people walk right by me.
Going “behind enemy lines” and wrecking the other team’s artillery, UAV, etc. with C4 all “spec-ops” style. We’d rig up their commander’s buildings with C4 & time it with the commander so he could make a move without enemy UAV or Arty. Then we’d hold off for as long as possible preventing them from repairing them. This was actually pretty useful & was a good tactic when we had a competent commander.
Taxi service, I LOOOOVED to pilot transport choppers dumping squads of friendlies in hard-to-reach places. Usually rooftops or wherever would give them a good tactical advantage. I could land any of the choppers anywhere. This was good, because the commander would let me know which squads needed to go where.
I dunno, I guess I just miss the chain of command (commander>squad leader>grunt). People say that commanders were useless…..I say those people never played on a good community-based server. Sure, in your pub noobfest you wouldn’t see much teamwork like that. On the servers I played, people actually listened to the commander. And the game was waaaaaay more fun that way.
I understand why they made the changes, I just don’t agree with them reducing the depth of the game for the sake of “mainstreamedness”.
It’s still fun, just a different kind of fun.
Great review! I personally love the multiplayer, despite it’s slight bugs here and there (mainly visual glitches). Singleplayer is not a draw for me, so it’s disappointment doesn’t affect my enjoyment. However, cooperative play is my favorite type of gaming, and it is disappointing that it is painfully short and limited to only twp players. I’m sure they will expand upon it, but it would undoubtedly be in a paid DLC. My last gripe is with the lack of mod support. As mentioned earlier, the Frostbite 2.0 engine has so much potential, and there is a talented modding community out there. It would be in DICE and EA’s best interest to release mod tools, even if they charge a small fee for it. Modding is what kept games like Half-Life alive, as well as the previous Battlefield iterations. If they want BF3 to survive, they need to extend a hand to the community. Regardless of all the bad things mentioned, I still love this game and will be sure to burn many hours of playtime into it.