Battlefield 3 Review
Battlefield 3 pushes to extend the franchise into an entire new territory. The game features an all new ambitious campaign, a neat spin on co-op, and a extravagantly improved multiplayer component. The game is a sheer blast to play!
Modern shooters in the past few years have centered in on blockbuster like experiences in where action sequences are fast and simply insane. While the single player campaign in Battlefield 3 is all but the same as everything else, the multiplayer is where it shines. Battles are wide spread and intense. Gunfire, jets, tanks, helicopters, you name it, are all going into the fight guns blazing and puts forth an experience that couldn’t seem any more real!
The brainiacs behind the game is none other than those over at DICE. They’ve been developing the game for years now, with Call of Duty in their sights. They set the bar high for this one and I think they surpassed that bar with flying colors. This is the best shooter that I’ve gotten the chance to play in a long time!
Even though multiplayer is always the highlight of every Battlefield, DICE has been hard at work to create a single player experience worth playing. The past few entries in the franchise have shown this. This time around, they nailed it, but it lacked creativity. The campaign would have been one of the best stories I’ve ever played through in a shooter if Modern Warfare had never existed!
Most of the enemies and their names are almost exactly the same. Even the plot itself is similar. The experience was a blast to play, but I felt like I’ve already been there done that. The whole thing was also very linear. Battlefield is all about the big, open, huge battles. Yet, in the single player campaign, everything was small and straight to the point. It was very different than what we’ve seen from Battlefield in the past.
In the campaign, you play as Sgt. Blackburn, a U.S. Marine who is being interrogated about missing nuclear warheads him and his squad found in Iran. It is believed the PLR (Peoples Liberation and Resistance) and Russians are working together to nuke both New York City and Paris. The game then plays out in a series of flashbacks leading up the interrogation. By the time the credits role at the end, you’ll have assumed the roles of several different characters. You’ll even get the chance to take control of tanks, helicopters, and even fighter jets!
Outside of the single player experience, the game features an online only co-op feature that is a spin off of events that happen during the campaign. There are no check points in these missions, so team work is critical to your success. You must work together to succeed. Think of these brief side missions as the Spec Ops mode in Call of Duty. It is a shame they can’t be enjoyed with a friend next to you via split screen though. But they’re fun to play and serve as a nice break in the action, especially when you grow tired of the multiplayer or campaign.
The game plays flawlessly and couldn’t feel any more fluid. Weapons both look and perform as they should. Character animations are smooth and realistic, explosions are eye popping, and environments get blown to pieces and rain down on you with debris. It is realism at it’s best, but is still engrossingly fun!
The AI in the campaign however was average at best. Each and every enemy is scripted to run to a specific point and simply hold out until they’re shot. No matter how many times I played through each level, the enemy always ran to the same spot. I knew exactly what to do, where to shooter, and even how to react to certain situations on my second play-through. It effectively killed any replay value for the single player experience.
Regardless of which system you play the game on, it looks gorgeous. However, on the PS3 and 360, framerates tend to dip a little during intense firefights while online. That aside, it is one of the best looking games I have ever seen. It is built from the ground up on the Frostbite 2 Engine and supports full DX 11 on PC. It also features enhanced in-game destruction with Destruction 3.0, effectively creating an environment where almost anything can be destroyed. This is a nightmare for campers since one clip of ammunition has the potential to take down an entire segment of a wall for an example. Tanks have the power to blow up entire buildings!
The heart and soul of Battlefield 3 is it’s multiplayer. Not it’s campaign, not co-op, the online experience is what makes it stand out among other games. When you jump into the action, several game modes are available to choose from, including Conquest, Rush, Squad Deathmatch, Squad Rush and for the first time since Battlefield 1942, Team Deathmatch. There are nine maps to choose from, all of which are massive and a blast to play on.
If you thought the single player set piece moments were good, thing again. Those were scripted events. In multiplayer, you can recreate events 10 times better than that on your own! In one match I played, I locked onto a fighter jet with a stinger and took the plane down with a homing rocket. I got to see the plane catch aflame and spiral down into the enemy base. The result was a massive explosion that took out a few more of the poor pilot’s teammates.
In each online match, players take on one of four roles: Assault, Support, Engineer and Recon. Each class has a unique set of weapons and perks. You have to individually level each class to unlock more weapons and perks for that role’s weaponry. It is a highly addictive feature that will keep you playing longer and longer to unlock that next best thing.
One thing to point out in the game is the outstanding sound effects! Gunfire blasts out across the battlefield and sounds more realistic than ever. Environments sound exactly as they should when being blown to bits and a rocket flying by your face will make you jolt back in your chair. The sound effects department nailed it, I wish every game sounded as great as this one does.
Battlefield 3 is a great game and is supported by a great campaign, even though it lacks creativity to differ it from any other game out there. The multiplayer is more fun than ever and the added co-op experience is a welcome add on. The game is a blast to play! This is a game well worth your money and will be something you'll be playing for months ahead.
