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Battlefield 3 Review

Posted on 16. Nov, 2011 by Freak_c in Games, News, Reviews

WAR! What is it good for? Well actually it’s good for keeping you up at night rushing the enemy or questing to conquer different locations. Yes battlefield 3′s biggest draw (besides the graphics) is the multiplayer, however the single player campaign stumbles over itself, but do you care?

DICE may not deliver a memorable story, it really doesn’t need to when Battlefield 3′s online warfare raises every bar imaginable, delivering one of the best multiplayer experiences of the year. Battlefield 3′s campaign does hit some memorable moments of stellar action scripts such as skydiving, explosions, tanks and entire buildings crumbling, but as a whole it’s trite and frustrating. The campaign is laid out in a linear box where freedom of choice gets thrown out a window. During your progress through the campaign you can’t help but feel that you’ve done this before with every other military shooter that’s come out. There’s no freedom of choice or navigation, fewer vehicle sequences and even some quick time events to mix things up.

The story is of yet another madman bent on world domination as the villain Solomon commands his PLR army in hopes of detonating nukes in major world cities. The US government is trying to sort things out (as usual) and so it’s called in US Marine sergeant Blackburn for some interrogation. Blackburn has been mixed up in some sticky situations, and as it turns out, he hasn’t always come out with his hands clean. As he recalls his battlefield exploits which you play through and learn all the tip bits. You will be transported to various famous global locations during the process of the story. You’ll feel like you’ve played through this same exact story before and the story writing fails to build any tension or characters, where you ask yourself why do I care about this?

Death will come a plenty during the game in both multiplayer and single player. During the single player campaign this begins to become very frustrating as sometimes you will just die from any direction. Thankfully there are many checkpoints to help with this, however this may also be due to the fact that you seem to always be wearing goggles of some sorts because there is a constant lens flare, even when not looking at any lights and at night. I’m not sure what this is but it doesn’t seem realistic and for me got in the way.

Ok enough about the single player, the real reason we buy these games is for the multiplayer experience. Right from the get go, you can see that DICE put a lot into the multiplayer section. As mentioned earlier this is by far one of the best multiplayer experiences you can get. You want to know what it will feel like to be in the middle of a war in the streets of France? Then play some rush crank the sounds and enjoy. Battlefield 3′s multiplayer maps are huge (even the small ones) which is why there are vehicles for many of them. But Battlefield 3′s multiplayer is all about the freedom of choice.

Fans of the series will be familiar with the two main modes, Rush and Conquest, though there are some others but this is where the action is found. For those who are new Rush is where one team rushes an area destroying two positions before moving up to the next area, while the other team defends them. Conquest is where teams battle each other to capture and hold 3 or 4 different locations on the map. The maps are well laid out and what is great will always change, due to the full destructible environments and the way that the rush modes shift to different locations. Battlefield 3 is a wide sandbox that encourages variety and exploration. The new in-game server browser is a great addition to console matchmaking as players can now easily find the exact game-type they’re looking for.

Battlefield 3′s multiplayer comes with four main classes each with a specific skill and each that can be levelled up individually. Assault allows you to heal you squad mates, Engineer can repair vehicles, Support offers support via ammo and spawn points and Recon is the sniper class. Even though there are only four classes to choose from there is a class for anyone no matter on their play style. Want to sneak around and collect the dog tags up close and personal, no problem. Want to hang back and pick off the guys from a distance, sure. Want to just be an all rounder and do the best for your team? Can do. And with the inclusion of various vehicles even jets you can find your play type and rank up the way you want to play. All the classes have their own problem-solving unlocks, so levelling each one is paramount to sitting on top of the leader boards.

Battlefield 3′s rewards and progression will keep you coming back to its online for a long time. From adding heat-seeking missiles to an Anti-Aircraft Tank to simply changing camouflage, there’s always a carrot dangling just out of reach. Be prepared to put the time in as well as the levels require high score to reach them. So at the beginning it may feel like you getting no where, but once you put the time in and start unlocking the various options you will be well rewarded. Battlefield remains a team-based game where you can sit atop the scoreboard no matter how many times you’ve died. Heal an injured team-mate, resupply a sniper, or make sure a tank gets fixed up, Battlefield is about working towards the greater good.

For the first time from the Battlefield series, along with the multiplayer section we are given a cooperative option for two players. There are a tree of missions that give you some flexibility in how you move forward, but the mission types are so varied that any path will do. These standalone missions take place in environments ripped from the single player campaign, but with different objectives. Some ask you to simply survive an onslaught of infantry and tanks, while others put specific weapon mastery to the test. These are great fun with while playing with a friend adding some more live into the game and something for if you ever get bored of the multiplayer and single player. At about 15 minutes apiece with no checkpoints and one life to live, dying at the finish line can be disheartening, but ample ammo boxes and team-mate revives help to balance the curve.

This is battlefield and with it comes the fantastic ‘War Tapes’ sound. You will not hear a better sounding and realistic game on the market. Bullets, guns, tanks and other environment sounds are 100% perfect. Crank up the sound and prepare to be drawn right into the action, when an explosion goes off near you, you may duck for cover under the coffee table. Just warn your neighbours before hand, as they may think that the gun fire is real. On the graphics side this is one fantastic looking game and one of the best looking FPS on consoles, I can only imagine what the PC version looks like.

Conclusion
Battlefield 3 is a lot like prior games in the series. It features a stellar multiplayer with practically limitless replay value and a forgettable campaign. But we getting this for the multiplayer foremost, the coop missions are a nice addition. Although slow in the beginning the online warfare will reward you and you give you an experience like no other. Battlefield 3 rewards those greatly who give in the time.

8.5/10

Tags: Battlefield 3, dice, EA, PS3, Review