85

Must be in your collection if not already

hellomoto7 | May 20, 2013 | See all hellomoto7's reviews »

I finally built a new rig, and running this game on max, it's almost like I'm inside the real world fighting. The amount of openness in multiplayer and the different approaches you can take to handling a situation is all very fun. The destructible environment also adds a new level of strategy to the game.

The singleplayer is a little bit lacking, and has a very predictable plot with quick-time events and isn't very fun. The Co-op however is quite fun when you're playing with a friend over skype, and I especially enjoyed the stealth mission where two people have to sneak through a building to rescue a hostage.

Overall, positives outweighs the negatives, and the only reason a person would get this game would be for the multiplayer anyway.

85

Amazing gameplay and graphics

cam51037 | April 19, 2013 | See all cam51037's reviews »

Playing this game in 1440p is a dream! The only thing really holding me back in my game is my GPU, which is a 670. Even though this game is relatively older, it is still extremely system intensive. It offers amazing gameplay, and 64 player online games are super fun, and the campaign offers the player a fun way to sort of train for multiplayer experiences.

I'd highly recommend this game to everyone, it's great for having fun and relaxing, or high hyped clan battles as well! Only points taken off are for EA's kind of lame online servers, and how system intensive it still it, but if it wasn't as intensive, the graphics wouldn't be as good. ;)

67

Not Bad But Could be Much Better

Nuxaider | Feb. 17, 2013 | See all Nuxaider's reviews »

If you were like me, Battlefield 3 was your first Battlefield game so this review is based on a standard, non-Battlefield veteran standpoint. That isn't to say I know nothing at all about previous games but I don't have first-hand experience with older games.

First things first: this game requires Origin to play. I have a personal distaste for Origin but it doesn't affect the quality of the game. Love it, hate it, or indifferent to it, it's just a FYI. Additionally, I will be covering the single player, co-op, and multiplayer portions of this game. If you don't care about a certain section of the game, just skip on ahead. Anyways, onto the review.

Graphics: One thing that's been very consistent with every Battlefield game is the beautiful graphics and this game is no exception. The only thing that detracts from the beauty is the notorious "blue filter." As the name suggests, the game has a noticeable blue tint in it that makes the scenery seem washed out and dull at times. Bright environments suffer the least from this, but darker environments have a noticeable blandness to them.

Sound: In terms of an actual soundtrack, it's well produced, but very unmemorable. Most of the soundtrack sounds like generic Hollywood action movie music. The theme of this game is very bland and doesn't evoke as much emotion as I would have hoped. "But what about the epic Battlefield 2/older Battlefield theme?" I hear through the monitor. The theme is rarely heard and even when you do hear it, it's just a short snippet. As for the sound of the guns, vehicles, etc., it's very good and it feels as though you are actually shooting a gun or driving a jeep. That being said, I've never fired a gun or driven a tank so I can't say that the sound assets sound just like real life, but they are diverse, clear, crisp, and better than most sounds from other shooters I've played.

Single Player: The single player of this game is easily one of the most boring and tedious campaigns I've ever played. First off, this game treats you like an idiot. And before anyone cries out that it's catering to the mainstream audience, Bad Company 1 and 2 had campaigns that were interesting, respected your intelligence, was open, and most importantly, FUN all while being on console. Battlefield 3's campaign just does not deliver. Narrow hallways, a constant "Follow ____" arrow to point you in the right direction, boring characters, and an overall boring story. Now, some fans will say that the campaign is a tutorial for the multiplayer. That is a downright lie. The only thing the campaign teaches is how to control infantry (which is basically the same as all FPS's anyways) and the tank, and even then, the tank "tutorial" is misleading. It implies that tanks have at least 3 weapons at once when you only have 2. Everything else vehicle related is not taught at all. As soon as I realized that in the jet mission you aren't flying the jet and are just sitting in the back on an on-rails type of deal, I had little hope for the game to actually teach me how to pilot important vehicles like the jets and helicopters. Overall, the campaign is a total waste of time and should be avoided at all costs. If you bought this game for the single player,...I feel sorry for you.

Co-op: This is slightly better than the campaign but not by much. The biggest improvements over the campaign is that you actually get to shoot people instead of watching your teammates do it. Other than that, the co-op adds a whole array of new problems. Idiot teammates and a lack of a VOIP makes it rather annoying, still rather linear levels, and the fact that you HAVE to do co-op to get all the weapons for multiplayer is ridiculous. What was supposed to be a fun time waster with friends turns into a mindless grind for multiplayer weapons. Additionally, one of the very first co-op missions require you to fly a helicopter, so basically, you'll end up crashing a lot and angering your teammates if it's your first time flying. All in all, better than the single player campaign, but not by much.

Multiplayer: Now this is what everyone's been waiting for: the main course of this game. Since the multiplayer is so large, I will be splitting it up into multiple parts. Scroll down to the ones you're interested in.

Frostbite 2: The "new and improved" engine that DICE had been advertising is surprisingly underwhelming. Walls that should be destroyed cannot and only specific buildings can be destroyed. They argue that if everything could be destroyed, it would unbalance the maps. Well then, design your maps better, simple as that.

Classes - Battlefield 3 introduces 4 classes: the Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon. Each of these classes have their own respective role but the balance is not perfect.

Assault - Essentially the medic of this game. With the most versatile guns in the game (assault rifles), the ability to heal and revive teammates, and the ability to have underslung weapons, the Assault class easily outshines the other classes. Of course, it isn't the best since it cannot destroy vehicles at all, but the ability to go into any gunfight at full health is a valuable asset. Combine that with very versatile weapons and the Assault is the most important class in the game.

Engineer - The second most important class in the game. The ability to destroy armored vehicles (tanks, jets, helicopters, etc) makes engineers an important asset to a team....provided there are vehicles to destroy. On solely infantry maps, the Engineer is arguably worse than the Recon. The carbines are basically assault rifles but worse in terms of damage, recoil, spread, etc. It's not impossible to get kills with but against another player of equal skill, the Assault will always beat the Engineer. One thing to note is that the Engineer's AT-Mines have no physics, meaning that you can't "throw" them like you could in Bad Company 2. They simply drop wherever the cursor is pointed, which severely limits the Engineer's agressiveness. The Engineer's gadget, the EOD bot, is the most useless gadget in the game. Though it is amusing to see the physics make the EOD bot fly in the air and do flips, it cannot perform it's intended purpose, which is to arm and disarm M-Coms. Horrible driving physics make the EOD bot useless.

Support: One of the great things about Battlefield 3 is that LMG users (Support) are actually useful (Suppression; more on this later). The ability to throw down ammo for your teammates is somewhat useful if they want to continue using their gun but it is entirely possible to pick up another kit of a corpse and use that gun instead. Claymores and C4 make the Support an excellent area denial class but the "campiness" of this class may detract some from using it. On that note, C4 suffers the same issue as the Engineer's mines not being able to be "thrown" (see above). The third most important class in the game.

Recon: Recons can either be the most important player or the most useless player in your squad/team. Being able to snipe enemies from far distances, placing spawn beacons, making enemies show up on the map, and laser designating enemy vehicles are all important, but unnecessary. Recons are far less useful than they were in Bad Company 2: no C4 makes them useless against armored vehicles and no motion balls limit the usefulness of the Recon and make them more sedentary. Easily the most useless class in the game.

Suppression: This element of the game is so controversial that it deserves a section all to itself. Basically, suppression is supposed to emulate the feeling of being, well, suppressed in real life. No one can keep calm with bullets whizzing by their heads and explosions going off nearby. When you shoot at someone, the bullets will cause their screen to blur and their bullet spread to increase, forcing them to take cover until their screen clears. While in concept it is a great idea, the ability to make the enemies' bullets defy physics turn gun battles into total luck. Say 2 people are shooting each other: they each get 1-3 bullets on each other and by this point, they are both suppressed. Whoever survives is the one who happens to have luck on their side. A great concept, but executed badly.

Maps: Most of the maps in this game are rather terrible though there are a few gems.

Operation Metro: Basically the "Nuketown" from Black Ops in Battlefield. Set in the Paris subways, the map is essentially one giant choke-point and is a kill farm. It is extremely easy for the defending team to set up shop with their bipods and Recons and deny all access to the objective. Just flank them you say? Too bad there are only 2 other narrow corridors to go through.

Caspian Border: An actual good, large map. Though more suited more vehicles, dense foresty environments make for fun and intense firefights. There is nothing bad about this map.

Operation Firestorm: A large desert map with an emphasis on vehicles once again. There are roads for vehicles to traverse but also buildings for infantry firefights. Nothing bad about this map except for a tendency for Recon to snipe you 1000 meters away on the mountains.

Grand Bazaar: This map is literally a square. Putting a LAV in a map designed around infantry combat make this another kill farm map, though it's slightly better than Operation Metro since you can flank the opposite team.

Damavand Peak: When the trailer showed Damavand Peak, everyone freaked out about the base jumping and how it was "epic." That is now nothing more than a gimmick that will probably end up getting you sniped. The tunnels are basically Operation Metro except a bit darker but the outside of the tunnels are large and perfect for infantry combat. Not a bad map, though has some good and bad elements.

Tehran Highway: A vastly underrated map. The only night map in the stock game, it is wide urban combat with tanks. The size of the map allows for versatile gameplay: you can snipe, engage in close infantry fights, or go in a tank.

Kharg Island: Kharg Island is a cruel mistress; sometimes the map plays beautifully and you are in love with it and at times, you regret even joining the game. In terms of Rush, if you don't make a successful push on the first try, the defending team can spawn camp the attacking team which spawns on the carrier. Additionally, though this map has air vehicles, it is surprisingly small, but large enough for infantry combat.

Seine Crossing: Another Bazaar/Metro-esque map. Close quarters combat with a tank available. If you get pushed back far enough, the defending team can easily destroy the attacking team as they spawn. The buildings serve as a perfect camping spot and given how many floors there are, it's near impossible to take care of the campers.

Noshahr Canals: Known for its killfarm TDM variant, Noshahr Canals is actually a good map. It is wide and open but like Kharg Island, the attacking team can be spawn camped since they spawn on the carrier and can be sniped by anti-air and tanks.

If you managed to read up to this point, congratulations. Though it sounded like I was complaining the whole time, I actually do like this game. I just wish it was better. There are several design and map issues that make me cringe but it is still easily the best multiplayer shooter of 2011. If you have never played a Battlefield game before, go ahead and buy this. If you have played Battlefield before, I recommend waiting for Battlefield 4 instead.

90

BF3 at a reduced price!

Coolicy | Feb. 13, 2013 | See all Coolicy's reviews »

Even if you aren't a fan of First Person Shooters, you have definitely heard of Call of Duty and Battlefield. This is the fiercest competition CoD has faced, it doesn't top it, but comes the closest out of any shooter.

BF3 features a full-length campaign, which can be fun because all the mechanics are solid. The design however is a little lacking, and is rather linear and doesn't play to BF3's strength.

It also has multiple coop missions, the story links to the campaign loosely. You're put in the shoes of soldiers that were in the same missions or takes place in the same time frame. The missions have a lot of variety, the usual foot soldier fighting an onslaught of enemies, helicopter fights, sniper challenges and more to change up the pacing.

The gem is definitely the multiplayer. If you like Call of Duty, there are modes that play very similar. If you're bored of CoD, there are modes that BF3 excels in. Rush and Conquest are both my favorites. PC also has Large variants of the same maps that were scaled for 64 players. The mixture of infantry and vehicles are balanced perfectly.

I didn't enjoy the campaign and coop as much as I did with multiplayer, but I've spent over 150+ hours in it alone. The price is now reduced, making this a great deal. Wait for it to go on sale and use a GMG voucher and you just saved a TON.

There's still a ton of people playing the multiplayer. Have fun fragging.