Battlefield 3 falls short in its campaign mode, but online multiplayer is where this game truly excels.
Battlefield 3 is the long-awaited sequel to Battlefield 2 and still remains in the present-day. The story is very cliche and generic for a military shooter. Something along the lines of, you know, Russian nukes and conflict in the Middle East. You probably won't find the story or cutscenes very absorbing even though the game's production values are high. Apart from the story, loading times are good and the menus are very straightforward. The control scheme is solid and easy to learn.
VISUALS:
Battlefield 3 is one of the most visually impressive shooters of this generation, easily matching games like Killzone 3 and Crysis 2. Everything from the lighting to the character models and environments is absolutely gorgeous. Animations have been greatly improved and look much more life-like. Even in multiplayer with up to 24 players and dozens of vehicles in-game at once, the graphics still look incredible and the game performs very well, never taking large dips in framerate.
GAMEPLAY:
Battlefield 3 plays like any other shooter. You play as a U.S. Marine and progress through missions by completing various objectives that usually involve retrieving something, blowing something up, or meeting at a rendezvous. Because this is Battlefield, a good chunk of the game involves vehicular combat as well, whether it be dogfighting in a jet or defending a position with a .50 cal mounted on a Humvee. The only thing I didn't like about the single-player was the inclusion of QTEs. This is more of a personal preference, and its understandable considering the modern shift this game has taken.
Now, the heart of Battlefield is its online competitive multiplayer. In the vanilla game there are a good handful of maps, but if you buy the DLC packs (which are well worth the money) you're looking at 25+ different maps and a multitude of new weapons, vehicles, and game modes. There are 50 levels and then you can keep leveling up similarly to Call of Duty's prestige mode. There are tons of weapons, upgrades, and equipment to unlock for each kit. Kits serve as classes in Battlefield, and there are 4 of them: Support, Assault, Engineer, and Recon. There are numerous glitches in the online multiplayer, however. They range from bodies being stuck in mid-air to reloading animations not appearing. None of them are really game-breaking, and it was expected anyway for a game this big.
There is also an online co-op mode with 5 or 6 missions that increase the playtime of the game.
AUDIO:
Battlefield 3 ditches the classic theme based around those 6 notes, instead replacing it with long electronic farts and beeps. Therefore, the soundtrack isn't as memorable or epic as it used to be back in the older Battlefield games.
Voiceacting is very good considering the game's high production values, and guns sound very realistic unlike Call of Duty.
VERDICT:
Buy this game if you enjoy:
- Big explosions
- A large emphasis on large-scale warfare and vehicular combat
- Games like Medal of Honor
Play time:
Campaign- 5-7 hours depending on difficulty
Online multiplayer- Easily 100+ hours of gameplay
Online co-op- 4-5 hours depending on difficulty
Battlefield 3 suffers from online glitches and a generic, short story. However, fans of the series will once again spend numerous hours in its fantastic multiplayer mode in large-scale battles.