Lazy single player, broken multiplayer.
The story is your standard FPS kill bad guys in the Middle East. Completely forgettable, short, buggy, and obviously not a priority for DICE. Their lack of attention to single player is evidenced by the fact the the single player disc is labeled "Disc 2."
The environments in BF3 are much less destructible. Buildings rarely collapse, if they can even take damage. Cosmetic damage is rather lacking as well - rockets, grenades, C4 barely mar the average building on the battlefield. Remember how a map would look after a BFBC2 match? Devastation. BF3? Nothing much.
Tanks and helicopters are still profoundly overpowered. Tanks can be repaired even faster than in previous BF installments, can kick smoke to break a lock at the drop of a hat, and can come equipped with more armor. They are able to take a ridiculous number of hits.
Helicopters, especially the Viper, are much worse. They can bounce along the ground, slam into buildings, clip trees or hills, and are no worse for wear. They are able to sit out of range of weapons and fire down with no repercussions. Other models of helicopter can actually be repaired in-flight.
Some of the issues with the Viper could be mitigated if other elements of the battlefield were employed better. RPGs in this game are a joke: too slow and underpowered. The tried-and-true RPG-7 fires a rocket that travels at almost 300 meters per second. The SMAW/RPG in BF3 pokes along, making it very difficult to hit anything moving - the vehicles simply outrun them, regardless of how much you lead your target. If you lead them enough, it may not matter, because the rocket will start to drop almost immediately.
BFBC2 had a powerful, game-balancing anti-aircraft gun positioned in the middle of the maps: the VADs. This AA gun was capable of fending off even determined helicopter pilots, and was usually found near an objective. Whatever passes for AA in BF3 is a pale imitation of air defense. The reticles are the same color as the sky, the rate of fire is preposterously slow, the cool-down is too slow, and they are always hidden at the backs of maps where they can not contribute effectively to objective defense.
The Stinger missile was a piece of equipment that I and many other gamers looked forward to. Unfortunately, the jets are too fast and can fly too high for them to target. Helicopters can pop smoke which breaks the lock, and can cool-down before a Stinger can be reloaded.
The one saving piece of AA equipment is the Tunguska. Unfortunately, this mobile AA unit is not included on every map with helicopters, a move which would have gone a decent way to making that part of the game more balanced.
Not all weapons were created equal, either. The guns which shipped with the game were acceptable; when the Premium package launched, several game-breaking guns were added. The ACW is a quick killing gun that is almost unstoppable, and the rest are just as bad. All too frequently, gunfights are reduced to rate of fire contests - the fastest RoF wins.
Matchmaking is rather shaky. If a match ends and one team is clearly dominant, there is no reorganisation or restructuring of the teams. They stay the same, time after time after time. You can also see a team stacked with high-level Colonels against a lower-level colonels, captains, sergeants, and privates. Of course, a person's rank is not indicative of the skill of a player, but there is a direct correlation.
DICE could have had something really outstanding with this installment. Unfortunately, they delivered a rushed, broken, ugly game, and they will not get me to buy another game again.