Review: Battle Field 3 (360 Version)

I know everyone has been ranting and raving about Battlefield 3, but I personally find the game to have more than its fair share of flaws.  I'm not one to add a lot of fluff when I don't need to, so I'll get right into the facts. 

(1)  The game has good graphics (but not great), with the exception of cut scenes. The truth is that it's a bit of a bait and switch.  We were told it would have fantastic graphics and a download option to make the graphics even better, but in small print it should say “only for cut scenes”. The cut scenes look amazing, but we also don’t play in cut scenes (a lot of Final Fantasy fans just got a little sad when I said that). The actual gameplay graphics are otherwise murky, and at times just downright muddled by the lighting.  There’s also way too much shrubbery - I feel like I’m trapped in a bad Monty Python film the whole time.  To make matters worse, all the guns in the game look alike.  They may be very nicely detailed and unique on the selection screen, but on the ground or in someone’s hands: it’s just another mundane gun.

If only the whole game looked this awesome.

(2)  The single player game is essentially identical to the multiplayer.  It really feels like it was tacked on right before release so that the game didn't have to go without a single player campaign. The biggest complaint I have in comparing the single player to the multiplayer is that it plays so much faster that when you eventually switch over, it feels like you’re moving in mud. Somehow this slow drag down of game is called a strategic shooter, look people you can have strategy and speed in a game just look at almost any other shooter on the market.  The single player forces you to move from one point on the map to another point, flip a switch, run to a car, shoot something down.  It really feels like a poor man’s Modern Warfare 2, except it's not  innovative at all.

(3)  I’m going revisit the slowness of the multiplayer because it really is that slow.  Compared to HALO, Gears of War, and Modern Warfare, this game is akin to riding an iceberg.  In general, I like my games on the slower side.  However, when camping out in a small area for an entire game lands you 8 kills, 4 assists (for spotting players), 4 deaths, and puts you on top for your team that match, there's a problem. In any of the games I mentioned above, those numbers would generally net you a nice, cozy spot in last place, before you become branded as a noob and immediately get booted out of the game. Having said that, I can see why people like it.  If I died over and over in a game I wouldn’t have a good time either, but when I can fall asleep during a match and still have an impact, then it’s boring.

This is that sniper who had the top score on your team.

(4)  It’s an easy game to transition into for a PC gamer, since anyone can hop right in and actually contribute. Most of you may be aware that consoles have taken over and that the majority of PC games are now ports. With that being said, this game is a perfect game for the average PC gamer to cut their teeth on without immediately hating their life. Because the pace is so slow, they won’t miss their mouse too much.  Most of the other commands are easy enough to use that they won’t feel overwhelmed. The look speed is easy to change, and can be made to work for most people trying to make that jump, not that I would recommend doing so with this game.

(5) and (6) Vehicles and the teamwork emphasis. The game certainly does have vehicles that you can ride around in and shoot from, with the help of a teammate. These include the typical land vehicles but add in choppers and jet planes that sometimes really spice up the game play.  The bad part:  This only works well with a intelligent teammate and coordination.  Without talking to your teammate and attempting to coordinate your actions, the air vehicles might as well not even be here, with how unwieldy and ineffective they can be.  In the majority of the games I played, my teammates barely talked and instead liked to send me careening off cliffs in a tank or burning in flames after crashing a chopper while I was on board. I felt like this video summed it up for me.

Relevant.

(7)  Possibly the most important thing to remember about this game is that it has sold millions and is played by millions. Also, like any EA game, if it didn’t make money they wouldn’t sell it. They, like every other publisher, are in it to get paid - but that’s another story all together.  The modes they have implemented into the multiplayer are all designed to accommodate large number of players and the maps are some of the largest in any multiplayer game, ever.  Those two things do make it a stand out title for the market that it's in. It also helps out those campers that get those crappy numbers from hiding the whole time waiting for someone to walk by instead of actually moving around (you know who you are).

Oh sorry, wrong camper.

Final Verdict:  I’d give this game a personal score of 5/10.  I say personal because I have personally had a bad experience that made me want to take my controller shove it up my own rectum and see if that made for a better game.  I know I’m not in the majority of people who dislike this game because I know several people who love it.  I have since disowned most of these lost souls, but I understand their points. I would recommend this game to anyone who has a 360 and feels the need to play SOCOM and drag out games that sometimes last so long that you actually begin to crave that annoying cheese known as the Modern Warfare 2 nuke. I know there’s a big debate as to which game is better MW3 or BF3 but I honestly couldn't care less.  The fact is that they are two completely different games, and they really cater to two different markets.  There’s really no comparison. Eventually our kids will be having the same debate, and that’ll be with MW30 and BF30 - so I guess I’ll leave that for them to figure out.