After months of promises from Electronic Arts does Battlefield 3, its latest offering to the gaming community, live up to the hype? Well, let’s start with the basics first. It is inevitable that diehard fans will reference the prior installment Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
First off, the eye-candy is what we expect out of any high-standard 2011 game. Its Frostbite 2 engine delivers great visuals from well-mapped terrain features to stunning massive explosions. Realism is a plus, including the smudge lens flare, smoke and light. For a graphic-intense game, the frame rate in the game is surprisingly smooth with the occasional stutter. The visuals do not necessary surpass what gamers saw in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but is satisfactory and aesthetically pleasing.
The sound detail is absolutely amazing! The player will hear bullets whizzing past their head and buildings collapsing around them, bringing to the experience the realism we expect out of any competent FPS.
Without saying, the meat of the game can only be found in the multiplayer experience. Depending what game mode the player chooses, he or she will have access to a variety of maps that encourages variety and exploration in a sandbox environment. As with previous Battlefield titles, players choose the weapon class desired; this time around we have the Soldier, Engineer, Assault and Recon. The games reward system allows players to gain perks from weaponry to camouflage – bringing incentive for hours of replay.
The core of the gaming experience in the Battlefield series remains working for the common good that includes healing stricken teammates, repairing vehicles and providing ground support via helicopter or fighter jet. However, the casual gamer looking for simple fun can easily hop into the newly included Team Deathmatch modes, which is encourages higher enemy KIA’s and fewer casualties amongst the “friendlies”.
As shown at E3, Battlefield 3 has a single-player campaign that leaves a lot to desire. The game player is much too short – only taking me between six to seven hours to complete. Whereas Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is filled with dark humor and memorable characters, Battlefield 3’s story takes on a serious but cliché atmosphere associated with tales of global terror. We’ve got the good marine who is trying to save the world against the big bad terrorist of Middle Easter origin – that is pretty much the story.
Equally frustrating is the inability to commandeer vehicles along the way. The player is locked into the same pre-determined story sequence that we find in FPS titles such as the Call of Duty series. In short, both the multiplayer and the single-player campaign mode is essentially two different games. Players do have an option to play in the games’ co-op mode with friends.
So in conclusion, the multiplayer unlocks will ensure players months of fun. Despite the shortcomings of its campaign mode, Battlefield 3 surpasses this deficiency with its robust and extensive multiplayer suite.
