Battlefield 3: The Review

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Here' my review of the game.

Single Player

Every single review I have read on internet and and forums has said that the campaign is the weak part of the game. Some even say it shouldn't have been created in the first place. Well, from what I have played, the campaign, in the end, isn't that bad.

I will not lie here, the first mission, which was on the train, the very brief one, left me wondering, what in the blue hell was that. Surely from all the trailers and gameplay footages, I was overly hyped about Single Player campaign, but that first mission kinda left me wondering, were those awesome trailers just a fraud or something.

As I progressed through the campaign, that thinking began to get away from my head.

The story is a fictional one against Iran (no surprise here) and in the course of campaign you'll find nukes too, in a bank.

Now let us come to the point where almost everyone is hating the single player campaign.

The reason behind this may lie in the fact that recent shooters,including Modern Warfare series, Black Ops, Bad Company series have somewhat made us used to run and kill and run. You just go to a place and there are bunch of people to kill and you can kill them easily, even without being in a cover sometimes.

Battlefield 3 however takes a different approach to this.

It makes you think how you can approach to the objective not just rush towards it and kill everyone in your way.

To me this is something equally good and frustrating.

I played the game on 'hard' difficulty and one thing you'll notice while playing on 'hard' is that you die, a lot. Three bullets is all it takes, just like Black Ops' maximum difficulty. This isn't a bad thing entirely though. Another thing that really bugged me throughout the campaign was that sometimes you die and you don't even know who killed you and where was the fire coming from. The AI too at times is fairly frustrating.

One thing I would like to point out is awful combat mechanic. Its just plain fail.

Another thing that is not good is the length of the campaign. While I enjoyed the 7 hours of it, there should've been more. I am left disappointed by its length, to be honest. After all there are people too who buy games solely for single player.

Yes their are many similarities between this game and recent shooters but the different approach makes it worth playing.

9.00 out of 10

Co-Op

Six missions only? Yep thats right but these six missions will give you and your friend a challange you have never seen before. I, with a couple of friends, have played all the six and it gets surprisingly difficult at 'hard' difficulty.

Yes there should've been more missions but as it stands out, these six missions are great fun to be had.

8.75 out of 10

Multiplayer

Okay, this is kind of difficult. First I would like to tell you all that I am a newcommer to Battlefield series. Never before, had I played any Battlefield, except for Bad Company 2 (though I only played SP and about an hour or so of MP).

Only other game I had ever played is original Modern Warfare.

I, at first, was quite reluctant towards Battlefield 3 and was planning to get Modern Warfare 3. But it all changed when I saw a couple of Battlefield trailers.

So I sat down and thought about it and ended up pre-ordering Battlefield 3.

I ran the game, for the first time, on 24th, at 2330 hrs and stayed up all night long and the following day. Normally, when I buy a game I complete the single player campaign first but here the story was entirely different. Aside from making sure the game was properly installed and optimizing the graphics settings I never even looked at single player banner for nearly 3 days.

For someone who is entirely new to series, I was horrible at game in first 2 days or so. I didn't knew much about game modes at that time either.

But as I got into the mechanics and began to understand the game modes it became clear to me that I've made the right decision.

The leveling up system, the four classes, dog-tags, melee and everything else is just about perfect.

Every single map is extremely well put and developers deserve a pat on on the back for creating such an awesome array of maps with suitable envoirnments that remains true to the game mechanics.

I would like to point out some things that I disliked about the multiplayer experience.

First of all is that Goddamn tactical light. If there is one thing I have to choose about this game that I don't like its this tactical light attachment. It really is frustrating. Sometimes my own teammate blinds me while I am killing an enemie and I miss the target and he either gets away or I get killed. It is significantly annoying in closely spaced areas like near the train wreckage in Operation Metro or in tunnels. Sometimes I don't even know who has the tactical light and I spray all over hima nd what I get 90% is TEAMKILL.

Other thing is that there is no way to practice jets and choppers outside the game. Though there is a co-op mission for that but it'll hardly boost your flying skills.

Other than that the multiplayer seems to be a perfect to me. It si deep and varied and it rewards teamwork extremely well.

9.75 out of 10

The Verdict

I have completed single player campaign on 'hard' in 7 hours, have played all the six missions of co-op and I've been playing multiplayer for about 22 hours and 15 minutes.

I enjoyed Co-Op and I wish there were more missions.

I enjoyed single player more and I wish combat mechanics were better and it lasted longer.

I am enjoying multiplayer the most and, aside from the frustrating tactical light and jets and chopper thing, it is almost perfect to me.

It is immersive, deep and challanging and the extremely well designed maps jsut add to the greatness of it. I am glad I bought it.

9.75 out of 10

Regards...

[.Markus]

Thanks for your point of view. I'm actually still contemplating wether I should buy it or not, and might actually hold off until it goes on sale..

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Thanks for your point of view. I'm actually still contemplating wether I should buy it or not, and might actually hold off until it goes on sale..

Thanks for the input.

I was refraining from it and was thinking the same. 'Let it be on sale and then I will get it' but as it stands it is an excellent package worth your money

[ARchamps]

Pretty much sums it up. I have only played the SP a little when I wasn't able to get on MP. The AI is really dumb... sometimes there will be a guy standing directly in front of me and he just stands there. :/ It is really scripted and its somewhat entertaining. Compared to MW2 or Black Ops, the SP could have been better.

As for MP, that's a different story. I've never played Battlefield either and I am very impressed. So impressed that I am willing to live with the few annoyances you mentioned. I also hope they work on stability. Coming from Black Ops and MW2 MP, there is much more team play and more ways to level up other than getting kills. The vehicles are pretty awesome too.

Lastly, the graphics are pretty amazing!

I am still probably going to get MW3 for PS3 because most of my friends play online on PSN.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Pretty much sums it up. I have only played the SP a little when I wasn't able to get on MP. The AI is really dumb... sometimes there will be a guy standing directly in front of me and he just stands there. :/ It is really scripted and its somewhat entertaining. Compared to MW2 or Black Ops, the SP could have been better.

Thanks.

AI, i will agree, is wuite frustrating but at times it is surprisingly aggressive.

I agree that it could've been way better than CoD offerings but I think its a step up from their previous try Bad Company 2.

As for MP, that's a different story. I've never played Battlefield either and I am very impressed. So impressed that I am willing to live with the few annoyances you mentioned. I also hope they work on stability. Coming from Black Ops and MW2 MP, there is much more team play and more ways to level up other than getting kills. The vehicles are pretty awesome too.

Lastly, the graphics are pretty amazing!

I agree, MP is downright Awesome. I in particulare like what you can do and accomplish with teamwork.

I forgot to write about Graphics in the review. And yes they are one of the best, if not the best out there.

I am still probably going to get MW3 for PS3 because most of my friends play online on PSN.

Same here, but I'll get it for PC because I hate consoles and don't have one either

[Zain Adeel]

is it just me or the SP was really short??? :s

i actually completed it under 4 hours i think... it was really short...... maybe im off by alot.

Actually the SP gets better as the story progresses. But when it ended. I was thinking i was just half way.. But the game ended. So the SP shouldve been longer.

[Jan Veteran]

Love the multiplayer, hate, hate, hate the single player. It's incredibly boring personally and it seems extremely rushed.

[epk]

Like most, I love the multi and hate the single, but it's not the end of the world since you can just skip it. Despite that there's one thing I would change: the art direction. They should've used the blue tint and over the top contrast for the SP portion if they were so smitten about making it "cinematic", but the multiplayer -which we'll all be playing A LOT more- would look better without them.

[Reacon]

Why do we need to rate everything from 8-10 when it's a triple A developer?

You clearly state that the single player has distinct flaws and closes resembles work that has already been done in the past. Yet you still give it 9/10.

The game is good. Not great. It does not even compare to its 6 year old cousin (I dare not say predecessor, since BF3 is closer to BC than any of the true Battlefield games). Hell, I just quit the damn game to give BC2 a whirl. It was like a breath of fresh air after being in a sweaty, dark corridor for 30 hours. Of course, this is after you get over all the bugs.

Battlefield: Bad Company 3

7/10 at best.

[sanctified Veteran]

Sorry pal, but if you give the single player campaign on this a 9, then you really have very low standards.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Sorry pal, but if you give the single player campaign on this a 9, then you really have very low standards.

Read the points, not just the score

it seems extremely rushed.

(Y)

Why do we need to rate everything from 8-10 when it's a triple A developer?

You clearly state that the single player has distinct flaws and closes resembles work that has already been done in the past. Yet you still give it 9/10.

The game is good. Not great. It does not even compare to its 6 year old cousin (I dare not say predecessor, since BF3 is closer to BC than any of the true Battlefield games). Hell, I just quit the damn game to give BC2 a whirl. It was like a breath of fresh air after being in a sweaty, dark corridor for 30 hours. Of course, this is after you get over all the bugs.

Battlefield: Bad Company 3

7/10 at best.

I haven't played Bad Company' multiplayer or any Battlefield' multiplayer, that is why I am really enjoying it.

Yes I do state that SP has flaws but it has more positives to cover them

[sanctified Veteran]

Read the points, not just the score

I've read the points and there's nothing outstanding about them. Everything you describe it's quite generic, maybe not so much for a war game like this, but it is from an overall gaming experience. With shooters like Deus Ex: HR, Mass Effect 2, Half - Life 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and a very long etc crafting REALLY good single player modes, with great narrative and creative gameplay a single player campaign like this should not deserve anything more than a 6 (Yes, I've played it, its vanilla, really). Just because it has more positives than negatives does not mean it's polished and creative.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I've read the points and there's nothing outstanding about them. Everything you describe it's quite generic, maybe not so much for a war game like this, but it is from an overall gaming experience. With shooters like Deus Ex: HR, Mass Effect 2, Half - Life 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and a very long etc crafting REALLY good single player modes, with great narrative and creative gameplay a single player campaign like this should not deserve anything more than a 6 (Yes, I've played it, its vanilla, really). Just because it has more positives than negatives does not mean it's polished and creative.

Read

The reason behind this may lie in the fact that recent shooters,including Modern Warfare series, Black Ops, Bad Company series have somewhat made us used to run and kill and run. You just go to a place and there are bunch of people to kill and you can kill them easily, even without being in a cover sometimes.

Battlefield 3 however takes a different approach to this.

It makes you think how you can approach to the objective not just rush towards it and kill everyone in your way.

[sanctified Veteran]

Battlefield 3 however takes a different approach to this.

It makes you think how you can approach to the objective not just rush towards it and kill everyone in your way.

So, all the games I've mentioned, including a lot more, all of them that do it way better.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

So, all the games I've mentioned, including a lot more, all of them that do it way better.

Yes they do, but BF3 takes a different approach with only a handful of issues, and in my opinion, it is pretty good.

And DICE isn't an expert when it comes to SP. IW and Treyarch, on the other hand are.

[sanctified Veteran]

Yes they do, but BF3 takes a different approach with only a handful of issues, and in my opinion, it is pretty good.

And DICE isn't an expert when it comes to SP. IW and Treyarch, on the other hand are.

What SP masterpiece has Treyarch done?

[rajputwarrior]

What SP masterpiece has Treyarch done?

black ops single player was awesome. not the best, but damn good.

[Alera]

I agree with you on a lot of things there Muhammed :) with the Co-Op missions, it's actually better to complete them on Easy to unlock the guns, but playing them on Hard at least once should be done, me and my friend have been running with only our knives and pistols, knifing people for the hell of it on some of them just to see how far we can go using only knives. Of course sniper rifles and pistols if they are up in buildings and so on but it's great fun on some of the missions like Exfiltration, Hit and Run and Eleventh Hour. We also used the silenced pistols in the first part of Exfiltration with Ventrilo to work together to silently take the guards and the cameras, wish there was more Co-Op action now. Very fun and I recommend it to anyone, the frustrating thing though is that sometimes they counter-knife you and stab you back leaving you on the floor for your friend to revive haha. There's a few bugs in the way that they spawn too, sometimes my friend breaches a door and an enemy will spawn and knife him as it's opening. :D

One thing I would like to say and people might not agree with is that BF3 singleplayer is much better than MW3 singleplayer in my opinion and yet there is still alot of improvements that could be made to BF3 singleplayer.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I agree with you on a lot of things there Muhammed :) with the Co-Op missions, it's actually better to complete them on Easy to unlock the guns, but playing them on Hard at least once should be done, me and my friend have been running with only our knives and pistols, knifing people for the hell of it on some of them just to see how far we can go using only knives. Of course sniper rifles and pistols if they are up in buildings and so on but it's great fun on some of the missions like Exfiltration, Hit and Run and Eleventh Hour. We also used the silenced pistols in the first part of Exfiltration with Ventrilo to work together to silently take the guards and the cameras, wish there was more Co-Op action now. Very fun and I recommend it to anyone, the frustrating thing though is that sometimes they counter-knife you and stab you back leaving you on the floor for your friend to revive haha. There's a few bugs in the way that they spawn too, sometimes my friend breaches a door and an enemy will spawn and knife him as it's opening. :D

(Y)

Co-Op missions were hell of a fun.

I and a friend of mine first completed all six on EASY then on MEDIUM and now we are looking to complete it on HARD.

The missions are surprisingly challenging and at sometimes forces you to think of an alternative strategy which makes it more fun.

About the knifing thing, I agree. Twice in a mission I sneaked behind an enemy only to find out that he, too, had a knife and he stabbed me before I could stab him.

One thing I would like to say and people might not agree with is that BF3 singleplayer is much better than MW3 singleplayer in my opinion and yet there is still alot of improvements that could be made to BF3 singleplayer.

(Y)

What SP masterpiece has Treyarch done?

Ummm....

Black Ops?

[sanctified Veteran]

Ummm....

Black Ops?

Masterpiece? :/ you guys seriously need to play more games.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Masterpiece? :/ you guys seriously need to play more games.

Not a masterpiece but a good one

[madd-hatter]

I would say the campaign is boring cliche' trash like all FPS titles excluding Halo. I couldn't stomach it past the 2nd level, it wasn't worth my time, comparable to a bad movie and very much like CoD titles.

However, the multiplayer is the most fun form of FPS gaming since Halo 2 LAN parties and that means it's freakin' awesome. It's the real point of the game anyway and the only reason 90+% of people bought it.

If you haven't bought it and you want to it to play multiplayer; get it immediately, you are behind. If you want it for campaign, wait til it's in the bargain bin.

I am speaking from a PC platform perspective only.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I would say the campaign is boring cliche' trash like all FPS titles excluding Halo. I couldn't stomach it past the 2nd level, it wasn't worth my time, comparable to a bad movie and very much like CoD titles.

However, the multiplayer is the most fun form of FPS gaming since Halo 2 LAN parties and that means it's freakin' awesome. It's the real point of the game anyway and the only reason 90+% of people bought it.

If you haven't bought it and you want to it to play multiplayer; get it immediately, you are behind. If you want it for campaign, wait til it's in the bargain bin.

I am speaking from a PC platform perspective only.

(Y)

Campaign wasn't as bad as anyone thinks but everyone' got their own taste

[Zain Adeel]

Black Ops .... SP was really confusing.

Actually ... to be honest. World at War was alot better! That or MW2. Yet to play MW3...

We will see if they can fill IWs shoes.

[sanctified Veteran]

Not a masterpiece but a good one

So, by having one "good" (debatable) sp game in their entire catalog you already consider Treyarch "single player experts"?