official Battlefield 3

[Paul Ferson Veteran]

Extremely, extremely disappointed with the Xbox 360 beta.

The graphics are just... bad. Whoever said this would be a graphical triumph on consoles was dead wrong. There's an insane amount of pop-in, tearing, and extremely poor texture work. It doesn't hold a candle to something like Crysis 2 (to give a multiplatform example). It really does detract from the game because it's so muddy that players can sometime blur with the bad texture work, if that makes any sense. There's a lot of aliasing as well.

The gameplay is decent, but I hated both maps. Completely hated them. They're both ruled by snipers, and they're just poorly designed for player flow throughout the maps. There's no real consistent paths -- it's almost a maze in both, unlike previous Battlefield games. Hell, Battlefield 1943 was better than this. The controls really need to be tweaked, because there's some odd mapping choices. I didn't look to see if they can be remapped, but I doubt it. The best part of the beta were the sounds (truly amazing, to put it bluntly) and a top-notch display/interface appearance. There's a bit too many button presses for simple tasks like seeing the scoreboard, however.

I'm glad I didn't pre-order at this point. I know it's a beta, but it didn't leave me wanting to play the finished version.

I wouldn't say the graphics are bad. I'd say they're actually pretty decent. If DICE had shown the 360 version at the same time as the PC version it would not be as big a blow. The PC version wrote checks the 360 version couldn't cash, but DICE had us almost convinced that it might be able to. I haven't seen Crysis 2 running on the 360 so I can't say about that. I've noticed that sometimes you cannot see a sniper even when he's in front of you, because he's lying near a bush and the two are hard to see.

I've only seen Operation Metro. Caspian Border is meant to be better but it's not on the Xbox 360 beta as far as I know. Metro is not a map that welcomed me to the game with open arms, after the open nature of Bad Company 2's maps. There are way too many choke points along Metro, especially inside the tunnels. In fact, the entire underground is a choke point. It's too linear to feel like a Battlefield game to me but I know there has to be a few good maps on the 360 version of the game.

Having looked through the options, the buttons cannot be remapped. Which is a kick in the teeth for anyone hoping to get a remap. Well, maybe they can, but the UI for the game is stupendously cumbersome. In Bad Company 2, if you wanted to remove an attachment, you flipped right over to it, and took it off in about three seconds. In Battlefield 3's beta you flick to the class, press X, press A, scroll down, press left and right until you get it off, then press X again to start playing. Far less intuitive.

I honestly thought the sound in Bad Company 2 was better, as well; and I'm not saying it just because I'm not a fan of the beta. The noise of the MG3 was downright godly, especially with War Tapes enabled. Even with War Tapes on Battlefield 3 guns feel less powerful. I want noise from my gun, and the MG3 covered that base nicely. I'm not too bothered with seeing the scoreboard, but the menu in the game is a lot slower than in Bad Company 2, and I'm not a fan of the mini-map, which is quite difficult to see in the bright parts of Operation Metro.

I didn't pre-order so it's no loss to me. I'll probably pick the game up, but so far I'm thinking it's the disappointment I had hoped it would not be. :(

[Digitalx]

I honestly thought the sound in Bad Company 2 was better, as well; and I'm not saying it just because I'm not a fan of the beta. The noise of the MG3 was downright godly, especially with War Tapes enabled. Even with War Tapes on Battlefield 3 guns feel less powerful.

I think there was more focus on realistic sound this time round which is good and lets face it, it doesn't sound that great in real life just due to share loudness but in this it's still nice cause they've filtered most of that out. As far as MG3 was concerned they don't call it the ripper for no reason lol It's sound stands out like in BC2 in real life they just have a substantial lack of weapons in this game to give unique variety like that.

[Paul Ferson Veteran]

I think there was more focus on realistic sound this time round which is good and lets face it, it doesn't sound that great in real life just due to share loudness but in this it's still nice cause they've filtered most of that out. As far as MG3 was concerned they don't call it the ripper for no reason lol It's sound stands out like in BC2 in real life they just have a substantial lack of weapons in this game to give unique variety like that.

That's possible enough, to be honest. The game is going for some realism (+1 for giving characters legs), so I can live with the sounds. There seems to be plenty of variety coming in the core game so hopefully weapon sounds will be easly recognised again. The MG3 was my favorite gun in the game because the noise was just so distinctive. I loved it because the noise was enough to get some people moving around a little. I wouldn't say panicked, but the noise was enough to distract some people for a few seconds. Hopefully I get a gun that lets me do that again. :D

[Aaron Olive]

Found the yellow Mirror's Edge delivery bag in the metro map behind a locked gate, nice little Easter egg.

[Digitalx]

That's possible enough, to be honest. The game is going for some realism (+1 for giving characters legs), so I can live with the sounds. There seems to be plenty of variety coming in the core game so hopefully weapon sounds will be easly recognised again. The MG3 was my favorite gun in the game because the noise was just so distinctive. I loved it because the noise was enough to get some people moving around a little. I wouldn't say panicked, but the noise was enough to distract some people for a few seconds. Hopefully I get a gun that lets me do that again. :D

Yeah I hope they have a platform for adding more in future cause looking at battlelogs unlock weapon list on the right ( mine: http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/soldier/Antz007x/weapons/244017148/pc/ ) in the unlocks menu provides a pretty grim look for weapons unfortunately I think they also rather lacked a military advisor on this so as far as realism from a game companies point of view it's close but no cigar which I suppose is alright considering all things like people who think call of duty is a realistic approach to weapons performance and usage and avoiding such silly squabbles over things as such.

[Ayepecks]

When I say "maps" I'm referring to the indoor and outdoor segments of Metro. They're split into different maps, aren't they?

I tried holding down the select button and just pressing it, and it never worked. The select button did nothing for me, no matter how long I pressed the button for -- believe me, I tried for about five minutes. It could've been a bug, however, I'll try again later and let you know if it changes. (Which, it could -- I've encountered so many bugs it's not even funny.) The pop-up issues were insane on my 360, and I've been hearing similar complaints from everyone I talked to. I'm not saying you're lying by any means, just that if it is related to resolution, it's impacting a lot of people, if not the majority. My TV resolution is 1366 x 768, I believe, which is what I set my HDMI to on my 360.

As far as graphics: I stand by my statement that they're bad. Not in comparison to the PC bad, I mean in comparison to other console games bad. Perhaps "bad" is a slight overstatement, but given how much they hyped them, I'm not seeing much positive at all. It's no comparison to a game like Gears of War 3, and it's nowhere near as good as Crysis 2. The video they released of the 360 version's singleplayer looked much better, which is to be expected, but I didn't expect the quality of the beta to be so poor.

To put it bluntly, there's no way on earth this will compete with Modern Warfare 3 on consoles. I'm sure the PC version will find a good community, but on the consoles it just plays like a mess, at least on what's been released thus far.

Edit: My bad, it's all still one map. I was thinking it launched different maps when you advanced.

[BoredBozirini]

All I can say so far from the PS3 beta is.... **** All Snipers. :laugh:

Yeah, its quite boring when everyone defending is a sniper. The good news is that if you find a good squad to play with, even losing is fun.

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

searched the forums but didnt find anything

anybody know how to change the keybinds, i tried the keybind section but after i select the control, i push the key and nothing, only thing i can do is exit, i dont even have mouse unless i hit escape twice

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

My goodness. Some console players need to play more as a team and less as a running and gunning lone wolf. In most of the games I've played on the Xbox 360, I had to arm the MCOMs myself. It's sad when the entire attacking team is around one of the MCOMs and nobody arms it.

Another thing that's bad is people that push up while defending. They create gaps that the attackers can slide through and that has gotten me killed a lot of times. Imagine you're defending one of the MCOMs and you're team is all around you. They start pushing up and one enemy soldier sneaks past all of them to knife you and to arm the MCOM you were defending.

I'm beginning to think DICE wanted to appeal more to the Call of Duty crowd with this beta. :/

[Vykranth]

Second day playing the Beta on the 360 and it did not end well: it was jettisoned from the hard drive.

I found another bug: sometimes, when I respawn, the screen keeps the grey-blue hue of the previous countdown screen.

But it is not this particular problem that made me stop: it is everything: the overall balance of the weapons, the lag and the design of the Metro map and ultimately, the fact that I did not have fun at all on that game.

I spoke with several of my friends and the feeling of disappointment for the particular X360 versions Ayepecks spoke is shared.

I know that a lot of them had great expectations.

On high-end PCs, it will be probably a great, gorgeous game but on the console, it is now a big No-No for me.

[Digitalx]

Second day playing the Beta on the 360 and it did not end well: it was jettisoned from the hard drive.

I found another bug: sometimes, when I respawn, the screen keeps the grey-blue hue of the previous countdown screen.

This happens on pc too, it's switching screens too fast causes it. Just have to suicide or get killed then goes back to normal.

[Boz]

Too many COD kiddies playing Metro.. it's so frustrating. I swear to God this is why EA/Dice released Metro for beta. they wanted to attract COD players.

Lone wolf, running like headless flies and getting killed as if it's COD is getting REALLY annoying. I think I won't be playing Xbox 360 MP for BF3. It's just awful.

PC on the other hand, not only looks GLORIOUS!! but the teamwork is FANTASTIC. If we can probably agree on, PC players have far more teamwork appreciation.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Too many COD kiddies playing Metro.. it's so frustrating. I swear to God this is why EA/Dice released Metro for beta. they wanted to attract COD players.

Lone wolf, running like headless flies and getting killed as if it's COD is getting REALLY annoying. I think I won't be playing Xbox 360 MP for BF3. It's just awful.

PC on the other hand, not only looks GLORIOUS!! but the teamwork is FANTASTIC. If we can probably agree on, PC players have far more teamwork appreciation.

Agreed. At first, it didn't bother me but then I started to notice that these players refuse to work as a team. They'll do their own thing 99% of the time and they seem to only play for the kills.

I noticed that more people work as a team in the PC version. I guess it's because most of them have played at least one Battlefield game before this one so they know how to work as a team.

[Pupik]

You people should really start playing with friends/people you know with TS. Even in metro, it's a blast for me (I still think they should have dropped metro instead of caspian border).

We're moving in group of 3-5 when attacking, and with unlimited med/ammo packs and usage of defibrillator, we're an unstoppable force.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

Really enjoying metro on PS3 as the support class. Hope that destruction gets turned on before the beta ends. I was holding one of the last points with all kinds of fire rocking the walls and all I could think was in BC2 I'd be screwed.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

You people should really start playing with friends/people you know with TS. Even in metro, it's a blast for me (I still think they should have dropped metro instead of caspian border).

We're moving in group of 3-5 when attacking, and with unlimited med/ammo packs and usage of defibrillator, we're an unstoppable force.

I have no issues with teamwork on the PC version. In fact, I have 5 friends with the necessary skill and experience from previous Battlefield games. We have a ventrilo server that we use to communicate and often times, we do really well because of that. As for the Xbox 360, I have only a couple of close friends that I play with regularly but not all of them are on at the same time. It's usually just me and one other person which makes for a frustrating experience when we're the only people talking in our squad.

Also, has anyone noticed something peculiar about the squad system? It seems as though you can't create your own squad. You're either in one or you're not and most of the time, you can't choose which squad to join. Actually, I think that only happens with the Xbox 360 version. I remember choosing a squad in the PC version but not creating one (like you could in Bad Company 2).

[trag3dy]

I don't know. I haven't really delved into how the squad system works yet. How does the game choose who gets to be the captain of the squad? And what is the purpose of the captain anyways? I can't tell that they do anything special other than have a star next to their name. I haven't figured out how to see a list of squads yet, too, only the squad that I'm in.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

I've just picked the opition to join before the round started. Tonight got lucky and was teamed up with one of the other top guys on the server and we carried the team one round then picked up 2 more to take 4 of the top 5 spots in a few rounds.

[P.M.K]

Hi guys,

Anyone playing this with a CrossFire and Eyefinity setup??

If so how have you found it??

[HellboundIRL]

I've also been wondering about the squads, was trying to team up with some friends tonight but couldn't figure out how to get in the same squad while in game.

Also, what happened to the commo rose? I believe they said it was going to be in Battlefield 3 but no sign of it in the beta.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I don't know. I haven't really delved into how the squad system works yet. How does the game choose who gets to be the captain of the squad? And what is the purpose of the captain anyways? I can't tell that they do anything special other than have a star next to their name. I haven't figured out how to see a list of squads yet, too, only the squad that I'm in.

I think it's random. From what I've read before the beta, you could only spawn on the squad leader. That isn't the case though as I was able to spawn on various people in my squads. Aside from that, the squad leader doesn't serve any special purpose. Also, I don't think there's a way to see a list of squads.

Hi guys,

Anyone playing this with a CrossFire and Eyefinity setup??

If so how have you found it??

No, but I read a post in this thread where someone mentioned how buggy Eyefinity was.

I've also been wondering about the squads, was trying to team up with some friends tonight but couldn't figure out how to get in the same squad while in game.

Also, what happened to the commo rose? I believe they said it was going to be in Battlefield 3 but no sign of it in the beta.

As far as I'm aware, you can't join any squad you want. It automatically puts you into a squad and that usually means being in a different squad than your friend (which is very annoying).

As for the commo rose, they said it wouldn't be available in the beta; however, it would be available in the final version. Daniel Matros, DICE's Global Community Manager, tweeted about it.

[trag3dy]

I don't get why we're playing a version of the game that is so severely outdated. How can they expect people to properly report bugs and things like that?

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I don't remember the Bad Company 2 beta being this buggy. In fact, I can't remember a single bug from that beta aside from some performance issues. What I don't like is the "it's fixed in the final version" excuse. I think it'd be so much better if they updated the beta with all the bug fixes they have so far. At the very least, it'd make the beta more enjoyable.

[ahmz]

*installs Origin

*downloads bf3 beta to origin

*clicks play

*browser window launches :/

*ea page shows "Sorry, that page doesn't exist"

*???

*release it on steam!

I've since gotten around that problem but WTH, so many more hoops

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

I don't get why we're playing a version of the game that is so severely outdated. How can they expect people to properly report bugs and things like that?

My feeling is their deadline / release date has probably crept up on them, and combined with some (clearly management induced) politics around not releasing it on Steam and it being pushed out over their own content delivery system, and a promise to deliver a public beta, they've simply thrown out an old build as a "box ticking exercise" to try and keep people happy.

As has been said, I think it'll do them more harm than good in the end. I feel sorry for the developers working for these big companies sometimes.