Battlefield 3

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: Battlefield 3

Yeah, IDK, I saw vehicles wrecking fools when I was on the lagfest... I was tanking buildings and people as well.

[SinisterAlex]

Re: Battlefield 3

Like Enigma mentioned, these servers are an utter lagfest.

[Flawless]

Re: Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 “Final Hours” Press Event

Though all 9 maps were present and playable, I was able to play through 3: Operation Firestorm – Conquest (Xbox 360), Caspian Border – Conquest (PS3) and Grand Bazaar – Rush (Xbox 360).

Here are a few of my thoughts from the maps and a list of improvements I noticed from the beta:

Operation Firestorm – Conquest (Xbox 360)

• A linear map with three flag captures, desert setting, like a cross between Arica Harbor of BFBC2 and Gulf of Oman of BF2.
• Each team has a plethora of vehicles including 2 jets, 2 choppers, tanks and jeeps.
• All flag captures are in the middle of a giant oil refinery spanning most of the map. The refinery contains a lot of tall structures, ladders, cranes, and construction buildings. Great for snipers.
• Though scaled for consoles, map still felt really large. I never once hit the boundaries while flying a jet. Map’s size slightly smaller than Heavy Metal.

Grand Bazaar – Rush (Xbox 360)

I’m not as big a fan of rush, but this map was really fun!

• Middle Eastern setting, lots of alleyways, quick corners, rooms and offshoots to get to the objectives. Found myself a little backwards at times which made it feel less linear.
• Impressive ambient lighting from porch lights and sun, great atmospherics made the city feel life-like.
• Map seem to turn directions as objectives were taken

Caspian Border – Conquest (PS3)

• Though DICE has said the map has been scaled down to fit consoles still, felt very large. Environment looked the same as PC, objectives seem closer than the PC counterpart, that’s really the only difference.
• Lighting effects were phenomenal on this map. Found myself blinded by the sun more than once in a dogfight.
• 24 players still felt really fun on this map. I didn’t find myself having to search for people to kill.

New improvements since the beta:

• First thing I noticed on the consoles were the graphics. They looked much better than the beta. Textures were smoother, character movements were much more fluid, and environments seemed to have more warmth to them. Also, the lighting was more dynamic, atmospherics more gritty and present, things just seem to run smoother on this build. All the frame rate issues, glitches, pops and sound drops of the beta were nowhere to be found. Bach reiterated that the beta was already a month and a half old before it was launched because of the time it takes to certify for release. It’s amazing how much polish they were able to put on the game since the beta.

Gameplay changes:

• When placing a spawn beacon or a enemy motion sensor as a sniper, the devices would appear red indicating that it could not be placed in that location. When the device could be placed, it would turn yellow. Very helpful visual cue as the beta gave no cue.
  Your player screen loses color saturation as a new visual indicator (besides the timer) when you go out of bounds.

• Same sort of visual indicator as the out of bounds screen appears but with blood surrounding it when you’re low on health.
• Hit boxes were dramatically improved. My bullets didn’t magically go through enemies’ torsos.
• When running as the assault/medic class, the visual indicator of an incapacitated teammate is more prominent with a circle surrounding the defrib symbol now.

• Jet stick controls on console are similar to BF1943 on console. If you don’t prefer those controls, they are completely customizable. Also, when your jet is low on health, it becomes a little more difficult to control until it is completely incapacitated and falls from the sky. Y (or triangle) switches between your heat-seeking missiles and your cannon. R-bumper (or R1) deploys smoke.

• Flying choppers felt almost exactly like BFBC2. Was able to fly right away.
• Changing views in the vehicles has been moved back to the R-stick much like BFBC1 unlike up on the D-pad on BFBC2.
• Parachutes take little longer to deploy than BFBC2, and while in the air they are a little harder to control to your destination.
• Death animations look more realistic. No more funky physics where their body flies 30 feet across the screen after being killed. Player’s eyes are closed when they die.
• Knifing animation looks a lot better, especially when knifing someone on the ground.
• Frostbite 2 was in full effect in terms of destruction. Buildings were tumbling down, everything was being destroyed around me in most every map I played.
• The amount of damage it takes to kill an enemy on regular mode seems a little less than the beta.
• I was able to equip the knife on the PS3 build. Not sure about the Xbox 360.
• You CAN spawn in to jets in both console builds, there is an option on the menu spawn screen to do so.

[Flawless]

Re: Battlefield 3

Is it actually higher-res textures or just streaming the textures in faster?

Battlefield 3 Gets a High Res Installation Option

Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are confirmed to have installation options for high-resolution textures.

"There's a voluntary install on the 360," Liu said to GamerZines. "I think Rage did it as well, where you can install content to stream higher res textures. We're pushing that technology to the limit, and compared to our competitors, I would argue that we're the best looking game."

IGN reached out to EA for a statement or confirmation on this additional feature, and they responded:

"Battlefield 3 for Xbox 360 ships on two disks with endless hours of spectacular high-definition gameplay; disk one features the stunning multiplayer, co-op levels and HD installation content, and disk two features the superb single-player campaign."

Additionally, we asked EA whether or not the game would offer the same feature for PS3 owners, and fortunately this seems to be the case. "The PS3 version requires the same install but it's all on the one blu-ray disk," a spokesperson for the company confirmed.

[ESPNdeportes]

Re: Battlefield 3

With that PS3 video above, are they ever going to show tanks/planes/helicopters before release on a console or just keep showing maps without any vehicles at all?

good question

[Goffs]

Re: Battlefield 3

Does anybody know if they have more factions? I'm hoping for the MEC make their return.

[Kramer5150]

Re: Battlefield 3

DICE: BF3 on “PS3… A Focus From The Start” and Caspian Border on Console Beta a Possibility


Battlefield Battlefield 3 News — 07 October 2011



In the opinion of many gamers, many recent multiplatform games seem slightly, but noticeably under-developed on the ported platforms when produced with a lead platform in mind.

One example we could look at is Call of Duty: Black Ops, who’s lead platform was the Xbox 360. On release, the game ran smoothly on the 360 and it saw little problems. However, the PS3 and PC version were comparably rough at launch. It perhaps could have been because It was optimized for the 360 and didn’t achieve 100% compatibility with the others. This is why many games look and run best on the 360, when technically, they “should” run better on the PS3 or PC, who have the stronger hardware. This is often the case with many other games, however, with some exceptions (more on this below).
Recently on Twitter, Gustav Halling, Gameplay Designer at DICE, had this to say about id Software’s recently released Rage: “As always x360 looks just a tiny bit better that PS3 on multiplat.” He continued: “Look at the more detailed textures on the x360 and the weird ‘brightness’ layer on the PS3.” He concluded with: “I wasn’t saying Rage was looking bad. But many games don’t focus enough on PS3. On BF3 we have had PS3 as a focus from the start.”
We’ll leave it up to you guys to decide on which platform Rage looks best on, but these statements are interesting because it goes to show that DICE has really stepped up and developed each version of Battlefield 3 with the strength of each platform in mind. A situation like this can be rare since it requires a lot of extra work on the developer’s side. However, DICE has been at work on their brand new Frostbite 2 engine and Battlefield 3 for years now. So perhaps, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that from what we’ve all played of the game so far, that the 360 and PS3 versions should be on par with eachother.
In other news, after just having recently said ”No maps are currently being added to the open beta!” Battlefield, The official BF3 Twitter account, quickly flipped a 180 and stated ”DICE has decided to bring back Caspian for the beta’s last weekend to conduct open large scale test of 64-player capabilities.” Curious about the console version? DICE had this to say: “Caspian Border will be coming to all platforms at launch, but its to soon to say for console’s beta.” Too soon to say? Could this mean that it will eventually be said? It’s too easy to speculate, but DICE has done some pretty surprising things already by just making the map available after saying it won’t be. We can always hope.
How do you feel about the different versions of Battlefield 3? Do you think it’s being optimized for each system? Let us know in the comments section below and don’t forget to follow @MPFirst on Twitter!

http://mp1st.com/2011/10/07/bf3-dice-ps3-a-focus-from-the-start-and-caspian-border-on-console-beta-a-possibility/

[Kramer5150]

Re: Battlefield 3

Planes, Tanks, and Automobiles: Battlefield 3

Big maps and vehicles make everything better.

October 7, 2011



Level 6

by Peter Eykemans
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Battlefield 3 holds the weight of the gaming world on its shoulders. With the unavoidable comparison to Call of Duty, all eyes are on DICE and EA create something awesome. Since June, we've seen little to no news of progress beyond several demos of Operation Metro, a touch of the campaign, and a glimpse of what it's like to fly jets. Additionally, the public beta birthed widespread concern over whether or not the game can live up to the hype. With just over two weeks until the game arrives on store shelves, this dearth of info served as a red flag -- until now. After tackling a combination of single player, co-op, and multiplayer in a fresh build of Battlefield 3, I must say I'm pleasantly surprised.

Is it as glitchy as the beta? Not in my experience. If you've noticed, the beta hasn't updated on consoles and the build available to the public is over six weeks old. My time spent with these maps on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 flowed smoothly the entire time. I never saw anyone fall through the map and no long-neck avatars squirmed across the ground twitching. Not only that, enemies appear to take more damage to kill -- another qualm I had with what I'd played before the latest demo. Steady aim is paramount to success and I'd often have to run down a wounded player to finish them off. I too escaped death a few times after absorbing some damage and rushing to safety.


<center>BF3: Operation Firestorm Developer Commentary
</center>
As a match faded in on a level called Operation Firestorm, I breathed a sigh of relief. The map is enormous. Built for 64 players on PC, this Conquest map screams Battlefield through and through. Tanks, jeeps, and buggies rumble across the desert while jets and helicopters tear through the skies. Burning oil fields decorate the horizon with black smoke, and the sheer scale of the experience feels like a return to the series' roots. Running (as well as driving or flying) from point to point to raise my team's flag felt great and I couldn't help but forget my growing concerns from what I'd experienced of Battlefield 3 in the past.

This feeling continued on a smaller map called Grand Bazaar that featured tanks rumbling through the town square, and tight nooks and crannies dotting the shuttered store fronts of the level's marketplace. Fighting through the objectives in this map showed off destruction, allowing you to blow holes in walls to make your own doors and get through buildings quickly. The balance of tight corridors and a wide open center area made for a great balance, and again a better representation of the series' aim than the narrow length of Operation Metro.

<center>BF3: Grand Bazaar Developer Commentary
</center>
While it's too early to make any calls on Battlefield 3's narrative, a few campaign levels show a familiar storytelling device. Set against the interrogation of a Sergeant Blackburn, the actual campaign levels are memories the Sergeant recollects to two suits prodding him for info about a New York terror plot. Remember how each level of Call of Duty: Black Ops played out as a memory of the protagonist?

Without spoiling the story, there are a few key elements of the single player experience to discuss. The levels do force a certain linearity that strays from the more open levels of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. But after seeing a greater portion of the game than our last preview, the levels do break into larger, open firefights. The only problem is that the enemies then spawn from set points and seem to suffer from a Medal of Honor-ish "enemy dispenser" problem.

You can't buzz the tower (in campaign).

One fun level from the campaign showed off an interesting approach. Stepping into the shoes of a female pilot you take the backseat of a fighter jet, taking off from an aircraft carrier and shooting down enemy Migs north of Tehran. While you're not in control, you're tasked with spotting jets chasing you, releasing flares to avoid incoming missiles, and locking on to bad guys when you have the shot. It's a refreshing balance to the levels set shooting your way through tight Middle Eastern marketplaces and rubble.

Still curious about more ways to play? Meet co-op. Co-op levels are separate from the single player campaign but revolve around scenarios linked into the main story. I'd liken the experience to a roaming survival mode. Each map has an objective or task, and you and your partner need to stay alive to accomplish that feat. Thus, you need to stay alive as enemy after enemy burst through doors and try to take you down -- at least in the level entitled Hit and Run that I played. With only a handful of time spent in this mode, it feels like fun additional content to keep the fight going outside of the main story.

The streets aren't safe.

The final version of Battlefield 3 still isn't ready for us to review and DICE have been frantically implementing notes from the beta into their current build. What I experienced of the game still revealed some minor glitches, but it's come a long way from the beta you might be playing right now. While the campaign may hold shadows of familiarity and clich�, the multiplayer places its best foot forward and looks to please longtime fans of the Battlefield series itching to drive and fly to online glory.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/119/1198929p1.html

[franko3219]

Re: Battlefield 3

I am enjoying the game thus far, but a couple of things have me concerned that it will get old if they do not fix it prior to release:

1. People running around with hand guns and those hand guns seeming to be more accurate/powerful than your main weapon.

2. The ability to accurately shoot while you are being shot. This has to be my biggest frustration to this point, that I can start shooting on someone who does not see me, and yet they can turn and take me out with one shot with the sniper rifle and/or shotgun. I do not mind if it happens once and a while, but this really makes suppression weapons useless if you can just run around and quick scope everyone.

Other than those two issues, and the lag issue on the beta as it is pratically impossible to play once you get to the last set of objectives on rush because of the lag (360 version), I love the game.

[Kramer5150]

Re: Battlefield 3

the lag issue on the beta as it is pratically impossible to play once you get to the last set of objectives on rush because of the lag (360 version), I love the game.

I've noticed this as well,makes it to frustrating to play that part due to all the "stuttering".
It's funny though,on the PS3 these issues aren't there,at least I've never witnessed them.

[bergie56]

Re: Battlefield 3

I'm really glad they opened up Caspian Border as I'm a much bigger fan of conquest than rush. This game is awesome! I am having issues with lag and losing connection to the server but the game has been fantastic.

[MissStFan87]

Re: Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 Grand Bazaar Map on PS3: DICE Has Made Improvements

[RedPhazon8]

Re: Battlefield 3

Yeah, getting shot at after you get behind cover, and die from someone lagging is really annoying. I have yet to try out the new map out for the PC Beta. I'm going to soon though...

[Candyman5]

I am enjoying the game thus far, but a couple of things have me concerned that it will get old if they do not fix it prior to release:

1. People running around with hand guns and those hand guns seeming to be more accurate/powerful than your main weapon.

2. The ability to accurately shoot while you are being shot. This has to be my biggest frustration to this point, that I can start shooting on someone who does not see me, and yet they can turn and take me out with one shot with the sniper rifle and/or shotgun. I do not mind if it happens once and a while, but this really makes suppression weapons useless if you can just run around and quick scope everyone.

Other than those two issues, and the lag issue on the beta as it is pratically impossible to play once you get to the last set of objectives on rush because of the lag (360 version), I love the game.

I'm on 360 and the hand guns seem fine to me. I usually pull one out to finish off an enemy or when my clip with my main runs out in the middle of a firefight since it's faster then reloading. They do shoot accurately however if you don't hit your target in the head then it takes a lot of shots to take them down. I use the pistol a lot since my main gun is the shotgun. I use it as a medium range weapon and it works pretty well. The faster you fire the more inaccurate you are however if you aim and take nice steady shots you can take out someone long range. I really think that the issue at this point is the lag. On your screen it may seem like your getting hit 2 times and dropping with the pistol however on my screen I don't hit you 5-6 times.

I mean you could be right, I just haven't noticed anything wrong with the pistol.

I also just figured out that the recon class is a great attacking class. Hear me out, the mobile spawn point is a extremely powerful tool. Slap a pp2000 or shotty on the recon class, throw a mobile spawn point near a obj and boom you can swarm it with ease. Granted if you have a somewhat smart squad members.

Only problem I'm hating with the beta is the engineer (my favorite class) is basically useless on the map on 360. Nothing to repair, no vehicles to detonate, mines are useless. The RPGs are basically useful for suppressing people. I do get a occasional kill with it though. Kind of disappointing.


Sent from me, duh.

[Krebstar]

Re: Battlefield 3

If Caspian Border does make a brief appearance on the console beta, I can kiss my life goodbye. Give me a large conquest map and I'm a happy camper. Well, not a camper. You know what I mean.