Battlefield 3

[Brandwin]

I've completed one campaign mode in COD and BF series and that was because I got MW2 five days early and servers weren't up yet.

I get shooters for multiplayer. I couldn't care less about single player.

[Millennium]

4 hours until it's unlocked! Can't wait.

4 hours? Huh?

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: Battlefield 3

4 hours? Huh?

I think he is in Europe or the like...

But I believe they do not unlock until 12am PST... so if you are EST, you have to wait till 3am, and even later in other countries across the pond. Thus I will not be playing until 8am tomorrow morning when I get home from the gym.

[fatleg3]

Re: Battlefield 3

Apparently IGN review was leaked:

Spoiler

Battlefield 3 suffers from an identity crisis. It delivers scorching multiplayer, fitting of its decade-long pedigree of famously expansive big-team battles, but loses focus through a generic single-player campaign that feels like a different game. While DICE may not yet have the single-player know-how to deliver a memorable story, they don't need to. Battlefield 3's online warfare raises every bar imaginable, delivering one of the best multiplayer experiences of the year. I doubt Battlefield purists will complain much about the campaign, though; I know you're enlisting in this battle to bring down entire armies online.

Editor's Note: IGN only received PC copies for review purposes. I'll post an update or an entirely different review if our playthrough merits it, once we play Xbox 360 and PS3. Thanks for your patience.

From the beaches of Kharg Island to the hills of Damavand Peak, Battlefield 3's multiplayer maps provide an immediate sense of scale. Everything about their design screams size, personalization, and taking creative initiative to succeed. Choose to pop headshots from the prone position, spin barrel rolls in a jet outfitted with personal unlocks, or see how many dog tags you can knife from your opponents; Battlefield 3's multiplayer is about the freedom of choice.

The online fight feels like a cartography lesson. Depending on the game mode, each map utilizes a different area or shifts wider and wider as gameplay progresses. You might not see half of a map like Operation Firestorm or Seine Crossing during your first few Rush matches. Yes, certain areas feel empty and repeated map elements like shipping crates conjure deja vu, but the sense of scope is exhilarating. Where many online shooters teach you the nooks and crannies of every map, Battlefield 3 is a wide sandbox that encourages variety and exploration. Battlefield 3 shines in matches with 63 other players, where every bullet has a new enemy's name on it.

Is the gameplay balanced? Battlefield 3's online teeter-totter comes down to personal preference. I've been pinned down at my spawn point in Operation Metro by a dozen, well-stocked snipers and I've taken over an entire conquest map single-handedly. I'm no Maverick in a jet, so I learned to rain down hellfire from a chopper. For any class or tactic that doesn't work, Battlefield 3 offers alternatives like a painter's palette. All four streamlined classes (Soldier, Engineer, Assault, and Recon) get their own problem-solving unlocks, so leveling each one is paramount to sitting on top of the leaderboards.

Battlefield 3's rewards and progression will keep you coming back to its online rumble for a long time. From adding heat-seeking missiles to an Anti-Aircraft Tank to simply changing camouflage, there's always a carrot dangling just out of reach – if you can wrangle the score to earn it. While the newly implemented Team Deathmatch modes encourage high kills and low deaths, Battlefield remains a team-based game where you can sit atop the scoreboard no matter how many times you've died. Heal an injured teammate, resupply a sniper, or make sure a tank gets fixed up, Battlefield is about working towards the greater good and it's just as refreshing now as it was in 2002 – all while looking outstanding on PC.

From sun flares to dust bursting from a collapsing building, Battlefield 3's Frostbite 2 engine provides marvelous visuals. It performs admirably on lowered settings for those who don't have a top-of-the-line PC while still providing bragging rights for anyone who's doubled up on their 580s. Nighttime elements present a stark intensity, with glowing fluorescent signs dotting the cityscape. The waves crashing on a beach below a late-game villa are mesmerizing – as is the simple scrub brush dotting maps like Operation Firestorm. At maximum settings, Battlefield 3 looks stunning.

The engine isn't perfect by any means – I encountered prone legs jutting through walls, saw snipers half-buried in mountainsides, watched my dead body stick through the hood of a jeep, and even noticed a story character float in a straight line from point A to point B, walls be damned. I've seen flower pots float in midair, noticed AI soldiers in their shooting position long after death, and I somehow committed suicide by running over the lip of a crater. These glitches aren't constant and while they're annoying, they don't break the game. But they do break the immersion of the story and in the case of an undeserved multiplayer suicide, cause unneeded frustration.

While longtime fans know Battlefield as a multiplayer experience, its campaign and cooperative experiences can't be ignored. For those of you more interested in the single-player campaign than multiplayer, definitely take note. Whereas both Battlefield: Bad Company games added a story underwritten with humor, Battlefield 3 takes a more serious path. Its tale of global threats reads like twenty years of military fiction thrown in a blender and turned into a checklist. WMDs? Check. Russians? Uh huh. Insurgents tucked into Middle Eastern alleyways? Yup. It's all there and woven into levels through the recollections of Sergeant James Blackburn during an interrogation (didn't we see this in Call of Duty: Black Ops?). There's inherent tension in the threat of a terrorist attack, but Battlefield 3's campaign feels like well-tread ground.

Battlefield 3's campaign does hit some memorable moments (especially in the visuals department), but as a whole it's trite and frustrating. The campaign jams Battlefield 3's multiplayer into a linear box where freedom of choice gets thrown out a non-destructible window. There are only a few buildings to blow holes in, barely any vehicles to take the wheel of, and quicktime events adorn enemy encounters in almost every level. While you can literally crash a helicopter on an opponent's head while parachuting to safety if you so choose in multiplayer, campaign makes you hit spacebar at just the right moment to avoid getting punched – they're two different games.

The co-op missions surround the events of the campaign, yet feel more enjoyable as individual levels. Working with a teammate leads to more creative approaches of attacks, though the same AI frustrations are in place. While opening doors and other set events, enemies gain invulnerability. They also have an uncanny ability to pick you out of the crowd. Even while using an AI teammate as cover – not standard operating procedure, I know – enemies still find you. Additionally, most levels feature a bottleneck where death hits out of the blue. Whether it's a grenade exploding without an indicator, a blast from an unseen enemy, or late-game quicktime event that introduces a new button, the campaign and co-op levels are a minefield of frustration – especially when cranking the difficulty up to hard. All told, it's a brief affair – I burned through the single-player portion in under six hours, the co-op content adds another two or three.

Yea i agree with this review for the most part. The campaign mode is just not exciting. When im playing it i find myself just playing it to finish it rather then playing it because i enjoy it. I did enjoy both bad company campaigns because of the humor.

Spoiler

There is only so many way you can tell the story of solider x going to place x and finding a nuke or info on a nuke, then bad guy x tries to launch a nuke and start a war, and solider x has to stop him.

BTW I will be streaming again today at around 11 am est. I would stream now but i have to watch first take lol.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: Battlefield 3

Yea i agree with this review for the most part. The campaign mode is just not exciting. When im playing it i find myself just playing it to finish it rather then playing it because i enjoy it.

Spoiler

There is only so many way you can tell the story of solider x going to place x and finding a nuke or info on a nuke, then bad guy x tries to launch a nuke and start a war, and solider x has to stop him.

This game has a single player?

Spoiler

[RivaGe]

Re: Battlefield 3

4 hours? Huh?

South Korean VPN.

[mrprice33]

Joystiq review is up. On my phone so I can't link, but it got a 4.5/5. Review text says basically that sp and co-op stink, but mp is first class.

[LoWw]

Re: Battlefield 3

How much hdd space do you need for the 360, I only have a Slim? I do have a PS3 but like Live better.

Edit:According to the bf3blog.com 1.5GB for install.

[erickonasis]

Re: Battlefield 3

Bingo. I don't take any shooter serious. I play aggressive and I play for fun. Life is too short to get stressed with team members if they don't wear a mic. I mute everyone with every game I play online, I just use my instincts and go for the objectives. I always have fun playing that way. If people don't like it, I am sorry. I would rather play the game with random strangers than people who get upset that I don't have a lofty K/D ratio or refuse to use a mic.

So, if using a mic is mandatory for your squad mates, go ahead and delete me from your friend list. If you don't care, feel free to add me.

i would add u just for that reason....i dont feel like talking either most of the time i just want to play

[iAM-IncReDiBLe-]

Sooo I have Tuesday an Wednesday off from work... Yea its battlefield time.

Sent from Jesus EVO

[42]

Re: Battlefield 3

Not sure if this was posted but here are the Trophies/Achievements


http://www.ps3trophies.org/game/battlefield-3/trophies/


http://www.xbox360achievements.org/g.../achievements/

[fatleg3]

Re: Battlefield 3

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/battlefield-3-ps3

Stream is live. Will be streaming until about 430 or 5 est. Then some more around 10.

Im playing multiplayer and might try some co op

[seasprite]

Re: Battlefield 3

Server browsing on the 360 is boss. So nice that I can pick a server and see the ping and what region it is in.

[AUChase]

Re: Battlefield 3

Sooo I have Tuesday an Wednesday off from work... Yea its battlefield time.

Sent from Jesus EVO

I went and paid my pre order off this morning & plan to go pick the game up at midnight.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aBaYVo89mmY" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: Battlefield 3

Server browsing on the 360 is boss. So nice that I can pick a server and see the ping and what region it is in.

Glad to see PC features trickling to consoles, and what PC gamers have enjoyed since the beginning of online gaming!