PC PC GAMES

There has been a lot of negative push against BF3 by PCPCGames.com over the last few months as the launch became inevitable.  Mainly due to the practices of EA and the focus to produce a Steam competitor through their tool Origin.  EA’s practices soured many of the community users on the game before it was released.

Well, I am here to set it straight.  I am first and foremost an FPS fan and I have played my fair share over the years.  FPS to me is all about multiplayer.  All about the game experience, and to put it very clearly:

BATTLEFIELD 3 DELIVERS!

I cannot make it more clear than this.  This is the first FPS in ages that truly has provided incredible game play, true sense of team dynamics, dynamic and massive environments and sh*t that just blows up.  I loved MW2 (even given it’s crappy IWNet services) and am still looking at MW3. I’ve had a good time with Black Ops, BC2, BF2142, and go all the way back to CS and BF 1942.

Battlefield 3 has stuck to it’s roots.  It is all about the Multiplayer.  If you want single player, stick with CoD series which does their campaigns extremely well.  If you want intense, WTF is going on? GRENADE!!!  BF3 is the place.

To start: The game engine makes a difference.  I have never been about the technology behind the games, but always about gameplay and replayability.  This is why, in my opinion, Counter-Strike has still maintained strong numbers after 10 years.  Make the game good, people will stay.  BF3 has taken their home grown formula and massively enhanced it with a game engine that adds huge dynamics and tactics.

1. Lighting is nuts, gettting blinded by laser sights, flash light mounts, and the sun is crazy impressive
2. Having that wall you’re using as protection disentegrate from Tanks shot, sucks, but at the same time, makes a whole lot of sense.
3. Getting your world shaken and distorted as the ground erupts, bullets ping off your helmet, and your being supressed – well, that’s just cool.

The destructable environments, the suppression system, the graphics in general, the sound, all lead to great game play.  And this is just the first part.

The Maps:

So far, the maps I’ve been on for Conquests have been brilliantly designed allowing for me to play just about every style I could think of, from strict medic to lone Rambo wannabe, to Fast and the Furious jeep driver, the design of the maps, coupled with the environmental functions of the game engine pushes things to the next level.

First, clear battle lines, with solid front choke points, avenues for flanking, areas for vehicles with out minimizing the foot shoulder, makes for amazing encounters.  In many of the huge open terrain maps, where tanks are rolling past and more impressively, the sky is screaming with straffing jets and dogfights, BF3 provides a Battlefield where you never feel alone or in an empty map.  Coupled with the amazing sounds of the game, the experience is daunting, intense, in your face and amazing.  The best way to describe is by discussing an example last night where Rich and I found ourselves in conquest mode, in the subway tunnels and ALL 64 players were fighting desperately for one capture node.  64 players, in a tunnel, fighting! It was 30 minutes of non-stop pulse pounding action as I watched light machine guns tear into the walls, medics constantly braving crossfire attempting to revive fallen comrades.  Grenades, bouncing up and around corners, my screen lighting up as rocket propelled grenades whiz half a foot in front of me then hitting the wall next to me shaking me toon and rendering the scene with perfect wobbleness.

And then I watched as our team, working in teams of 3 and 4, systematically earned each corner, pillar (as long as they were still standing).  Was amazing.

And that is the second thing.  You won’t leave the map as you found it.  By the end of the round, the terrain is changes, the features are different, war happened and you can see it.

The gameplay:

I can not be eloquent enough to truly give you a sense of the game play.  You will enjoy the intense fire fights, the victory of a successful win (or even kill) and the agony of defeat in a clear digital warzone.  BF stayed to it’s roots and provides the type of MP action that made them the bad ass FPS makers in the early 2000s.  While CoD can be cinematically impressive, the BF3 wins in the hands down gritty mp that can only be delivered through huge vehicle laden, foliage cover, destructive environments. 

The classes are well balance, and can be found in all abundance.  Snipers exist, but not in the annoying way, heavy weaponry is effective (especially thankful for the suppression system), assault carries the med packs and engineers the fun gadgets (and damn those mortar shells).

Server Browsing is done through the new web based interface that functions as part game, part Facebook and part server browsing.  It is a new step for game design, and I have found it to be very efficient, effective and useful.  There has been a big cry against this deployment by many community members here, but I have found it to be effective as I go through map loads, I can alt tab over and get all my stats updates, find who is online, invite them and then get back to gaming.  The act of launching the game is Faster, a lot faster.  This hybrid breed of game design allows me to get into the set up faster than most games, and the only pauses come into entering your actual game map and loads for each map. 

It is effective use of today’s social media frenzy of most online users, coupled with the entertainment of comparing yourself to your friends.  (and ribbing them too).

Origin:

This is where the controversy started and bled into other aspects of BF3.  I have zero problem with Origin. I prefer Steam, and when I can, it is my platform of choice.  I can also remember in 2003 where we all cried about having to have Steam to play Halflife.  EA has a lot to learn (and we are talking about EA), and being a marketing manager and working on MBA, I can attest that competition is good.  It will push Steam to continue is stellar performance and provide alternative/substitutes to those who dislike steam.  I do think EA missed out on some serious dollars for not using both platforms, but I am not going to cry about it.  Competition is good (look at how both CoD and DICE upped their games in competition to each other).  choices are good.  I like one platform, but not going to bitch on having more.

The conclusion:

Despite some early hiccups (which none I have experienced), BF3 delivers on the heart and soul of DICE’s franchise.   It is a MP FPS beast, and while CoD will get the overall sales numbers due to Brand name, anyone who wants the best MP FPS experience is going to need to get on with BF3.  I can even say it’s worth the hefty price tag.