Battlefield 3: The New King of Console FPS Games?

When people think of First person shooter (FPS) games, Call of duty is almost always the name that is synonymous with FPS gaming. For better or worse, COD has been a juggernaut when it comes to FPS console gaming. However, in February 2011, DICE (EA Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment) revealed they were working on Battlefield 3, and this sent shockwaves through the gaming community. For the first since 2005, they were releasing a direct sequel to Battlefield 2, one of the greatest FPS games of all time. Not only was Battlefield 3 highly hyped, but it was also coming out a week before Modern Warfare 3. It quickly became a Battlefield.vs. Call of Duty competition for FPS supremacy. This became an indirect message to infinity ward that after 4 years,their reign as the kings of FPS games was being challenged and possibly coming to an end. Now after almost a year of both games being released and all the hype is gone, did Battlefield 3 dethrone Call of Duty as the king of console FPS games?

Graphics, Sound, and Setting:

Battlefield 3 is set in the near future. The game is mainly a multiplayer game, but it does have a single player campaign mode. In the single campaign, you take control of various military operations such as a force recon marine, a Russian spec ops officier, an F-18 fighter pilot, and a M1A2 tank operator. The story of Battlefield 3 is surprisingly interesting and engaging. As you progress through the story there are many twists and turns. The main themes of the story are an upcoming war in 2014 which spans from Iran to France. Battlefield 3 does a good job of blending the action and the story together. Overall, Battlefield 3 has a solid single player story.

While the story is solid, a huge question that many people wonder about are the graphics. When DICE showcased Battlefield 3 at gaming conventions, the graphics looked phenomenal. The footage of the tank and the sands of Karkland were absolutely incredible. The level of detail was unseen in any other game before this.

However, all that footage was pre-rendered and expected to look good. When put into a real-time setting with thousands of changing variables, did BF3 deliver the same amount of intensity and rich realism in it's graphics? It absolutely did. Battlefield 3 is simply put a beautiful game, DICE put $100 million dollars into marketing and it's apparent they wanted to show off a product they are proud of. Battlefield 3′s graphics are made on a new Frostbite 2 engine and new character animation technology called ANT. The frostbite engine allows the game to create immense details, dynamic shadows, and smooth textures all throughout a large environment while it's all destructible. The ANT character animation is incredible, every soldier looks incredibly realistic with facial expressions that change when the action heats up.

The single player campaign in Battlefield 3 spans many locations including Iran, New York, and Paris. Most of the areas are urban with many buildings and DICE did a wonderful job adding clear detail to each area. There are a lot of vibrant colors and Battlefield 3 has great distance terrain.

The graphics in the multiplayer maps are also very impressive. There are 9 main maps, not including the downloadable content. These maps are Caspian Boarder, Damavand Peak, Grand bazaar, Kharg Island, Noshahr Canals, Operation Firestorm, Operation Metro, Seine Crossing, and Tehran Highway. Each of these maps has it's unique elements and style. DICE did a great job of making the multiplayer experience different in each map. Caspian Boarder is a forested map, which is really large. It contains buildings and forests and is excellent for sniping and using vehicles. Damavand peak is set in a dark and rainy market place. Kharg Island is set in a rocky island and has an ocean surrounding it. Noshahr Canals is set in an industrial area with various canals you do battle in.

Seine Crossing is a bright colored map focused in Paris. Tehran Highway is the last main map and it's focused in an urban area in Iran during the night. Overall, the graphics in Battlefield 3 are exceptional, from the single player campaign to the diverse multiplayer maps, there is plenty of variety in each map graphically.

The sound in Battlefield 3 is some of the best sound quality I've ever heard of any game. Each bullet whizzing by sounds sharp and realistic and when you get good enough you can pinpoint where it came from. The tanks, jets, and other vehicle sound effects are all amazingly realistic. The voice acting is superb, and it really feels like your a part of the action. The game also features a 19 track official soundtrack composed by Johan Skugge and Jukka Rintamki. The sound in Battlefield 3 is very impressive. Overall, the graphics in Battlefield 3 are exceptional, from the single player campaign to the diverse multiplayer map, there is plenty of variety in each map graphically.

Graphics: 10/10

Sound/Music: 10/10

Story/Setting: 8/10

Controls and Gameplay:

The controls for Battlefield 3 are your standard First person shooter controls. They can be customized, but the default setting is pressing L1 to aim and R1 to fire, movements done by the left analog stick. The right analog stick allows you to move the camera around. Holding down the analog stick allows you to sprint. Pressing triangle allows you to change weapons, circle is used to interact with objects in the environment, square is used for reloading or picking up a weapon, and the X button is used to jump. The right and left diagonal buttons are used to switch between technologies you have, the up button is used to toggle laser sight, and down is used to toggle between firemodes such as automatic and burst fire. The R2 button allows for a quick knife, while the L2 lets you throw a frag grenade. The controls are easy to learn, but difficult to master. Learning the controls for driving a tank or flying a jet can be confusing at first, and do have a small learning curve. Overall, the controls are fantastic for Battlefield 3.

While the graphics, great sound quality, and interesting story all powerful and set the foundation for a game. None of these things hold a candle to the most important part of games. The gameplay is the heart and soul of games. DICE had a bold task when creating gameplay that would be fast, exciting, and intense enough to knock Call of Duty from it's throne as console gaming king. The team at DICE delivered in many areas, but also fell short in quite a few.

Battlefield 3 uses the Frostbite 2 engine. This engine allows for fully destructible environments, advanced physics, and real-time radiosity. All of these things basically mean that the physics and graphics of Battlefield 3 are vastly improved for every pretty much every game before it. Bullets are able to penetrate through walls seamlessly, the front wall of a building can be blown open from a tank shot, a grenade can send debris flying everywhere when it explodes. Battlefield 3 is one of the most realistic FPS games out there. So many things can happen, but the frostbite 2 engine streamlines them and allows the game to run smoothly by rendering textures at a fast rate. This allows the action and excitement to happen without any lag. There are 3 modes of gameplay in Battlefield 3: the single player campaign, a co-op mode, and multiplayer mode.

The single player campaign looks great and has many different locations, however it can get a bit repetitive. The fact of the matter is that Battlefield 3 is primarily a multiplayer game. The single player campaign is a good way of learning the basics before you go online or in co-op, but it offers no real replayability. It would have also been nice to see the offline map mode from Battlefield 2, where you can play with bots. However, Battlefield 3 does not offer this.

The co-op mode allows you to team up with a player online and complete 6 missions. There are a variety of objectives that you and your partner must complete in each mission. Co-op can be a lot of fun when your playing with a friend, however Battlefield 3 doesn't offer any split-screen co-op. This can really suck if you have friends over, as theres no way to play together unless you have 2 PlayStation 3s.

The multiplayer mode is the main attraction of the game. In Battlefield 3, there are 6 multiplayer gamemodes: Conquest, Rush, Team Deathmatch, Squad Deathmatch, Conquest Domination, and Squad rush. Each gamemode has a different objective and playing each one is a different multiplayer experience all together. Some gamemodes require precise teamwork, while others can be every man for himself. The Conquest gamemode is the classic Battlefield 3 gamemode, in which two teams fight in a large scale map for control of various bases. This gamemode is best suited for teamwork and vehicle warfare. In my opinion, conquest is still the best gamemode. It's exciting and you have a variety of ways to gain points.

In Rush, there are two teams. One team tries to attack and destroy an M-COM station, while the other defends it. Squad Rush is essentially the same, but in a more confined environment. Team Deathmatch is another classic mode where you are part of 12 person team vs another 12 person team. The objective is basically to kill as many enemies as you can and reach a certain amount of kills as a team. This mode doesn't have any vehicles and is all about just going out with guns blazing and killing as many people as possible. Squad Deathmatch is the same as Team Deathmatch, but instead of 2 teams of 12, there are 4 teams of 4 people battling each other to reach a certain amount of kills. Conquest Domination has two teams of 8 people fighting in a close quarters location. It's similar to Conquest, essentially the same, except for it's more confined and has more tactical planning when attacking a base.

When you select a gamemode, you are given 4 classes to select.There is the Assualt class which are the infantry soldiers but also the medics. Selecting Assualt allows you to rack up kills and also revive dead teammates. The Engineer class is able to repair vehicles and carry rocket launchers to take out other vehicles. The Support class is a class that provides others with ammunition and also carry heavy guns that are able to kill many enemies. Recon is the last and final class, and they are the snipers in the game. Recon is useful for taking out opponents from a distance.

Battlefield 3 puts a huge emphasis on teamwork and squads. Each class has major strengths and weaknesses, and to succeed and win being able to utilize each one is essential. Upon joining a conquest game or any other gamemode you are placed into a squad. Being able to come up with tactics and choosing the right classes for the right situations is what makes Battlefield 3 stand out from other First person shooter games. Battlefield 3 has VOIP support meaning you can communicate on a headset with your teammates, it also includes ingame messaging. Battlefield 3 is a solid game if you play it without any other friends, but with friends it's quite simply one of the best games ever made. This game thrives on teamwork.

One of problem of this game are the maps. The same maps that are very detailed can become annoying, because they are very large. You can go minutes without any combat, and also health is lost very easily. It's very easy to die in this game when you first start out. Another major problem is all the downloadable content. You're not obligated to buy DLC, but the game does feel empty without having all the maps and items. The DLC can bring the $60 price tag of Battlefield 3 all the way up to $125. One huge problem in BF3 is that this game requires you to have an online pass. New games come with an online pass, but used games don't. An online pass can only be used once, and buying a new one costs $10. This was done to boost sales, but it really does hurt the resale value of Battlefield 3.

Controls: 9/10

Gameplay: 8/10

Is this game worth buying? Final Thoughts:

Battlefield 3 does a lot of things right: the graphics are incredible, sound quality is outstanding, and the multiplayer is very diverse and exciting. However, it also misses in a lot of areas. No splitscreen co-op, no replayability in the single player campaign, no offline maps, expensive DLC content, and gameplay that can become repetitive after some time leave so much to be desired. Battlefield 3 is ultimately not the revolutionary game that it was hailed to be when the first few minutes of footage were revealed. At the same time, it's by no means a bad game. When you buy Battlefield 3, you're getting a solid, finely made First person shooter. It's similar to Call of Duty in the FPS aspect, but the squad based system, vehicles, and large maps make it a very different experience. I would highly recommend buying Battlefield 3, it is one of those games that you can find yourself coming back to over and over again. Battlefield 3 is a solid game and a definite buy for PlayStation 3 owners. I give it a 9/10.

Breakdown:

Graphics: 10/10

Sound/Music: 10/10

Story/Setting: 8/10

Controls: 9/10

Gameplay: 8/10

Overall: 9/10

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Battlefield 3 - The Battle Continues

Battlefield 3 Special Features

Beyond their signature multiplayer, EA have included a full single-player campaign and a co-op campaign. Battlefield 3 players can enjoy the return of jets, prone, and 64-player multiplayer (for PC gamers). Other features include:

* 24 player support (on Xbox 360/PS3)

* Improved environment destruction.

* Return of commander role

* 4 classes

* Single player campaign + co-op

* New, improved unlocks

Battlefield 3 Classes

Debate surrounds EA's decision to limit the classes in Battlefield 3 to just four. Some Battlefield veterans were hoping for up to seven classes in the game, to cover all bases: medic, assault, spec-ops, anti-tank, and more. However, there is likely to be the option for load-out and customization.

Battlefield 3 Weaponry

Unlike Battlefield 2, where achievements were rewarded with guns, Battlefield 3 will reward players with secondary, explosive, and primary choices for complete load outs to tackle one or more static classes. For example, a Sniper with C4 could cover most bases of an Engineer or Spec-ops, whilst a Spec-ops with an assault rifle and grenades could cover the bases of the Assault class as well. The M4A1 and M249 is also rumoured to feature in Battlefield 3 for Medic, Spec-ops or Support classes.

Battlefield 3 Game Engine

Battlefield 3 launches gaming into the future with Frostbite? 2, DICE's latest state-of-the-art game engine. Frostbite 2 delivers superb visual quality, with an incredible sense of scale and destruction. It also provides cutting-edge audio and lifelike animations to provide a more realistic battle experience than ever before. Battlefield 3 players will be fully immersed physically and emotionally into battle, providing a gaming experience like no other FPS.

Battlefield 3 Vehicles

The Battlefield series is famous for its emphasis on vehicle warfare and Battlefield 3 aims to up the ante with its jets, helicopters and tanks. This is enhanced by sonic boom in an impressive line-up of land, air and sea vehicles.

Battlefield 3 Maps

Battlefield 3 is set to delight with the return of Urban Combat, including the map Bagdad Burning. Other maps will take you to the USA, Middle East, and Europe for battles in narrow streets, busy downtowns and open, vehicle-friendly landscapes.

Prepare for Battle, Soldier!

EA have announced that Battlefield 3 will be available sometime in Fall 2011. Battlefield fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of this next stage in the Battlefield series since 2008 and have high expectations of it being the best FPS ever. Battlefield 3 will see the return of certain features lost in Bad Company 2, plus many more. More details will become available nearer the time. Battlefield 3 is already in high demand with pre-orders increasing daily. Click on the link below for more details.

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An Introduction to Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 will be a FPS game, which uses the new Frostbite 2 graphics engine which provides probably the most realistic FPS experience seen within a game. This highly-anticipated sequel to Battlefield 2 (released in 2005) makes it possible for you to assume the role of elite U.S. Marines and experience breathtaking warfare in spectacular locations for example Iraq, Iran, New York, Paris and Wake Island.

Apart from ground combat, making use of vehicles is an essential part within Battlefield 3 - make use of a tank in order to blast an opening in the opposition's defence, or even call up an air attack. This game has single player gameplay, a cooperative option, as well as multiple multi-player game modes.

GAME FEATURES:

Realistic Combat - The extraordinary Frostbite 2 technology will immerse gamers within the Battlefield 3 environments, such as claustrophobic streets, city downtown areas, and wide open environments suited to vehicles.

Unmatched Vehicle Combat - The franchise's highly-rated vehicular warfare gets even better, with a huge variety of armoured cars, tanks, boats, ships, planes and helicopters accessible by players in the campaign, co-op and multiplayer modes.

Exhilarating Single-Player Campaign - Assume the role of United States Soldier Henry Black to wage extreme warfare within spectacular destinations world-wide. An unparalleled sandbox freedom allows one to approach every battle how you want, and employ numerous vehicle types within these vehicle-friendly locations.

Mind-Blowing Multi-Player Modes - Experience exhilarating multiplayer game play that include up to 24 gamers online. Multiplayer game modes consist of Conquest, Rush, Squad Deathmatch, Squad Rush as well as Team/Squad Deathmatch.

Cooperative Gameplay - Two players can play co-op games online with each cooperative mission having its own storyline as well as dialogue inside the overall cooperative story. Cooperative strategies must be utilized and players should coordinate together in order to complete missions.

The new version of the Frostbite 2 engine, designed by Digital Illusions CE, offers all of the following enhancements:

Superior Destruction - Any destruction of structures and scenery is a lot more realistically portrayed. Through the major damage of an rocket strike, to negligible destruction due to bullets creating chips in walls, this game engine delivers life-like battlefield damage.

Realistic Soldier Animation - The new character animation technology called ANT, used in EA sports titles (FIFA 12), generates more life-like character animations. Soldiers have got more realistic body motions as well as responses.

Next-Generation Rendering - Amazing graphical and lighting improvements, for example light variations inside dark areas, the sun coming through clouds of smoke, and airborne particles of dust being visible within rays of sunshine are a few enhanced rendering effects of Frostbite 2.

Massive Environments - Within Battlefield 3 you will travel over some of the biggest maps actually seen in a game, such as vast desert terrains as well as urban environments - all environments rendered in amazing detail.

HDR Audio - Dynamic sound provides accurate, ambient sounds in various locations. Authentic firearm sounds are influenced by environmental variables (outdoor, indoor, size of open-space and echo factors).

The official launch date for Battlefield 3 is scheduled for September 30th, and is going to be sold on these systems: PS3, PC/Windows and Microsoft Xbox 360. The video game will be published by Electronic Arts, and this game was developed by Digital Illusions CE (DICE). PEGI 18 is the official PEGI ranking for the video game, that means it is appropriate for ages 18 and higher. Multiplayer options will be offered in this video game, for up to 24 gamers.

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Don't Wait to Purchase Battlefield 3 for Your Xbox 360

Battlefield 3 was my most anticipated first person shooter (FPS) game of the year. The previews looked stunning, but there was some fear that what was in the previews was the PC version, and would be watered down to play on the consoles. Thankfully console owners will not be disappointed. When you purchase Battlefield 3, you get two discs - one for the multiplayer version, and another for the single player.

XBOX Comparison

The Xbox360 offers a 'lite' install and a full HD install in addition to the discs - it's well recommended that you clear your hard disc for the full install, as the textures come quite close to the PC version. The minimum install has blocky textures that really belong to a past edition of Battlefield. It says something about the graphics in this game that they have had to pile everything onto two DVDs and still require extra downloads. In comparison to the PC, if you run them side to side, you do notice a difference, but you run this in full HD mode, and are sucked into the combat, it is harder to notice. The PlayStation 3 graphics seem to be slightly sharper than the Xbox360. However, the sound is amazing - the radio chatter and explosions, and the aerial combat action all add to the realism.

Single Player Action

The single player game is slightly disappointing. The game is over too quickly, and the story line is not very inspired. You can suffer from some cheap deaths which is frustrating, and you do not get to pilot all the vehicles you see on the trailer. In fact, the only vehicle you get to pilot is the tank for a short while. There is also a co-operative version which builds on the main story, but this is over very quickly too - most gamers report that they can finish in a single afternoon of gameplay.

Multiplayer Option

The multiplayer is what saves the game and makes it worthwhile to purchase Battlefield 3. You can join into games of 24 players (2 teams of 12 players on either side) which is less than in the PC version (in which you can play 64 players at a time), but that is understandable considering the number of PC gamers in the world. The maps themselves are absolutely massive, and you have access to fighter jets, helicopters, assault gun boats, tanks and jeeps. The details are not just a graphic touch, but really add to the depth of the gameplay. You can blow up everything on the map such as walls and barriers, so there is no safe area to camp. The creators at DICE have really made playing in a squad vital to becoming successful in this game, and communication and working together are richly rewarded.

Conclusion

There are some issues on the Battlefield servers with lag and difficulty getting on servers, but it is still in the early days, and it is expected they will be ironed out. If you are thinking about a purchase of Battlefield 3, look no further for the ultimate multiplayer FPS experience.

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Modern Warfare 2 Vs Battlefield - Bad Company 2 - Which Has Better Multiplayer Gameplay?

This is an argument which I have listened to for the past several months now, and both sides have pretty points (they are BOTH great games).

There are a LOT of variables in these games, but we are going to stick to 5 basics in this comparison. So let's start with:

* Weapons-Lots of great choices for both games, no doubt about that. BBC2 has more choices of guns, but the customization options in MW2 are far superior. Another point to make is the sound the weapons in BBC2 are AWESOME!The weapons in MW2 have less recoil, and function more smoothly. Also it seems easier to successfully use the variety of weapons for each skill class (or kit in BBC2) in Modern Warfare 2 than in Battlefield:Bad Company 2. It is tougher to level up in BBC 2 if not playing the assault kit, and this becomes a problem later on when most of the team is all assault class.

Winner: Modern Warfare 2-Overall this is a really close call, but I personally give this one to Modern Warfare 2. Mainly because of the greater consistency in kill ability between classes and greater customization options.

* Variety-Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer modes include: Free-For-All, Search & Destroy, Demolition, Sabotage, Domination, Team Deathmatch, and Capture The Flag, and several other customizations of these gametypes. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer modes include: Conquest, Rush, Squad Rush, and Squad Deathmatch.

Winner:Modern Warfare 2-Lots more variety of online game play for sure.

* Vehicles-No Brainer here! The only vehicles you get to ride/drive in MW 2 are for kill streaks, and even then not for very long. BBC 2 has gun boats, tanks, trucks, jeeps, helicopter's, and more. Top that MW 2! Hey Infinity Ward; why no vehicles for MW 2?

Winner:Battlefield:Bad Company 2. Sadly the only game even competing in this category.

* Maps-An interesting comparison her, as both games have lots of quality maps with plenty of open terrain and a variety of desert, jungle, and urban settings. The maps and buildings on MW 2 are more detailed, however they are far less destructible. One great thing about BBC 2 are the great explosions, and while there are too many empty buildings in BBC 2, it's fun to blow them up! Another feature to notice is there are lot's more places to hide (for you campers) in MW 2, especially outside.

Winner:Modern Warfare 2-Much more detailed and realistic maps overall.

* Exploits, Cheating, Noob-Tubing, Host Migration-For me this section is by FAR the most problematic where MW 2 is concerned. Once in awhile is OK, but after 5 to 10 minutes of being constantly bombarded with rockets and grenades, it gets really old. It would be nice if the game stopped pausing to migrate host's every 21/2 minutes also, as it is common for this to occur 2-4 times a match. Something else which I have noticed a lot in the last 2 months in MW 2:yesterday I started a game of team death match. Immediately I am spawned into the last 30 seconds of a match on the losing team, with a helicopter flying over the spawn point killing players. After being INSTANTLY spawn killed twice in about 25 seconds, the whole game is now over with a loss on the record books. Uhh, yeah. This makes me want to throw the controller against the wall and scream!These are some of the nuances which rarely seem to happen in BBC 2; although to be fair MW 2 has a lot more players.

Winner:Battlefield Bad Company 2-Once again hands down. Because if I see one more kid in Modern Warfare 2 with a hacked gamer tag with the little controller buttons in it, I will go berserk!

Overall Winner: Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2!This is a tough call and really just personal opinion, but the addicting leveling up system and the incredibly smooth player control featured in COD is the primary reason for this decision. Although quite frankly if the other nuances described at the end of this article are not fixed soon, I may change my mind about this!

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Good news about Battlefield 3…

… for PC users, that is.

“Battlefield 3 is the true successor to Battlefield 2. Beyond our signature multiplayer, we have also included a full single-player campaign and a co-op campaign – all straight out of the box. As for fan favorite features, how does the return of jets, prone, and 64-player multiplayer (on PC) sound?” – Battlefield Blog

Sounds like but a small portion of many features lost since BF2's release in 2005.  I would ask what took so long, but I already know: consoles.  As soon as consoles became apart of the Battlefield scene it dumbed down the features, simplified the gameplay, and had an overall watering down effect.  Maybe it’s going to far to say that all games are better on PC, but it’s a fact that Battlefield games were originally better when they were PC exclusives.   To all the console owners upset about the (on PC) part, just imagine how you’d feel having those things for years then losing them. Yeah, it sucks.

They need to deliver on the maps though.  I want some BF2 map sizes with plenty of room for jets to dogfight, helicopters to actually sneaks units in behind, and for skirmishes to take place in remote places on the battlefield.  Maps are too small now in BF and CoD.  It’s like throwing people in a box with machine guns and then wondering why everyone died at once.  It also needs mod support, complete server control from multiple server hosts, commanders (maybe with some tweaks), customizable squads,  and just about everything else Battlefield 2 in order to be the true successor.

We’re finally catching up with 2005.

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