Battlefield 3
Battlefield 3 is Electronic Arts’ prize horse in the shooter arena. With it they hope to capture back some of the market from Activision’s mega Call of Duty franchise. While Battlefield 3 is a large step up from many other first person shooters, it does fall into some of the familiar trappings of the genre, and past Battlefield games.
One of the familiar trappings that Battlefield 3 employs is the use of quick time events. QTEs do help to translate a cinematic moment or action sequence without taking the player out of the experience by subjecting them to a cutscene. However QTEs always seem out of place within the context of what a game has trained players to do and act like a crutch for developers to lean on as opposed to rethinking the flow of a level or developing a new way to present a particular sequence.
Another trapping that Battlefield 3 does, which is by far the single player’s most annoying aspect is the use of friendly A.I. For the most part the A.I in Battlefield 3 act in an ideal manner; they take cover behind objects and will actually posses enough accuracy to assist the player and take out enemies. The problem that is often the case in Battlefield 3 is the scripting of A.I. DICE has determined where each friendly A.I will take cover in each area of the game. If you are taking cover where they have been scripted to position themselves, they will simply push you out of the way, often into enemy fire. This common trapping with A.I has always been a drawback in past Battlefield games and it is a shame the developers have not rectified this.
The flow of the single player experience is often hampered by the developer’s use of A.I to section off each firefight. To progress through an area the player will have to wait for the friendly A.I to open doors for them. It is understandable in squad based tactical situations to wait for all present before entering the next area but as a game where we gamers just want our next action fix, it slows everything down. Battlefield 3 should be played with the mentality of an RPG where you believe you are the soldier; otherwise you will become fed up with waiting for your teammates to catch up to you. This was a major drawback in Electronic Art’s Medal of Honor that was released last year.
On the topic of other shooters, Battlefield 3’s single player narrative uses the interrogation mechanic that is becoming increasing popular. There is nothing inherently wrong with this story telling device, but knowing that the character I play as will eventually end up in an interrogation room removes any kind of tension from a level. I know my character is going to survive. It also immediately reminded me of Call of Duty: Black Ops’ narration style, a game in which Battlefield 3 is trying to set itself apart from.
The campaign is relatively short clocking in at around 5-7 hours, featuring a standard terrorist plotline but does feel like a more grounded experience than other first person shooters. The real star of the campaign is the level design. Each area feels like an actual location, not simply an artificial game level. In particular, the first few city levels feel like living breathing cities with the action you’re involved with feeling like a small part of the workings of that city.
While each level flows in a linear fashion the actual design of the levels often create a sense of an open non-linear area. The way that the levels seem open but continue to push you to one destination are reminiscent of the level design presented in Crysis 2.
Much like Crysis 2, Battlefield 3 is easily one of the best looking first person shooters released to date. The visual fidelity of the buildings and character models assist in the believability of each level. The use of lighting is a particular high note. Light will cascade into a room through windows and will actually create a glare on screen when looking directly at the source. A tree swaying in the wind will also create a dynamic shadow on the ground as opposed to a static one. The graphic prowess of Battlefield 3 alone may have you believing EA’s “Is It real?” marketing campaign, but the sound and voice acting also help to create a realistic atmosphere.
Each weapon has a unique sound that helps to convey the intense killing power of that weapon. The sound effects employed help add another element of realism. The sound of bullets cracking cement behind your soldier or bullets barely whizzing overhead are particular favourites. The voice acting is among the best in the first person shooter genre, with the actors barking out tactical commands like actual soldiers would.
The great thing about Battlefield 3 is that the power of the graphics and the sound effects all transition well into the cooperative and multiplayer modes.
The levels featured in the cooperative modes are similar to the single player in the terms of quality but better balanced for two players. The total amount of levels are less than that found in the Spec Ops mode of Modern Warfare 2 but each level is unique and will not be found in the single player campaign. Cooperative missions often mix up the objectives and combat to keep things fresh. There is also a strong emphasis on teamwork and communication that many other game’s cooperative modes leave to the wayside.
Both the single player campaign and cooperative campaigns are largely overshadowed by the phenomenal multiplayer of Battlefield 3. The great graphics I praised in the single player portion of this review extend to the multiplayer creating one of the best looking multiplayer experience available on the Xbox 360.
The way that DICE chose to approach the level design in multiplayer creates a lot of interesting combat scenarios. There really is no safe place for a camper to be as most areas have multiple ways that they can be accessed. The fact that almost every object in the environment is destructible allows for gamers to get creative in their approach to multiplayer. If your team is having trouble getting into a particular building through traditional entrances, you can always hop in a tank and blow open a wall for them. You could even destroy every wall so your snipers could pick off all of the opposing team hidden inside. These are the kind of options available to players and will let gamers create memorable, holy shit moments.
The use of vehicles on such a large scale is one of the defining staples of the Battlefield franchise and one of the key differences between it and its competitors. As with destructible environments the use of vehicles adds a lot of new strategic options for players to utilize. Having teammates parachute out of a helicopter onto an enemy base to a tank blowing up a sniper position are a few ways that vehicles can change the way everyone else has to play the level.
Battlefield 3 also features game modes like Rush and Conquest that cannot be found in other first person shooters. Both modes lend themselves to attacking and defending points with the level expanding when the attacking team completes enough objectives. These two game modes create the sense that it is actually two opposing teams waging war against one another for strategic points, not simply capturing a flag or attaining an artificial amount of kills.
While there are some missteps in the single player of Battlefield 3, the chunk of the experience is in the superb multiplayer that truly has no competitor. The use of sound effects and voice acting in conjunction with Frostbite Engine’s great graphics create a realistic war experience. The addition of destructible environments and vehicles add to the realism but also allow for players to change the tide of battle in an instant. The lasting impression I have after spending time playing Battlefield 3 online is that is almost a warfare simulator, making other games like Call of Duty feel like an arcade shooter.
