I’m not sure if any other game in the last couple of years managed to create just as much hype as what Battlefield 3 created. All those heart pounding trailers that went with the catchy electronic tune, Electronic Arts really did their homework for the marketing strategy. Although over the years some shooters have rose up to face the Call of Duty giant, none even slightly challenged the king of shooters. Although Battlefield 3 sold extremely well, it just wasn’t enough to stop Modern Warfare 3 from breaking even more sales records. With Black Ops 2 coming later this year, when will it ever end? But enough about sales figures… lets get to the meat and bones of the game.
When a game is hyped as much as Battlefield 3 was it means two things. Firstly, the game is almost guaranteed be very successful for the publisher and developers, regardless of whether it’s good or not. Secondly, it’ll just never live up to the standard that the trailers portray. Battlefield 3 ticks both these boxes as Dice and EA profited heavily from it, but no game could possibly live up to hype like that. Despite this, Battlefield 3 is still a worthy edition to the series and the multiplayer is exceptional. So is the single player any good? Well, it’s quite well known that the previous Battlefield titles were somewhat lacking in the singleplayer campaigns, and although the new single player campaign is good, it just can’t hold a candle to the incredible multiplayer experience. The storyline isn’t particularly interesting; the main character is Sergeant Blackburn, and his story is told through the eyes of various soldiers. However, the whole thing revolves around two men dressed in white doing the good cop bad cop thing while interrogating you and forcing you to recall past missions and play through them during the investigation; this whole scenario is ripped right out of Black Ops. The missions are varied enough though, and they provide some epic set piece moments powered by the new Frostbite 2 engine. This is where Battlefield 3 succeeds grandly, the visuals are eye-popping. It’s easy to see the painstaking amount of work that has gone into the details of the environments; everything looks way beyond current technology. However this is no surprise as Battlefield 3 was built from the ground up for the PC powerhouse, and then ported to consoles. The audio shines just as bright as the graphics, you’ll be able to hear the shells of the bullets landing on the ground next to you, and the rustling of the leaves, everything looks and sounds very, very real.
But if it’s one thing that steals the whole show, it’s the multiplayer. Those looking for a break from Call of Duty need not look any further; this is Battlefield 3 at its best. At the beginning of a match having the other 32 players on your team all running around you is quite a site to behold, the vehicles also bring there own flavour to the mix. The multiplayer also leads me to one of the most underrated facets of the game, the destruction. Frostbite 2 is capable of massive amounts of destruction. For example, I shot an RPG into the walls of I building I was in, and it collapsed on top of me, this not only killed me but it also changed the dynamic of the map, as that building was a place where many people shot out of and got shot in. I was very impressed with this to say the least, and I don’t know why so many reviewers leave this part of the game out of their reviews.
So, the singleplayer is good, the multiplayer is top class, and the graphics are mind blowing. Although Battlefield 3 could never reach the ultimate goal of living up to the hype, it got pretty damn close. This is a fine shooter and one of the better games of 2011.
The Good:
- Exceptional visuals and audio
- Unparalleled multiplayer
- Vehicles
- Frostbite 2
- Destruction
The Bad:
- Singleplayer short and slightly disappointing
- Some small glitches and bugs
- Huge patches on PC
Bottom line: An exceptional multiplayer title that is backed up with some of the best graphics and audio, but the singleplayer may have a hard time impressing you.
8.9/10
Written by Jesse Kuhn
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