Battlefield 3, developed by Dice and published by EA, has definitely moved on from the days of Battlefield 1942, but never the less this reincarnation is a huge smash into what is already a very crowed place these days for first person shooters. With the likes of Modern Warfare taking the prime place in many peoples consoles. EA and Dice however have really thrown down the gauntlet with Battlefield 3, this game is really jam packed with a great storyline and an amazing multi-player.
You start the game with a great intro and you soon find out that you will be playing a character called Blackburn who is a US Marine being grilled in an interrogation room. The story is very well put together and is told through the eyes of Blackburn, who seems to be recapping what has happened up until the point of the intro of the game. It’s a very well thought out idea; as the interrogators are asking you questions on what had happened in a mission you jump back into Blackburn’s past and you replay that mission. You also find out, as the story unfolds, that the Russians and the People’s Liberation and Resistance are all fighting and somewhere in the middle is the US Marines. When you stumble onto plans to use nukes, that’s the point the game kicks it up a notch.
The characterisation in the game is of the highest quality, you really get a feeling of belonging to the group of Marines you’re with. Later on in the game there are points when you really start to feel that you have to look after these guys. Along with the outstanding voice acting that goes with this, there are great points in the game where your squad mates are talking in panicked voices and you can really hear the stress and feeling in it. Alongside this is the game play which again is very intense and you have a cornucopia of mission types that really keep you on your toes. At some points you will be sneaking around in the middle of the night supporting the ground troops as they are doing raids on buildings, then you can be skyward in the back of a US Fighter dogfighting with enemy jets and raining down death from above on ground forces below! It really is a great campaign and it’s nice that they mix it up a bit, which also makes it seem more unique in the genre. It’s not all good however – I did find myself getting into the habit of replaying a lot of things. This could down to my rubbish reflexes but there are points in the game where you will die and then have to do it all over again due to the fact you have not hit an auto-save point, at this point it does become a bit of a rinse and repeat job but nevertheless it did not really detract from the game that much for me, if anything it made me focus more. Something else I enjoyed was the one on one quicktime-style fighting scenes, where you would get into a fight with an enemy and at certain points you’d get an indicator appear showing you what to press in time to move onto the next sequence, it really did make for an extra dimention to the game, although it can get a bit frustrating if you have to do it a over and over if you keep getting killed in that area of play.
Graphics in Battlefield 3 are really outstanding you can really see the HD in this game textures are crisp and sharp. The light effects are some of the best I have ever seen in a game. There are moments in the game where you will just stop playing and look around at the look and feel of the place. There are some let downs however; while in the gameplay area the graphics are outstanding, but they drop extremely low outside of the game zone. I know that consoles have limits, but it just would have been nice if they just worked on some of that area just to make it a bit smoother. Dice and EA really raised the bar in this game, the look and feel of the game is great, from the menus to the cut-scenes, they are all amazing. I also found that the sound of the game and the music also complement the look and feel of it, really making it a living breathing thing.
After looking at the single player I moved onto the multi-player, this is what the Battlefield games are well known for, and you will not be disappointed with Battlefield 3, it delivers on so many levels. You will not be disappointed at the amount of game types either with the likes of Conquest, Rush, Squad Death-match, and Squad Rush all making a welcome return. Add in the vehicles and huge maps and you really can not ask for much else. You also get Unlocks the more you play online and climb the levels. Also there is weapon xp, the more you use one type of gun the more the level of that weapon will increase and gain you more unlocks. To make it even better EA have even rolled out a website which tracks all the player stats and displays them. So you can now show off to your friends.
Battlefield 3 is a battle simulator, it brings together all the elements of battle and wraps it up in a great story with great graphics. You also get to go head to head with your friends on the battlefield in planes and tanks or by foot. All of this really makes Battlefield 3 stand out. If you’re a bit sick of the same old same old of what the current first person shooters have got, and you’re looking for something different then this game will tick all those boxes. A must have game!
Reviewed on Xbox 360
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