Preview: "Battlefield 3" Is Shaping Up To Be The Best In The Franchise Yet

Besides completely wrecking the competition in multiplayer, Complex got to enjoy the single player campaign and co-op modes for this preview.

An Impressive History

An Impressive History

DICE’s Battlefield franchise is one known and loved by many gamers. Providing hours of addictive multiplayer, it’s longstanding success is hard to top. But, somehow, DICE has done it again with their upcoming title: Battlefield 3.

The Best Yet

The Best Yet

So what is it that has people clamoring to play the recently opened beta, and hanging on to their seats in anticipation of the game’s release? It’s surely the promise of a thrilling multiplayer experience that DICE has managed to secure their reputation on, but it’s also because Battlefield 3 is the best in the franchise yet. Or at least that’s what our preview in San Francisco last week would have us believe.

An Emphasis on Cinematics

An Emphasis on Cinematics

EA set us up to run the gamut of gameplay modes in our preview event. We enjoyed a single player experience far removed from what often felt like filler in the franchise’s preceding titles. There’s a much greater emphasis on cinematics (even beyond the beautiful graphics thanks to the newly made Frostbite 2 engine) and storytelling.
You’re immediately thrown into the action, which is a much more riveting introduction to the conflict in Battlefield 3 than we’ve come to expect. You identify Solomon, a cog in the gears of the terrorist organization known as PLR, and you recognize that the Daniel Craig looking character will be significant in the rest of the single player experience to come.

Is Linear So Bad?

Is Linear So Bad?

The storyline is centered around you, Srgt. Blackburn, as you’re being interrogated by your superiors. The story and conflict begin to unravel as DICE leads you through the missions Blackburn notes. Our fellow journalists made complaints of the linear game, but we put our trust in the team at DICE to do precisely what they’ve been experience in doing: telling us their story the way the know it to be best represented.

Characters With Character

Characters With Character

Rather than playing out these missions with characterless AI, Battlefield 3 allows you to enjoy a deeper experience with marines who have personality. While rushing a door to respond to a call for help against the PLR, one marine muses, “This country was founded by terrorists, for terrorists.”
We were honestly surprised to find dissenting opinions being voiced so comfortably by our teammates. “How did you get into the Marines?” “I ask myself that same question.” There’s real dialogue to complement the storytelling in Battlefield 3.

Real, Tactical Warfare

Real, Tactical Warfare

Your teammates aren’t just an AI presence anymore. There’s a genuine attempt by DICE to set scenarios for you to build camaraderie with them. You watch some of them die, help wounded friends, and actually respond to other squads’ request for back up. There’s a real conflict and war that you’re thrown into the midst of; you’re not just running around and shooting vague enemies. This is about real (ok, virtually real), tactical warfare.

But your enemy AI are fickle mortals. They won’t go down easy, even while you’re susceptible to just a few shots. Load enough enemies with as much lead as you can but to no real success, and you’ll quickly pick up on the fact that this is one of the few instances in which the realism factor DICE so wholeheartedly promotes finally breaks.

So Much Room For Activities!

So Much Room For Activities!

In our time throughout four missions we were manning turrets on vehicles, blasting hotels with RPGs to knock out seemingly invisible snipers, defending our teammates from rooftops above with heavy machine guns, and (one of my personal favorite activities) sniping enemies as they attempted to surround our fellow marines.
Transitioning to play as Jennifer Hawkins, we boarded our jet to lock on to enemy targets and waste them. It’s immediately clear to you as a player that you’re seeing many aspects of what warfare might feel like; you’re not just hiding behind trees and shooting from behind your scopes. Within just the first few levels, Battlefield 3 is already calling for different tactics of warfare. This is no boring sequenced shooter.

Co-Op Will Bust Your Balls, In A Good Way

Co-Op Will Bust Your Balls, In A Good Way

Our co-op experience in “Hit and Run” proved to be significantly more difficult than the single player campaign, which we played on Normal difficulty. You and your teammate will have to stick very closely together to survive the onslaught of enemies that come at you from all directions. The “Hit and Run” mission made most prominent use of the tactical flashlights and red laser sights from snipers.
Enemies can blind you with their flashlights, but this also works to their disadvantage when it easily brings them to your attention. Snipers will reveal their location and threat to you with a red flash in your eyes, which is simultaneously annoying and useful. We had a short co-op run, but it was a fun, collaborative experience that will serious kick your ass unless you and your teammate can learn to play well together.

From One Addiction To The Next

From One Addiction To The Next

Multiplayer is just as robust and addictive as you remember, with the variety you’d expect. We experimented in rounds of Rush, Team Deathmatch, and Squad Deathmatch in a variety of maps. There were tightly knit maps with bases to capture and defend, and other, incredibly larger maps that are built to be navigated by tanks, cars, helicopters and even jets.
It takes some getting used to to properly fly a jet, but it’s definitely gratifying once you’re finally a pro at it. Expect to laugh at others while they crash and burn on first attempts. We know we did.

With All The Right Ingredients

With All The Right Ingredients

Battlefield 3 is a high intensity battlefield experience, and that’s exactly what DICE has been aiming for. With the extensive research that has gone into ensuring a higher level of realism than other shooters on the market, and the in-depth precision in how they executed it, Battlefield 3 is shaping up to be the best in the Battlefield franchise yet.

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