Every gamer and their mother knows this game is coming, the dreaded “Call of Duty killer,” the high-flying, ground pounding, first-person-shooting extravaganza the gaming community has been waiting for since its first rumblings on February 3, 2011.
Chronologically, it should be about “Battlefield 8,” or so, but developer Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (DICE), Swedish subsidiary of video game publishing mogul Electronic Arts (EA), develop them, so they can call the games whatever the hell they want to. People will keep buying them, regardless, as evidenced from their highly successful sales history, vehement fanbase and stellar replayability.
The rapid-fire six note stab used in the promo ads is enough to get anyone’s adrenaline pumping, and for good reason: The beta’s gameplay, at its heart, is fantastic… However, some features of the game, if not fixed, may very well make or break the game’s overall success.
The core gameplay is solid, barring the inherent glitches from a beta’s lack of polish and the disappointing fact that most of the building destruction, from the game’s Frostbite 2.0 engine, and all of the body blowback animations have been shut off for the beta. Not to mention the fact that “Rush” was the only available game mode.
One can tell that the developer’s attention to detail has paid off as the game looks great on both console and PC. However, because of limits to the processing power of consoles, instead of 64 player Conquest, they’re only allowed 28. The map is smaller as well so as to focus the smaller number of players, but it will have the same airspace.
The player character carries with it a distinguishable sense of body from the character’s legs and feet being visibly tossed over a waist-high hurdle to one’s gun moving slightly after the head moves, forming a kind of realistic swinging motion with the firearm. DICE also resurrected the ability to go prone. This has been sorely missed from recent titles and trust me, you’ll need it.
The glint from sniper scopes is also a welcome addition to the series, if not a bit overdone. It negates, at least, a fraction of the power a well-hidden camper can wield. Although it doesn’t make much sense inside, in the shadows, without any sun to reflect. Hopefully that gets fixed. Same with the tactical flashlight, which can be used to blind enemies with the bright, piercing light. The thing is, it works to blind an opponent in both the dark and the light, which can also be a bit disconcerting, especially in respect to realism.
Vehicular combat is yet to be seen by most players. Late-comers were stuck with “Operation Metro,” a fantastic map in its own right, but lacking that Battlefield feel of vehicular fun. The coveted “Caspian Border” beta vehicle map was released for a mere three days, the first two of which for those who bought Medal of Honor: Tier 1 Edition first-hand or pre-ordered the digital version of Battlefield 3: Limited Edition on “Origin,” baby’s first in-house digital distribution platform.
Origin, EA’s own digital distribution and digital rights management system developed in June 3, 2011, is a blatant smack in the face to Steam of developer Valve. This means that BF3 will NOT be available on Steam. Sorry, as Origin is a shoddy excuse for a DDP that uses the client’s own browser to search for games and attempts (ATTEMPTS) to launch them from the browser as well. BF3 could do without being an Origin exclusive. Especially with its infamous End-User License Agreement.
Once you get past all that nonsense, BF3 is a simply Frankenstein’s monster of every Battlefield game DICE has ever developed with a sprinkling of EA’s Medal of Honor series and Mirror’s Edge to boot. In fact, it seems that almost every EA-published first-person-shooter that has ever existed before this release was simply extended beta testing for BF3.
At the same time, it makes a visible attempt to divorce itself from the borderline goofy antics of the originals like kamikaze helicopters,C4Â propelled flying Humvees or even, my personal favorite, two snipers lying prone on the wings of a P-51D Mustang, making it into a bad-ass flying sniper-bomber of epic devastation. Even Bad Company and Bad Company 2 ‘s “realism” was tinged with enough tongue-in-cheek sarcasm and melodramatic, Michael Bay-esque action flair to fill a cheap B movie.
An informed gamer would be hard-pressed not to draw the similarities between where this series was going and where rival franchise Call of Duty, developed by Activision of conglomerate Activision/Blizzard, has already trodden. Nonetheless, BF3’s releasing on October 25th. It may not be a complete re-envisioning of the First Person Shooter genre, it will most definitely be quite a vision.
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