Battlefield 3 Review

Battlefield 3, the latest release in Electronic Art's first-person shooter series, was released on October 25, 2011. The game is the eleventh in a series of critically-acclaimed games and it builds on the success of its predecessors. Like all first-person shooters, Battlefield 3 offers players an array of weapons, maps, and characters to choose from. However, Battlefield 3 is far above most first-person shooters out today, which is no surprise given the game's pedigree. Both the online gameplay and the amazing graphics blew me away as I played Battlefield 3 over the weekend.

Electronic Arts is known for producing best-selling series, from Madden to The Sims to Rock Band. Despite this high-quality stable, Battlefield 3 sold more copies in the first week of release than any other game Electronic Arts has ever released - that's five million copies, to be exact. What is behind the popularity of this game?

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Like all games in the series, Battlefield 3 involves huge maps, high graphics quality, unlockable upgrades, single-player missions, exciting vehicles, and surround-sound audio. Battlefield 3 succeeds at almost all of these. In multi-player, players choose between two sides: Russia and the United States. Each side has unique vehicles and weapons available. Players can choose from a total of four different classes, five types of vehicles, and seven classes of weapons. Each category contains numerous upgrades, unlockables, and strategy choices.

One huge selling point has always been the graphics quality, and Battlefield 3 doesn't disappoint in this area. At the highest graphics settings, the game is simply gorgeous. It outshines any other games in my library, including Crysis. Electronic Art's new Frostbite 2 engine renders amazing shadows, fields, and vehicles. I wasn't a fan of Mirror's Edge but I might pick up the second one just because it's going to use this new engine.

At the lower settings, the game is still beautiful, but it would be no surprise to see gamers ordering upgraded videocards to fully enjoy the game's graphics. I updated my graphics driver while waiting for Battlefield 3 to be released, and I recommend you do the same before shelling out for a new card.

The single-player campaign is less-developed than I'd prefer, but let's be honest, we don't buy FPS games -- especially Battlefield games -- to play them by ourselves. Couples will be happy to know that there's a two-player campaign, even if it is limited. Both modes offer a handful of missions and vehicles, but for the real game play, players will have to head to multi-player.

I can't imagine anyone being disappointed by multi-player. The game comes with a default nine maps, with more promised in upcoming downloadable content (DLC). I've been playing all weekend, and I still love all of the maps. The playing field of each map is gigantic, which it must be to accommodate the sixty-four players per map. Yes, sixty-four. The presence of so many players requires a deeper strategy and more planning than the other first-person shooter games on the market. The size of the maps means there is always a new nook or vantage point for curious players to discover. One of my least favorite parts of some multi-players is the constant camping that can crop up, and it's almost impossible to camp on these maps -- they're just too big, with too many spawning points.

Battlefield 3's audio is my favorite compared to the previous games. It's perfectly-suited to the mood of the game and sounds different from most other FPS soundtracks. Electronic Arts picked a relatively unknown composer and producer from Sweden; I think this was a good choice. Amazon.com has samples of the soundtrack posted if you want to hear it.

There were concerns in beta that the gameplay audio was not helpful, but those have been resolved. I've been using the audio as much as the visual to track enemy movement. The surround sound option is simply wonderful. I jumped out of my seat the first time I heard a jet engine roaring overhead. The audio brings the immersion factor to a whole new level; it's a perfect combination with the gorgeous graphics.

The game automatically tracks a host of statistics, and players who prefer support roles will be happy to know that they can be highly ranked even without a high number of kills. The Since the game won't be coming to Steam, I'm happy to have an in-game application that makes it easy to add friends, chat with them, and invite them to games. It's also nice to have their statistics automatically available for me to mock.

Battlefield 3 has four classes: assault, support, engineer, and recon; five types of vehicles: jets, transport, tanks, helicopters, and armored personal carriers; and seven categories of weapons: rocket launchers, pistols, shotguns, machine guns, sub-machine guns, sniper rifles, and assault rifles. Each class, vehicle, and weapons has unlockable upgrades. The statistics feature tracks your overall experience within each class. This feature is popular in all of the newer FPS games, and Battlefield 3 integrates it nicely. As mentioned, support actions like healing and providing cover will contribute to your experience gains. The ability to unlock extra gear adds another level of polish to an already addictive game.

I've played Battlefield 3 for over sixty hours now and I still love it. I can't wait for the extra maps and content to become available. Electronic Arts promised they'd be out by the end of the year; hopefully I'll be playing them on Christmas Day! If you haven't already gotten Battlefield 3, I'd encourage you to ask for an early Christmas present -- this game is a must-have for the winter quarter.

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