I realize it's been over a month since my last post and I apologize for that, but just know I've been playing a lot of games and checking as much out as I could. Now that BF3 is officially released and I've gotten a lot of gameplay on it now I can write up my first review of the game.
Let's start off with my initial thoughts about the game as a whole and overall. Am I alone to think that EA/DICE seemed to have rushed this game? Maybe because MW3 was releasing 2 weeks afterwards? But, anyway, it seems as if a lot of the stuff in this game were rushed to get it released. The campaign was way too short and not that impressive, the co-op wasn't impressive either, and the multiplayer started off pretty good, but still had its flaws. Overall, BF3 fell short of my expectations from release, but at least the MP has been getting steady attention/support and, in turn, has been growing on me.
Like I mentioned, the campaign was incredibly short and wasn't all that impressive. I felt that EA/DICE could have done a hell of a lot better job on it than it was, but there's nothing anyone can do now that it's out. The actual gameplay wasn't too bad because you got to play around with the new Frostbite 2.0 engine, which was pretty sweet, as well as the Destruction 2.0 engine, which was also sweet. The new engine definitely shines throughout all of the game modes so that was a step up, but the actual gameplay fell short of my expectations. I beat the campaign on Normal (I play on Normal for almost every campaign I play just to get use to the controls, weapons, vehicles, and anything else new or if I just want to get reacquainted with everything) in one night in less than one sitting. It took maybe 5 hours to complete. I'm not exactly sure of the exact time it took, but it was a lot shorter than any other campaign I've played to date. As for the story, it wasn't bad, but it felt like all of these FPS war games have the same story line: Rogue bad guy/organization gets a hold of some nuclear weapon(s), some sort of special forces is sent in to locate them and remove any threats, a few twists and turns along the way, your team loses a few people, you locate everything/everyone towards the end of the game, then in some sort of epic showdown you kill the bad guy(s) and find the missing weapons and total annihilation is avoided (although sometimes some of the bombs do go off, but nothing that wipes out the entire civilization). And then the end credits roll and the game is over.
Sound familiar? Well, it should as the last few CoD's and BF's I've played have had this exact story line with a few variations. These scenarios are all well and good, but making the campaign that short doesn't really help the game as a whole. I enjoyed the campaign for the most part, but it could have been a lot longer. I was disappointed about that.
Now, onto the co-op. I only ran the co-op for a short time with a friend, but this also fell short of my expectations. In these missions, there is almost no direction on where to go or what to do. You pretty much have to figure it out on your own, which is fine to a point, but it gets ridiculous when you're supposed to go somewhere, but are sitting in the same spot because you had no clue you were supposed to. We only got to the second or third mission, which was the one where you flew the helicopter. Let me tell you this, flying in this game is almost impossible for players who aren't hardcore gamers that already know the controls and how to fly. Both my friend and I could not figure out how to keep the chopper level long enough to do anything in the mission and finally we just gave up. That's just a disappointment in itself because it looked like a fun mission, but we couldn't take trying to figure out how to fly any longer. Also, the AI in the co-op is terrible. In the first mission you have fellow soldiers that are in humvees with .50 cal turrets on top of them, but they don't do a damn thing. In my opinion, they shouldn't even be there if they're not going to shoot/kill anyone. Then again, no game to date has been able to master AI well enough to even feel somewhat close to real life so you can't fault EA/DICE that much on this front.
Well, enough with the negatives, on to the pinnacle of the BF series, the multiplayer. Although I use a console (XBOX 360 mostly) I was still pretty impressed with the MP gameplay. DICE already released BF3's first patch for a few things, which I'll address a little later, so a few of the initial things were changed so just bear with me. As a whole, I love the BF3 MP. It's great, realistic, and the visuals/sounds are absolutely stunning.
Let's just start the MP review with the things I didn't like. First, the tactical light (this issue was addressed in the patch so it's not as relevant now, but still good to know) was like having a permanent flash bang in your face when someone shined the light at you, whether it be friend or foe. Sometimes I'd shoot at teammates because I'm blind from their dumb tactical light. Common sense says to point and shoot at the middle of the light, right? Wrong. Not all the time did you even get hit markers on enemies that were flashing you with their tactical light. Luckily, DICE addressed this and nerfed the light a good amount so that you could at least see the outline of the enemy. On the light note, the laser was also kind of annoying at times, but I understand why it was used. It's good for hip firing because you can just line the laser up with your target and not have to aim down the sights. Now, on the negative side, if someone shined the laser at you you would be blind as well no matter if the laser was shined at your legs or something not by your eyes. I didn't like that, but I'm not sure what DICE can do about that to help.
Another thing I didn't enjoy was sometimes you'd be shooting someone even before they were looking at you and they'd turn and 1-3 bullets would kill you. I don't understand how that could even be possible, but I sure hope DICE addresses that and tries to sort it out. It can get really annoying when you're doing well and really trying to enjoy the game.
This is just a general dislike I've always had for the BF series, but a lot of players don't seem to know how to play or want to play like CoD, but the problem is this isn't CoD and you need to learn and understand how to play so your team can be successful. BF is a team game, CoD is not. BF requires more skill and team work to win, while CoD you can just run around like an idiot and be good. BF relies more on the Win/Loss ratio than the Kill/Death ratio, whereas CoD is the opposite. If you're more worried about your K/D, BF is NOT your game or you should just stick to the Team DeathMatch modes.
Okay, enough negatives, let's get into the positives. As mentioned up top, the visuals and sounds are all terrific. BF has always been one of the best when it comes to those and BF3 does not disappoint in those areas. Being able to destroy just about anything and everything is such a huge advantage over most FPS. It allows you to destroy cover if players start camping too much. If you need a new line of sight, create one. If you don't have an entrance/exit to a building, you can also make those, too. Throw C4 on a wall just in case you need a quick exit if things get too hairy. Carry an RPG or other kind of rocket launcher to take out enemy vehicles or blow holes in walls. Going through a building can sometimes be easier and quicker than going around, it could also be safer, too. The Frostbite 2.0 and Destruction 2.0 engines are amazing so there's really not much else to say about them.
Most of the maps are medium-extra large maps so there's going to be a lot of room to move around. A lot of people complain that it takes too long to get into any action, but those people are just noobs and need to learn how to use vehicles as transport. Even if you're not driving, hop in a jeep, tank, or helicopter and go for a ride where ever you'd like. Also remember that you can jump out of a chopper at any altitude and open up your chute to land safely behind enemy lines or by an objective (On XBOX 360, I think you just hit A to open your parachute after jumping out of a chopper or even from a tall area. I'm not 100% on this as I don't do it often so don't take my word for it, try it out.). I'm still getting use to the maps, but I have an idea of most where everything is on most of them so that's a huge thing to know and get familiar with.
As for the weapons, they're mostly great and have a good variety to choose from as you level up. The UMP-45 was too powerful in the Beta, then it was nerfed too much in the Retail release, and now DICE released that patch that increased the power a little bit, but was still less powerful than it was in the Beta. As for the other weapons, you really need to try them all out for yourself and see which one fits you best. If you like being right in the middle of all of the action, the Recon kit is not for you. Pick the kit that's right for your playing style. Also make sure you use your kit's full capabilities so if someone needs ammo and you're the Support kit, throw down some ammo. If someone's hurt and you're the Assault kit, throw down a med kit. If someone just died by you and you have the defibrillators revive them. And ALWAYS SPOT! This will help you and your team a great deal. If you're the Engineer kit, blow up enemy vehicle and repair your own. Play to your kit's strengths, but don't do go over your kit's capabilities.
I love the vehicles in BF so it's only natural to have them as a positive here. I'm a huge fan of the tank, although you really need a good driver/gunner combo team in order to be successful. A quick tip if you and a friend are in a tank, both of you should be the Engineer kit so either one of you can easily hop out and start fixing the tank if it gets damaged while the other lays down covering fire and spots enemies troops/vehicles for your team. The gunner should focus on taking out jets and choppers in the air as well as enemy troops whereas the driver should focus on taking out enemy tanks, enemy troops, and taking out buildings/walls/cover/etc. This will maximize your effectiveness in the game. Another reason to have the Engineer kit is that you can have rockets if things are getting too hairy even in the tank. You can hop out and start firing those rockets where ever they are needed.
I have yet to get enough skill in the choppers/jets, but they need to be slightly easier to play with than they are now. It takes a lot of practice to get even average skill with these and it turns me away from even considering using them. I would love to be able to fly and do some damage with them, but it's just too hard to do and takes too much time at this point. If you know someone that's good at flying, that's a huge bonus to your team. Get in the chopper with them and go mess some shit up. It's always fun doing that.
I was going to discuss the spawns earlier, but I think of them as both a positive and a negative so I'll just discuss it here. BF's spawns are more "revenge spawns" than anything else. They are designed to spawn you near an enemy so that you can maybe get a revenge kill on them, but this doesn't always work out that well. It's a 50/50 love/hate relationship with the spawns in this game so you just have to pick your spawns carefully. Take an extra minute or two to see if a squad mate is getting shot at before spawning on them. If you have to, spawn in your Deployment and go from there.
I know this isn't part of the review, but for anyone who bought the Limited Edition of BF3, we will be getting the Bark to Karkand DLC free when it's released sometime in December. Also a head's up, since Activision has a deal with Microsoft to get DLC's one week earlier than anyone else for CoD, EA has a deal with Sony to get the BF3 DLC's one week earlier than anyone else so PS3 users will be getting the Back to Karkand DLC one week earlier than those of us on XBOX 360. I'm not sure of the exact release date yet, but I'll update this when I find out. I'm looking forward to this DLC and taking it back on the old BF2 maps and having them redesigned with the Frostbite 2.0 engine and the Destruction 2.0 engine. It should be very fun and enjoyable.
GameSpot Score: 8.5 (Great)
Metacritic Score: 84 (49 Reviews)
User Score: -- (141 Reviews - There is no average score yet)
My Score: 8.5
As Always,
HAPPY GAMING!
GeNiO
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