Battlefield 3 review roundup

The campaign, part 3

"Battlefield 3's campaign isn't just a straight line, it's tactically linear," writes Arthur Gies of Joystiq. "Firefights almost always unfold the same way. This is partly due to enemy AI that often seems stuck to a six foot leash from where they initially appear, but it goes deeper than that. For all the talk of destruction and immersion, Battlefield 3's campaign is a step backward from the manic calamity of Bad Company 2. There's no more blowing holes through walls to make an alternate route. Environmental destruction is cosmetic or scripted."

The multiplayer

The campaign is "a nice distraction, but what fans are really throwing down their $60 for is the multiplayer, which manages to marry modern FPS tropes (like the progressive unlocking of weapons and abilities) with the massive mixed-arms battles of previous Battlefield games," writes Ryan Winterhalter of 1UP.com. "Most maps are populated with an amazing assortment of helicopters, tanks, mobile anti-aircraft guns, and jets."

The multiplayer, part 2

"Nine maps are supplied on the disc, with almost all of them offering the wide, multi-faceted environments the Battlefield series has become famous for," writes Gaston of Videogamer.com. "Like the best multiplayer games," he adds, "Battlefield 3 sets a stage for you to create your own personal stories. You'll remember that time on Caspian Border when you and a friend accidentally stumbled onto a tank while driving a buggy, and won, or that bit when the squad got lucky and managed to gun down half the enemy team as they base jumped off Damavand Peak, and these individual stories will live on for months and years in conversations down the pub or when spending lazy weekend afternoons on message boards."

Co-op mode

"There are only six co-op stages though (compared to 23 in Modern Warfare 2) and they're only playable online, via a clumsy lobby system, not locally," writes Dan Whitehead of EuroGamer. "They're also heavily scripted, with enemies appearing in the same spots at the same points in every playthrough. That's not to say they don't have appeal, though. For one thing, vehicles get a look in during some co-op play, which gives them their own flavor. The second of the missions is helicopter-based, for example, with one player piloting and the other manning the guns as you provide air support to two marine units on the ground. When it works, it's fantastically good fun. When it doesn't, it's infuriating."

The last word

"Electronic Arts has, if not explicitly then at least implicitly, suggested that Battlefield 3 would surpass Call of Duty to become the world’s pre-eminent military shooter," notes Sapieha of the Globe and Mail. "I don’t think that will happen. It’s online play is certainly a match for Activision’s powerhouse franchise, and its distinct flavour will likely earn the game plenty of converts. However, its middling campaign keeps it from offering the kind of full package for which Call of Duty games are renowned."

Previous

1 | 2