The same box art. Again. I'm lazy.
At long last, Battlefield 3 is here. After delivering a rather lackluster campaign and shoe-horned co-op [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.320122-Onyx-Reviews-Battlefield-3-Campaign-Co-op-360], the multiplayer is left with the burden of redeeming an otherwise bad title. And for the most part, it did, but the issues that are there are significant.
Battlefield is a class-based, teamwork emphasizing multiplayer game. A lot of people like to fool themselves into thinking this is a game that requires teamwork, but lone wolves can do just fine. There are three basic modes in the multiplayer. The Bad Company mode of Rush is back, and plays as a multi-tiered variant on standard Attack & Defend modes. As the attackers push forward two objectives at a time, the map opens up and the defenders' spawn is pushed back. Instead of the usual time limit you see in these modes, the attackers have a limited pool of "tickets" (respawns) to draw from. The second major mode is Conquest, which plays as a mixture of Team Deathmatch and Call of Duty's Domination. Both teams have an equal number of tickets affected by the capture of the three flags on the map. If one team manages to capture all of the flags, their enemies will have an extra drain of tickets, making it advantageous to capture the points instead of just killing. There is also a standard Team Deathmatch mode, which needs no explaining, I hope. There are Squad variants of Rush and TDM, which play similarly, but with smaller one-squad teams.
I imagine that this HUD is just awful to read in SD.
There are four classes in the game, each of which favors a specific weapon class and a team-centric role. The Assault class prefers, you guessed it, assault rifles, and has the benefits of unlocking specialized grenade launcher rounds like explosives and smoke. It also has now taken on the role of a medic, with medkits to heal teammates faster and defibrillators to revive recently "killed" allies. Health regenerates naturally in Battlefield 3, but medkits are still important as the regen is very slow without them. The Engineer class favors carbine rifles, which is a vast improvement over the short-range SMGs they had in the Bad Company series. They are your vehicle-based class. Whether it's destroying vehicles or repairing them, you want an engineer for it. The Support class uses light machine guns and dispenses ammo. As it levels up, it acquires C4, claymores, and even a portable mortar launcher. The final class is Recon, which is basically your sniper. Favoring a number of sniper rifles and eventually a mobile aerial drone, theoretically it takes a more defensive combat role as it watches over flags and choke points. Realistically, it camps like a *****.
Actually, camping is alive and well in Battlefield 3. With many "killcams" being rubbish at giving you an idea of your killer's location, and the ability to prone and deploy a bipod for increased accuracy with nearly every gun, campers can have a very good time in Battlefield 3. Add in that it is generally hard to pick out a target already in the visual clusterfuck that Battlefield usually is, and most of my long-range deaths were at the hands of non-Recon classes sitting on top of a building prone with a 4x scope and a bipod on their LMG. And then there are the laser sights and flashlights, both of which can blind you from a solid distance and have no real other purpose due to already well-lit maps. Still, all of these issues can be somewhat balanced by the fact that nearly every gun can eventually acquire these unlocks. And therein lies the root of Battlefield 3's balance issues.
This map needs to die. In map hell.
The difference in a low-level player and a high-level one is massive. Battlefield 3 has huge maps, and with most early players only having access to iron sights and red-dots, players with long range scopes have a serious advantage. Higher level Engineers eventually get an EOD robot that can arm/disarm Rush mode charges and repair/destroy vehicles while the player is at little risk. It can even KILL players if it has to with a flamethrower. Vehicles have a fair number of unlocks to acquire, too. With ways to lengthen lock-on time, proximity enemy detection, higher levels of zoom, missile-evading flares, and faster reload times being a few. These are actually the most balanced part of the game, despite the obvious advantages to 1v1 tank combat that ensures the faster reload wins. Also of note in regard to unlocks is the "faction weapons" system, that gives the US/RU teams different default guns with their own separate unlock trees. It can be annoying to unlock a scope for your gun, only to switch teams next round and be left with no attachment options for your weapon. A minor annoyance, but one that bears mentioning if you end up preferring one of the default guns, since they don't unlock for total usage until you max out that class.
The new and much-hyped "suppression" mechanic actually makes little difference in the game, not really hindering effectiveness nearly as much as attachments like the flashlight. That said, Suppression Assists are common and a nice little EXP bonus for just trying to take out an enemy you can't quite get a bead on. This sums up Battlefield very well. It rewards the player who tries, with every action you perform, be it spotting an enemy or repairing a tank, giving you EXP and a sense of teamwork. Battlefield 3 is a very solid multiplayer FPS, but only on the ground. The atrociously awful controls for jets and helicopters are inexcusable, and present not just a learning curve, but a direct impediment to the enjoyment of flight, even once mastered. The map design is good overall, with the only stinker being Operation Metro from the console beta. Once all is accounted for, Battlefield 3's multiplayer makes up for its campaign and makes it worth a buy. Barely.
/review
LOL. YOU NO HAVE MASSIVE MATCHES LIKE ON PC. LOL
