October 10 2011
The Battlefield series has created many fond memories for gamers over the years, and now Battlefield 3 is almost upon us. EA and Dice held an open beta test for the game last week, giving many of us our first go at this new shooter. Touted as a full-fledged sequel to Battlefield 2, Battlefield 3 for the PC brings back jets and 64-player Conquest mode. These are my first impressions of the game from playing the beta.
Origin and the new Battlelog are among the first adjustments Battlefield fans will have to make. The way this works is that Origin launches Battlelog in a web browser, which in turn launches the game. Battlelog is where you view your stats, unlock progress, review matches, browser game servers, and so on.
The graphics are exceptional on the PC, especially considering the environmental destruction that's possible, but if you want to run it on anything resembling high settings, you'll need a beefy system.
Being a beta test, a certain number of problems are to be expected. I had a few issues I couldn't find any way to resolve, notably skipping sound and having my gun and crosshairs randomly disappear. There also seems to be a lot of complaints about hit detection, but since these things are sometimes attributable to lag, it's difficult to assess the matter without spending more time with the game.
Proper squad controls were also missing in the beta, but Dice assures us that these will be intact when Battlefield 3 gets released.
The beta offered only 2 maps: the infantry-centric Operation Metro in Rush mode only, and 64-player Conquest on Caspian Border. Metro is an intense shoot-out in mostly long, narrow spaces, including a subway. Caspian Border has a full compliment of vehicles and subsequently, more of that Battlefield feel. Jets make a return, although their mechanics have changed from Battlefield 2. While flying in general seems a little slower and easier than it was in BF2, Battlefield 3 offers a variety of powerful anti-aircraft weapons that will likely require additional balancing. This is complicated further by unlocks, which now apply to vehicles as well as soldier classes. So, for example, you need to spend time flying to unlock flares; about the only defence you have against stinger missiles, which are quite low on the engineer unlock tree. As a result, your early days as a pilot can be quite discouraging.
Also new is that vehicles in the game can now be disabled. Taking damage reduces a vehicle's effectivness, typically slowing it down dramatically until it is repaired. I like this in principle, although it comes with the risk of making vehicles too weak. It remains to be seen how useful they will be when half the opposing team consists of RPG-packing engineers.
Of course, during the beta getting into some of the vehicles was a challenge in itself. They've made it possible to spawn directly into jets at their starting point, which has moved the customary line-up on the runway to an (orderless) line-up on the deploy screen. I guess it at least reduces the chances of a massive team-killing spree between those waiting around to pilot a jet.
Overall, the beta lowered my enthusiam for Battlefield 3 quite a bit. Although I'm sure the release build will have many improvements, I see a number of design and balance issues that probably won't get proper treatment until after the game launches. I was also hoping that BF3 would really take vehicular warfare on the PC to the next level in terms of scale and gameplay. Instead the beta left me with the feeling that this is Bad Company 2.5 with an enormous unlock tree. Still worth playing, perhaps, but so far it appears to be only a small step forward for the series. Battlefield 3 launches on October 25th, 2011.
