this is one of the things I put in alpha feedback, the LAV seemed too strong, I can only imagine how strong tanks etc will be if it stays that way.
this is one of the things I put in alpha feedback, the LAV seemed too strong, I can only imagine how strong tanks etc will be if it stays that way.
According to what some people on EA UK said, RPGs were doing 17% damage per hit in the Alpha.
BY LUKE PLUNKETT AUG 22, 2011 7:00 AM
Battlefield 3's booth at Gamescom was not fucking around. Inside its cavernous hall, at the end of an hours-long wait, were 64 personal computers and an 18-minute round of the game's multiplayer.
It's quite the experience.
Taking place on the game's Caspian Border map, an enormous expanse of creeks, hills, plains and buildings, the demo throws 32 American soldiers against 32 Russians in a classic game of Battlefield's multiplayer, each side scrambling to control points on the map.
This is a map that's been shown off before in trailers and screenshots (like the one above). It looked great there, and in person (admittedly, on a monster machine), it looked...just as great. It's not often you get shot in a multiplayer game because you got caught staring at the effect a tree's shadow had on the running water in a small stream.
More importantly than its looks, though, this played like the same old Battlefield. Playing as infantry, aiming is sharp and responsive. Vehicles were easy to learn but hard to master (though I did shoot a helicopter down with an Abrams at first attempt). There's great and constant visual feedback on where everybody on your team is and, more importantly, where all the spotted bad guys are as well.
Prior to the match kicking off, I had access to the customisation system, which had many items and weapons already unlocked. There was a great deal of scope for individuality here, players able to create their own ideal loadout of weapons, gear and powerups but since I only had one game to try it out on, there's not much more to report on it.
Amazingly, considering I only had 18 minutes of play time, I managed to man a buggy's machine gun, drive a tank and even stroll uncontested into the cockpit of an F-18 (then fly uncontested into the side of a building). Just like the infantry, control of a vehicle and the aiming of their weapons was smooth as butter, especially the tank.
Like the PS3 version, this was supposedly "alpha" code. I have my doubts in this case though, since this looked absolutely ready to go, but whatever! Oh, and since some of you will have some very particular questions about the nuances of the mode, ask them in the comments below and I'll do my best to answer them.
by Dan Silver, Sunday Mirror 21/08/2011
Battlefield 3s bullet fodder might well be a motley *assortment of fictional PLR terrorists, but its deadliest enemy still remains the *all-*conquering Call of Duty.
And Electronic Arts third shooter instalment has *Activisions massive mainstream audience in its sights.
Tactical multiplayer warfare has long been Battlefields not-so-secret weapon, and developer DICE has included two new modes for this threequel.
The first is a series of two-player *missions designed to counteract CoDs Spec-ops outings. The exclusive Exfiltration level we played at *Colognes Gamescom show is set in Tehran.
After stealthily *infiltrating a terrorist hide-out, we have to escort an informant to a waiting APC convoy and then shoot our way out of an ambush. Its taut, tense and *predicated towards teamwork.
Inside players must provide cover for one other in classic cop style, then out on the streets one snipes *enemies as the other protects the vehicles.
The second mode is something else. A Conquest map called Caspian Borders and exclusive to the PC, its a *show-stopping, 32-a-side pitched battle involving jeeps, tanks and jet fighters. It puts the massive into MMO.
Switching seamlessly from FPS to flight sim, its sense of scale is staggering as are the graphics. Running at full pelt, it will push even top-end PCs to the limit, but the spectacularly cinematic results must be seen to be believed.
Factor in the pulsating ebb and flow of the games objective-based battle system, and you have what could be the definitive online warfare experience.
Monday, 22 August, 2011 at 12:31 PST | ^Scott^ | Print News
Couple more Battlefield 3 previews coming out from Gamescom. Don't forget to vote for Battlefield 3 in Destructoid's Community Choice Awards.
- Battlefield 3s Multiplayer Blows 128 Socks Clean Off - Kotaku
- A Tale of Two Games of Battlefield 3 - Kotaku
- Conquest & TDM Hands-on - Metro.co.uk
- EA Continues Trash Talking, Says CoD Will Die in 2-3 Years - IndustryGamers
- Battlefield 3 is our Game of Gamescom 2011 - EuroGamer
- Destructoid Community Choice Awards for Gamescom
EA and DICE are already gearing up to show Battlefield 3 at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle, Washington this coming Friday, August 26th. According to the booth listing, the BF3 booth will have co-op and the Alienware booth and NVIDIA gaming area will have team death match tournaments. Caspian Border conquest will most likely be shown as well.
In addition to a wide selection of assault rifle,s carbines, SMGs and shotguns, Battlefield 3 will feature more weapon equipment and gadgets than any other Battlefield game before it. Here is the full list of confirmed weapon equipment and gadgets that will be available in Battlefield 3.
Grenades / Mines / Explosives
M67 hand grenade
M18 smoke grenade
Claymore anti-personnel mine
M15 anti-tank mine
C4 explosives
Tools
Medkit (Assault class)
Defibrillators (Assault)
Ammo pack (Support)
Welding tool (Engineer)
Motion sensor (Recon)
SOFLAM laser designator / marker (Recon)
M224 60mm Mortar
Battlefield 3 will feature the 60mm M224 mortar for the first time. The mortar will be deployable by the Engineer class.
M26 MASS
The M26 MASS Modular Accessory Shotgun System, is an under-barrel accessory that can be used on a wide variety of weapons and assault rifles. In Battlefield 3, the MASS will be usable with shotgun shells, frag rounds, solid slugs and Flechette rounds.
M320 launcher
The M320 launcher is set to replace the M220 under-barrel launcher. It will support 40mm grenades, 40mm smoke grenades, and single-shot shotgun shells as well.
EOD Bot
The EOD Bot is a remotely operated robot which in Battlefield 3 will be able to arm MCOM stations, repair vehicles and disarm mines.
MAV Micro UAV
The UAV role will change drastically in Battlefield 3. Unlike previous Battlefield games, in Battlefield 3, the engineer will be able to unlock a portable UAV. The MAV Micro UAV is easily deployed and can be used to scout the battlefield and spot enemies.
Hi everyone!
It's time to talk a bit about BF3 PC game servers.
RSPs
The game server machines themselves will be run by a number of Ranked Server Provider (RSP) companies. We do not allow other companies to run game servers, or for other people to run game servers from home.
We try to strike a balance where there are game servers available across the globe, while still keeping the number of RSPs at a level where we can offer reasonable support to each individual company. Since we prefer to work with larger hosting companies, and we focus on countries where we have a larger player base, there will not be game servers available in every country on the planet.
The list of RSPs which will run BF3 game servers at launch is not ready yet. Once it is, we will publish it widely.
Server administrators
While the RSPs run the physical machines, most if not all will be paid for and administered by the players themselves individuals, groups of friends, or clans.
A server administrator control some aspects of the play experience which maps are being played, which people are allowed onto the server, and can also affect the play style through various direct and indirect controls. Generally speaking, servers that are administered by reasonable admins attract players, while servers which have arbitrary rules imposed see less traffic.
Ranked vs Unranked
One of the biggest choices which a server administrator has to make is, whether to run the server in Ranked or Unranked mode.
In Ranked mode, player progression is tracked on EAs master servers. Weapons are unlocked by playing the game. Player progression is also visible on Battlelog. The server administrators will have to abide by the Battlefield Rules of Engagement.
In Unranked mode, player progression is not tracked on the master servers. Server administrators have free reign on such servers no Battlefield Rules of Engagement to heed. They can control in detail which weapons are available to the players, etc. This mode is suited to playing clan matches, tournaments, or to those players who just like the fairness of everyone having the same range of weapons available to them.
PunkBuster
BF3 will use PunkBuster as its anti-cheat system. Game servers that run in ranked mode are required to have PunkBuster active.
There have been problems with the PunkBuster screenshot mechanism under DirectX 10/11 in the past. However, we have collaborated with EvenBalance to make screenshots function reliably with DX10/DX11 in BF3.
Third party anti-cheat organizations
There are several community initiatives against cheating. These initiatives are usually volunteer organizations that maintain their own databases with cheaters. They do both manual work - reviewing screenshots, game recordings, and other cheating evidence and also implement automated systems.
It is up to each individual server administrator whether to join with one or more of these organizations.
While not officially partnering with these organizations, we try to ensure that BF3 works well with their systems in time for the launch.
The biggest three organizations that support Battlefield games are PBBans (PBBans | Always Quality over Quantity), GGC-Stream (GGC-Stream / News) and PunksBusted (PunksBusted.com Sponsored by Ventrilo). There are also several smaller organizations around.
Server administration interface
BF3 will support a Remote Administration interface similar to that of BFBC2. The basic protocol will be the same, but commands differing a bit.
There is a plethora of tools available that can talk to the remote admin interface. We are in contact with several of the developers who created tools for BFBC2, and will aid them in adding support for BF3. If you have developed a BFBC2 remote admin tool which is popular (used on >100 game servers), send me a PM.
The protocol itself is still under constant revision. Expect the protocol to be published by the time that the retail game is released.
Now I know you have a gazillion other questions. Spectator mode? Battlerecorder? mixed mode rotations? I don't have solid answers for most questions yet. Hopefully we can cover those once the Open Beta is live.
Some answers and non-answers below.
Ranked vs unranked
On ranked servers, your rank controls which weapons/attachments you have available to you. As you play, you go up in rank and unlock new weapons/attachments.
On unranked servers, it is up to the server admin whether the players' rank should control which weapons each player has available (plus any preorder incentives), or whether all players should have the same, customized list of weapons available to them. In the latter case, players can have access to weapons which are above their current rank.
RSPs
We do currently not support any others than RSPs running game servers. No GSPs outside of the RSP program; no home game servers. Yes, we have noticed that there are people requesting this.
Game server pricing
This is largely up to the RSPs themselves. Our measurements so far indicates that a BF3 server requires considerably more CPU power per player than BFBC2 does.
Rules of Engagement, Spectator Mode, Battlerecorder
I will not comment on these at this point.Fairness wrt weapon availability
DICE says that the weapons as preorder incentives does not make the game unbalanced.
Some people say that "if different people in the game have different sets of weapons available to them, it is unfair" [this is btw normally the situation on ranked servers, before everyone has reached max rank]. It seems to me that what these people want in order to be happy, is to play on a server where every player has access to the exact same set of weapons. We offer that option when people play unranked, but not when they play ranked.
I'm not going to pass judgment. I'm neither an FPS gamer nor a game designer.
twitter.com/Battlefield "Battlefield: First 2000 #BF3 PC download pre-orders on Origin through this link get Mass Effect 2 free. Today only http://t.co/lLtSgk7"
==================================================
New Battlefeld Blog Post: Battlefield 3 rocked Gamescom
==================================================
bastards, I already have ME2.
Of course, I got it free with like...DA2 or something a year ago. They should just give like a choice between a full game like that or a $10 origin credit.
We hit the Battlefield to try out the co-op, Team Deathmatch and 64-player Conquest modes – here's what we discovered
Last week, at the Gamescom festival in Cologne, I got my first proper hands-on time with Battlefield 3. A five minute blast through the Operation Metro level during E3 provided a quick glimpse, but EA brought a 64-player PC level and a PS3 co-op stage to Germany; a great opportunity to assess the game's scope – especially after playing Modern Warfare 3's exciting Survival mode.
To show off the newly announced two-player co-op missions, EA Dice was running a level named Exfiltration. Set in a dilapidated corner of Tehran, the mission involves rescuing a PLR defector named El Zakir from a guarded apartment block. Our demo has one player taking on an Assault role, while the other goes Recon, with a silenced pistol and scoped rifle.
The action starts with the duo creeping through the lower floors of the block, simultaneously taking out small groups of guards, while also shooting down security cameras. If the alarm sounds, troops will swarm in making the rescue offensive much more difficult. Once we grab our man, it's back out into the streets to load him into a Humvee. Then we have to scout ahead, clearing the darkened street of enemy troops to provide a safe escape route.
It's an okay co-op experience. The different weapon and item sets tempt players to actually work together, rather than simply running and gunning side by side. In the final section, the Recon character is able to pick off the enemies on raised terraces and in upper windows while the Assault guy heads down the street clearing out the ground level. The earlier stealth sections are more disappointing, though, requiring little in the way of planning or tactical interplay. I wish we'd seen a more varied, more open co-operative mission, but as a taster, it was interesting.
Spawning into the 64-player Caspian Border map, the first things that hit you are sheer size and detail. Around our airfield there are acres of rolling grassland, sloping down toward a snaking river. On the other side, in the distance, there are threadbare woodlands and concrete buildings dotted about. A single track zigzags toward a bridge at the base of the valley. There is no sign of enemy activity, just an HUD showing the map's four conquest points. For a few second the eerie silence is broken as a helicopter zooms over, beneath it, the blackened vapour trails of speeding missiles.
A short tank ride later and we're in the midst of a skirmish around a wrecked military outpost. Heading up onto a rooftop, the crackle of gunfire surrounds me, above the trees I can see billows of smoke from another conquest point. Picking out enemy troops amid the shrubs and concrete blocks is tough; the Frost Bite 2 engine has been used to create an environment of lush, but naturalistic detail – lone soldiers blend easily into the flora. Meanwhile, the labelling of your own troops is subtle and easy to miss, so early on, every encounter involves a millisecond of confusion – usually, for me, it ends badly.
It is tense, exhilarating stuff, and it is no place for lone run-and-gun nut jobs. There are four classes to opt for – Assault, Engineer, Recon and Support – each with a huge range of weapons and items, easily selectable through a lovely smartphone-style user interface at the start of the session. They will all be vital components of a successful team. I can see Recon becoming key-team players, spotting and marking enemies so that they're clearer amid the foliage. The Support guys will also be valuable in larger battles, using light machine guns to lay down suppressing fire which causes the screens of nearby enemy players to go blurry. Tactical play is in the DNA of the Battlefield series, but it is absolutely paramount here.
There are stunning moments. Tank battles amid crumbling buildings, looking up while on a sniping mission to see dog-fighting jets zoom way over head. What Battlefield 3 does is emphasise the three dimensionality of the war zone; the soldiers, the snipers on rooftops, the choppers, the jets; a series of interacting vertical compartments. On a high-end PC, the detail and fluidity is breathtaking.
But yet, it is not over-powering. The sense of space means there are long periods between frantic face-offs. "We have the Swedish mentality of subtlety, of focusing on the right things – it's not a complete sensory overload," says producer Patrick Liu. "With Battlefield 3, we've been concentrating on creating the most authentic, the most physical, experience you've ever had in a first-person shooter. You are in the body of the soldier. But at the same time, it has to be playable – it's not realistic in some senses, not exactly…"
And this is an important point. It's weird writing about war games at the moment, knowing what's going on in the world, specifically right now, in Libya. It is troubling to use terms like 'authenticity' in relation to a game, where the parallels with brutal reality are confined to equipment, setting and noise. Yet it does feel much more as though the inspiration behind Battlefield has been documentary realism rather than Hollywood melodrama. In terms of tone and ambition, Battlefield 3 is the Generation Kill to Call of Duty's Inglourious Basterds.
The key is in the audio. Those echoes of distant gunfire, the metallic ringing din of your own assault rifle. Everything sounds as though it is being generated within a true 3D environment. The award-winning Dice sound team has been using a technique known as high dynamic range audio, which mixes sound effects in real-time for each player so that they hear the important stuff, rather than a barrage of noises all at the same amplitude. (There's a good slideshow of a GDC talk on the subject here.)
"In reality you don't hear all the sounds in your environment – you brain picks out a certain amount of sounds for you, which it thinks are important," says Liu. "That's what HDR audio does. There are footsteps, people talking, gunshots… but usually what really matters is the fact that you're being hit by bullets; when that happens it has a higher priority than all other sounds!"
The sound team has also structured the audio effects for different environments. Each weapon has a range of samples, depending on where it's being used, so that firing it in a forest will contrast heavily with firing it in a subway station, while a claymore will sound different on a dirt surface than on concrete. It's not a major gameplay feature, but it adds to the sense of detail and – that word again – authenticity.
EA Dice also called in a familiar figure to help with this aspect of the game. Andy McNabb, the ex-SAS author of Bravo Two Zero, has advised on both the campaign and multiplayer elements. "He brought a few things to the table," says Devin Bennett, of EA Games. "The way soldiers speak was one of them. They're always very positive 'we will do this', 'we will meet here' as opposed to 'we're going to try'… the banter at the start of the tank level we showed at E3 was all Andy. And there's the way they personalise their tanks – these things are their homes." McNabb also contributed heavily to the look of the Thunder Road tank level, providing EA Dice with photos of military outposts he'd spotted while on an MOD mission over the Iraq-Iranian border. Those buildings are now in the game.
"Oh and the other thing he told us is that guns are never clean," says Bennett. "You see all these military games with shiny guns… he said yours need to be dirty and beat up because they are in real-life. They've been through it."
On the last day on Gamescom, I managed to sneak into EA's community lounge with writers from FHM and the Sunday Mirror. Ill-advisedly, we gatecrashed a team deathmatch session being held for the winners of an ESL Battlefield tournament. This was a much more frantic experience, a taut urban face-off throughout the Operation Metro map. There are pitch battles across courtyard cafes, there are snipers in the windows of glorious Parisian terraces; great chunks of plaster are blown from historic buildings. Yet, it still feels more measured than Modern Warfare.
Here, I think it's down to the intricacies of the map design. In CoD, the arenas are designed for movement and insecurity – every cubbyhole has two entrances, every building is a route. From what I've seen, it's possible to bed down in Battlefield 3 – although campers are easily spotted, and the armoury range is there to flush them out. Yet still, it's the sense of time and space that is different.
So far, I've had just the slightest taste of these online experiences. I've yet to see how vehicle customisation works, or how the classes will be able to exploit the myriad equipment options. It will be fascinating to see how Battlelog functions to create a more social online gaming experience (and how it will compare with CoD : Elite). Also, I haven't flown a jet. But what I have found is a cutting edge re-interpretation of what made Battlefield 1942 so enormously enjoyable and compulsive all those years ago; vast, detailed maps, tactical depth and the ability to play as you want, within an environment that offers many possibilities. That is Battlefield.
The Caspian Border map (which if rumors are true actually uses grid coordinates from that actual region) has pretty much confirmed what we hoped—Battlefield 3 vehicle play is going to be just as intense for tank drivers, fighter pilots and chopper jocks as CQB is for the grunts (er, sorry fan boys, “tactical operator” play). It really is impressive, though we can’t help but worry whether the console version will look as good and run as well as the one for PC. They say there will be no difference, but it seems hard to believe that’s the case. We had to play the alpha on the lowest PC graphics settings to get it to run decently, which doesn’t bode well for some players.
Perhaps the second biggest thing this trailer has done is excite conversation about the aircraft/dogfighting aspect. Admittedly, that is pretty cool, assuming you like airplanes. There’s not a lot to say about the dogfighting—it looks outstanding, with flares and a vastly improved HUD. It even looks at one point like you can move your point of view relative to the cockpit within the game, though that could be a trailer. Sadly this isn’t the part of the game that really turns us on. We’re not sure why anyone would want to play a zipper-suited sun god (fighter pilot) when there’s fighting to be done on the ground and no hair products or cool sunglasses in the game but it certainly broadens gameplay and makes the battlefield more frenetic. For you fighter jocks out there, don’t get butt-hurt. We know you contribute tremendously in the real world, but there’s no denying how much time you spend in front of the mirror or all the times you’ve worn a flightsuit to the PX on your day off (or that you spend all that extra flight and combat pay on your cool warrior coiffure).
We said that was the second biggest thing the trailer has done. The first and biggest thing has done is graphically demonstrate just how ignorant, misinformed and insulting the Internet readership can be. Seriously, go look at a few videos where someone is looking at the trailer. For every reasonably intelligent comment (and we’re talking about even by amphibian standards) left underneath there are three that are hateful, profane or just downright stupid. That’s one reason we enjoy writing here. We seem to be dealing with a higher caliber of people (who can at least spell correctly when they take issue with what we say, or call us names). So, thanks for that.
Anyway, some new details about the game appear to be a heartrate counter when you’re on foot (bottom right corner of the screen) and a vehicle ammo counter along with health when you’re in the vehicle. Vehicles have multiple player slots, though it doesn’t appear that you must have a full crew to run your tank. It just helps. On the subject of vehicles, these conquest maps are going to be huge and there are a lot of vehicles to choose from. As you can see during the trailer, there are 64 players running, many of them in AFVs, IFVs and both fixed wing and rotary aircraft. That’s a lot of lethal traffic.
Graphics are about the best seen to date, except maybe for Crysis. Frostbite 2 is obviously going to help make the destructible environment is simply bad ass (and gets points for not being a Call of Duty clone). More importantly it’s scaled—you can hammer a structure down with HEDP and AP or just watch concrete chips get knocked out of a wall when the remote tracked (EOD? Recce?) drone/robot runs into it. Speaking of that EOD robot, if that is in fact what it is, we like it a helluva lot more than we do the idea of running an explosive-packed RC car around the map (which was fine in a Clint Eastwood flick as a gimmick but never should have made it to Black Ops screen play).
There are going to be some nice small touches we haven’t seen before. Steering wheels show hands, knife kills let you snatch dog tags and the hooches for pilots between missions have really sweet individual air conditioning units, hair dryers and blinder-equipped windows where they can stand and look wistfully off into the distance. Maybe BlustryCheese810 isn’t some snot-nosed kid fighting acne from Jenks, OK when he’s not on the console. Maybe he’s a zipper-suited sun god from Eglin AFB with perfect hair.
So, final call: the graphics are seriously bad ass, game play looks intense and who knows…maybe it’ll teach some players a little geography (and how to mix drinks, if there is an in-game pilots’ lounge option). This is going to be a must-have game for fps aficionados. We predict more players buy this and MW3 than play one or the other.
Out here. Leave a comment here or find us on Facebook. Hippies and sissies shouldn’t bother. Zipper-suited sun gods are okay.
twitter.com/Battlefield "Battlefield: First 2000 #BF3 PC download pre-orders on Origin through this link get Mass Effect 2 free. Today only http://t.co/lLtSgk7"
==================================================
New Battlefeld Blog Post: Battlefield 3 rocked Gamescom
==================================================
Wednesday, 24 August, 2011 at 14:44 PST | ^Scott^ | Print News
In addition to being shown at PAX this weekend, Battlefield 3 will be at the Insomnia43 gaming festival in the UK on Sunday. Thanks richardjw1990.
Today we are very excited to announce yet another UK first at insomnia43. This Sunday will officially be the first UK consumer showing of EAs upcoming Battlefield 3 on PC and you guys will be able to get your hands on the real thing in the exhibition hall!
Battlefield 3 is one of the mostly hotly anticipated titles due for release in 2011 and were very proud to be able to bring you this opportunity to experience it a full 3 months early. Gamers will be able to play the games Squad Deathmatch game-mode, pitting two teams of 4 against each other in epic warfare at its finest.
When this game was shown at Gamescom in Cologne last weekend, the demonstration area saw gamers queueing for up to 9 hours just to get a hands on experience, so we expect demand at insomnia43 to be huge!
For those of you who dont already have a ticket for the UKs largest ever LAN event, why not head on down to insomnia43 and pick up a day ticket on the door for only £5 for the whole day!
CloneCommanders review
Bad Company 2 is still fun for me, maybe because I dont have time to play very often. Somehow, Im missing the real "Battlefield-Feeling". Especially in Air-Combat, my favourite job in BF! At my first hands-on BF3 I was really overwhelmed. Spawning in a Jet, the vibration and sound effects made me feel like playing more a simulation such as "IL2: Sturmovik" than an Battlefield. And regarding the other sounds, graphics and effects: Thumbs Up!
But there are also some negative aspects. One of the biggest: The Minimap never displays the whole map at once. Pressing "M", it only resizes itself to the whole screen but displays the same sector as in "small mode". That really wasnt helpful to orientate myself searching enemies or outposts. Flying an F-18, I had to choose between MG and Heatseek-Missiles. First Impression: Nice, even if I prefer flying a BF109 smile.gif. But I cant conclude the whole gameplay after some minutes at a foreign PC without a joystick. Same thing for Helicopter: As gunner, I cleared the Battlefield (thanks infrared view) and also blew up a Jet. As pilot I also was able to take down a Jet without any practice, but unfortunately I cant compare the manoeuvrability with other games, since Im normally flying with a Joystick. But after all, I liked what I saw.
The TDM was predicted to look at some little details and infantry fight. Very positive: Its possible to strafe sidewise while sprinting now thats helpful when sprinting stairways up or down. The right mouse button lets the player aim, and while firing in this mode you loose your target very fast because its shaking like hell. Nevertheless, Abenteuer Dauerfeuer (no translation possible - sorry) is still possible, which I really appreciate. Since the infantry fight was really exciting, I dont need Call of Duty for this purpose anymore. Its a pity that you spawn random on the whole map, and not like in CoD somewhere near your Team - but lets wait if thats final, because the Squad system is still work-in-progress.
My conclusion: BF3 is a worthy successor of BF2, and no BC3.
Bernies review
Spawn, enter a jeep and dash through the scenery - the typical "Battlefield-Feeling" was present just after a few seconds. If you played the predecessors, you'll feel at home rather quick. Also the known "I run to the aircraft and right before I'm able to enter it, someone else flies away with it" also happened right away. The graphics, the customizability and the sound is simply awesome - that's how i wished Battlefield 3 would be.
"It is alpha-software" - this sentence I've heard quite often. At some points (like graphic-errors, missing sounds or balancing) this is understandable. At some other points like the vehicles' physics, there's still much work to do. I'm not sure if this can be done in time.
Getting stuck nearly everywhere while running or driving was the most annoying thing in previous Battlefield titles for me. Although this happened also in the BF3 Alpha (like unrealistic blockades for the tank), it is appreciable that this will be very rare in BF3 as trees are no obstacle for tanks. It's really scary to see the trees fall before you actually see the tank. My favorite impression of the improved collision-detection was while playing infantry. I was never really causeless blocked in house-to-house fighting. I was sliding over little edges and easily jumped over small objects.
While the missing mod support is really sad, I'm happily looking forward to Battlefield 3 - as a gamer.
gapps' review
You cannot compare Battlefield 3 with another Battlefield-games. Yes, the graphics are similar to the ones in Bad Company 2, but you're as mobile as you are in Battlefield 2. And aside of that Battlefield 3 is its own independent game. And details and sound are everywhere - and fantastic.
17 minutes to play the conquest with 64 players on Caspian Border. The map itself is probably not one of the biggest maps in the battlefield history, but its not small either. It plays out nicely since there are enough different ways on the map. The graphics are, as said before, excellent. Aiming, reloading and sprinting have nice animations and fit into the game perfectly. But there are weak points aswell. The minimap is not really useful yet, since it displays only small parts. Even by pressing "M" it only becomes bigger but does not really grant a good overview yet. Some vehicles simply disappear when the flag they spawned on changes sides. The jets fly a bit slow and the rocket launchers do not enough damage. But that are small points that can be fixed easily.
Overall, we can expect a true successor for the Battlefield series. The mix is ok, there is no huge and disturbing display of kill messages and the badges are blocking the view either like they do in Call of Duty. The menu and the customization are simple aswell and are easy to overview. Its definitly fun to play BF3 and it looks like BF3 is going to be worth its price.
-=Punkbusters review=-
Schnick, Schnack, Schnuck as we in Germany say or simply rock, paper, scissors. Thats what Battlefield is all about and thats what Ive seen during my conquest session at Gamescom. There was a tank rushing at the flag only to be taken out by a helicopter. And guess what: the chopper was taken down directly after it because the gunner of the tank got out and found a nice little place to make his first attempts with the SA-18. As you can see there are more than choppers and flak, and thats why this game is completely different from Bad Company 2. It tastes more like a Battlefield 2 with new completely new graphics and powerful sounds.
Only one question remains and its about the gameplay. Unfortunately I cant say very much after a session of 17 minutes where everyone was trying out the weapons and functions but I can say that much: the map is looking good (real good in fact) and I personally dont care if it is smaller, bigger or equal to any BF2 map. It is big enough and thats the only thing that counts. And to be honest: the Battlefield series is popular because of maps like Gazala, Operation Hastings, Strike at Karkand, Camp Gibraltar, and the alltime classic Wake, and not because of non existing gameplay or epic fails at the mapping department.
Same goes for Team Deathmatch that was great fun even with 4on4. You can enter most of the buildings and combined with the random spawns you will find an very interesting sort of gameplay. To unite with your squadmates you have to fight your way through the enemy and there were some interesting effects especially for veterans. Since the very beginning Im used to easily jump onto walls and above fences. This time there is a smooth animation that brings your playermodel directly to the other side of the wall and into the line of fire. Thats a thing I have to get used to but definitely nice addition. Less hopping, more tactic. I like and I cant wait to play the Beta.
TASS' review
Battlefield 3 felt, at least in conquest, like a battlefield. There is no doubt about that. Why is hard to tell. But no matter weither we are talking about 1942, BFV or BF2, a Battlefield got the have this particular feeling. This particular gameplay, this particular atmosphere. Maybe its simply key moments like the rock, paper, scissors experience: A mg takes down half my squad, our tank blows up the mg and a helo makes short process with the tank. Of course one shouldn't have any illusion concerning BF3. Even in CQ BF3 is no BF2 2.0. Graphics, technics and gameplay evolved in the last 6 years. And even in BF3 there is things like the jets or the flag layout that I haven't yet come to like. But there hasn't been any other new game in the last few years that triggered more of the battlefield feeling mentioned above in me than BF3 and destruction and the fewer barriers in the game are refreshingly different.
Refreshingly different aswell were the other gamemodes I played. The coop is a nice idea. It's lacking real team functions like in Left4Dead or Rainbow Six - but isn't it part of BF to cooperate and play together without 200 buttons? I'd have prefered a coop with 4 players over the 2 possible players but I know one thing: coop rocks - why not in BF3? More sceptic I was about the TDM. To me, TDM is no real Battlefield. But does it have to be like that? No. TDM is different - and a lot of fun!
Weither BF3 will manage to capture my attention for over a year like BF2-vanilla and what comes after that with the lack of mods, since the mod-era IMO is over once and for all, will remain to be seen. But I am definitly looking forward to the day on wich Battefield will arive in the year 2011! The only thing I am sceptic about currently are Origin and its terms of use. But if the Beta will confirm my positive impression that might be the only reason not to buy BF3 for me.
Nightmares review:
Select class and weapon, spawn and bash the enemy - as modder you've got a different perspective when playing a new game in the series. Thats why I focused more on the vehicle physics and the weapons, the mechanics behind the action. But even with that different perspective I had to notice the graphic which easily competes with Crysis and in detail sometimes even looks better. The sound is awesome aswell, as is the huge amount of weapons from which you can select.
The different bullet drop, recoil, precision and fire rate make weapons like G3, M16, MP7 or P90 feel different. Every weapon is deadly with roughly 4-8 shots on the main body parts. The helicopters fly relativly dull and "inactivly" and need at least 10-12 of the carried 14 rockets to destroy a tank. Touching a tree means certain death. In the Version I played, the Mig had no bombs mounted, the gattling had a high firerate and bad precision and felt ineffective against infantry, since it didn't kill even when getting a hit indicator. The wide turn radius and the fov made the jet feel slow. From main to main, the jet needed 12 seconds with afterburner and 15 without, which is comparable with a 1km map in BF2. In the tank I liked the zoom for the main gun the most. The physics still felt quite unfinished. The tank accelerated pretty badly and sometimes slided off in angled terrain. If the tank once started to slide, no breaking or accelerating helped anymore. Some tree trunks and stones still turned out to be heavy to surmount. The emergency exit from destroyed vehicles seemed to be working for all passengers but the pilot/driver.
Daniel "zh1nt0" Matros promised that there is still going to be chances to the vehicle physics. Weither that is true, the beta will show. For me Battlefield is defined by conquest and its vehicles, its the main reason the buy the game. So the Beta will decide weither I'll spend my money on Battlefield3.
Ivans review
Last wednesday I felt like taken 6 years back... During a summer evening in the year 2005 I connected to a BF2 demo server and found myself in the heart of an attack on a MEC base. Tanks and hummvees passed by left and right and the commander gave orders. Wow, what a feeling! This atmosphere, those graphics, this sound... Now in the year 2011, at Gamescom, I had exactly that impressive feeling again. Wow...
Much has been said about graphics, the sound and the handling of the vehicles already. But my most important realisation during the last days was, that BF3 is a real Battlefield, like I play and love it since 1942. The second most important realisation is, that DICE seems to know on wich things they still need to work, be it jets, tanks or the end of round scoreboard without tickets. I am having full trust in Lars Gustavsson that he makes his developers fix thos weak points still till the release. And I am already thrilled by the infantry movement. Bunnyhopping (I like this kind of movement) is beeing prevented without "tieing" the player to the ground. You can expierence mobility without having a gameplay like in Unreal or Quake.
I am leaning back to let Lars and his team work while I think about which hardware to put into my new PC.
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
by Adam
Its raining. The streetlights are shining back up at me from the wet cobbles as I leap from the Humvee, landing with a dull thud that echoes through the silent street and delivering a fearful chill straight down my spine. Theres a hostage in the building whom we need to get out we being my new German buddy Kierse and I who have both been selected for this dangerous operation. We have all the prime technology of the USMC in our hands, radio support in our ears, were dangerous and were ready for this. Were also running forward five paces, running back another six, spinning around on the spot, hopping up and down, raising the scope, going to crouch, sprinting and going prone.
If we really are the finest the USMC has to offer I think the hostage would be best served if he jumped from the window and took his chances with the windscreens of our Hummers. There was, of course, a purpose to all of this; we were hands on with the very first demoing of the PS3 version of Battlefield 3s newly announced Co-Op Mode. Following a short presentation by Producer Patrick Liu, in which we took another look at the incredible Caspian Border trailer, Patrick offered us a few general pointers for the mission we were about to play, Exfiltration. Try to use your silenced weapons for as long as you can, watch out for cameras in the corners and dont leave your Co-Op buddy behind because if you go down, its not going to be easy for him to get you back up. I think weve only had about eight people make it through this one without a total wipe this week!
Were it that I had more experience with a PS3 controller, that probably wouldnt have been too much of a problem. Sadly, I think the last time I invested any time with a DualShock controller was back in the days of Cortez and the TimeSplitters so, despite how welcome Patricks advice was, it wasnt going to be all that much use to me as I had far bigger problems to deal with first. Thankfully, Kierse was a much more able player than I and within no time at all, wed snuck our way into the first room and taken out the two idle soldiers with some carefully executed headshots. Or, at least, that was what Kierse saw on his screen; I was too busy staring at the light bulb, panicking as the first shot was fired and inadvertently changing weapon to my much beefier assault rifle, unloading an entire clip into a wall before hitting my mark and raising every alarm in the building in the process.
It doesnt sound good, but it was actually probably the best thing that could have happened in this situation. My crazed spray and pray approach to gunfire had taken out the light bulb, plunging us into darkness and taken some rather meaty chunks out of the far wall, demonstrating both how subtle and how powerful the Frostbyte2 engine really is.
We fought our way through the hallways, battled up the stairs and then barrelled our way down a corridor, running down some considerably quieter stairs before emerging back onto the street where our platoon of Humvees were parked up. We exchanged confused looks, both with ourselves and then again with the beautifully rendered, grizzly manly men of war that were manning the various seats in the Hummers who, in turn, returned a look of shame and disappointment. In all of our excitement wed completely forgotten about the hostage, something Patrick was quick to remind us of, and so back through the building we sprinted, getting a better feel for the controls and quickly freeing our clearly confused hostage from his equally disorientated captors.
Having escorted him back out onto the street, we had the boys fire up the Hummers and moved into flanking positions on either side of the road, protecting our convoy as we pushed deeper into enemy controlled territory. They came out of nowhere, firing from every balcony, every rooftop, putting all of the panic and fear Id managed to shake straight back into the pit of my stomach. I was too exposed, losing health and running out of bullets. I dashed for a row of pillars on the far side of the street and hid myself from all of the many crosshairs that were trained on my chest. I thought I was safe, but then the pesky and brilliant Frostbyte2 engine reared its wonderful head once more and, before too long, I found myself emitting worried squeaky noises as I struggled to find a bit of the pillar that offered enough protection as bullets blasted their way through it, destroying not only the pillar but any hope of actually getting out of here alive.
I figured it was time to find safer cover and so turned to dash back toward Kierse, but it was too late. One final bullet forced me to the ground, leaving me only able to fire my pistol as I slowly started to bleed out and the world began to blur and fade. Keirse tried his best, but in trying to save me he killed himself, ending the mission and prompting Patrick to wrap things up for this preview. The game had reloaded quickly though, so I asked Patrick if hed mind me doing one last quick thing. I ran back through the street, re-entered the building and headed back to that very first kill that Id missed. Keirse had already absconded from the battle and so it was just me, but with flawless execution, I silently head-shotted the first guard and charged straight at the second to execute a brutal and magical knife takedown, which put a far bigger smile on my face than society should really allow.
A grateful nod, a thank you to Patrick, the receipt of my Battlefield 3 VIP Floor Pass and my dejected (at the thought of no more Battefield 3 until October 27th) eyes lit back up (Genuine Eyes). It may have been over for my Co-Op experience, but the 64 player PC version was now only a short queue jump away. I felt guilty flashing the pass to the security guard, glancing over at the thousands of people who were patiently queuing for their chance to go hands on with this mind-bendingly epic FPS, but that soon passed when a diligent EA representative passed me a free T-Shirt and told me to enjoy the demo. Im very easily distracted where freebies are concerned. Before entering the hall, I was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the sixty three other players and look through to those currently enjoying the demo. There were only a few minutes left, but this only made it all look the more appealing as everyone in the room seemed to have already slotted back into the Battlefield PC groove and were just stacking up the awesome as they tooled around the Caspian Border in Tanks, hurtled through the skies in Jets or battled for the streets with their varied kit customisations.
The door ahead of us all opened and our heads all turned away from the action. We piled through to a cinema showcase of the games epic twelve minute long gameplay trailer, followed by a tutorial video to teach any new Battlefield players how to play and acquaint returning veterans with some of the games newer features. Id like to say that I was prepared for all of this, but that tutorial presentation was delivered entirely in German, and so I made my way over to the keys armed only with my hundred and thirty hour service to the USMC in BF2 and my keen love for the mouse and keyboard to call upon.
It was like the true Battlefield and I never went our separate ways all those years ago. I was running alongside my squad mates, clambering into a buggy and speeding through a burning town without even thinking about it. Had we not have all been mousing around to take in the stunning views wed probably have seen that M1 Abrahams Tank coming the other way, and probably would have done something about it. I died (a recurring theme for the rest of the demo, I might add). I remembered why I was here after that first death, thinking that Id possibly rushed things a little and began to worry that Id perhaps come on too strongly, fully deserving that nine hundred ton armoured division slap that someone across the room had delivered to me with glee. I started to treat this more professionally, started pushing buttons on the spawn UI, re-adjusted my class, selected a new spawn point and headed back into the battle in a jet.
Ive never been a great pilot in the Battlefield series; Ill freely confess that fact. I take a very Indiana Jones approach to it all Fly? Yes! Land? No. I thundered down the runway, fired up the afterburner with a touch of the shift key and marvelled as the plane began to violently shake, pushing worrying thoughts in through my ears to think twice about taking this jet lightly. Once Id levelled out and brought the nose down to a sensible angle, I was stunned. The forest was burning, fire was raging, smoke was pluming and I could see for miles. Im never one to push graphics over experience but this was an experience all in itself.
I flew around happily for a few minutes before deciding to test something that had been revealed to me earlier that morning in a Community Q&A session with Battlefield 3s global community manager, Daniel Matros. The sky isnt even the limit to Battlefield 3 at this stage, something that the game has always prevented you from doing in the past, where planes, helicopters and jets all eventually reached a stall height but this is no longer the case in Battlefield 3. I climbed to almost five thousand feet in the jet before deciding that this could go on for quite some time and so I thought, what with the limited time available to me with the game, Id practice an old party trick of mine.
I bailed, five thousand feet high, leaping from my seat in the cockpit and allowing momentum to push me higher, before that Wil. E. Coyote moment where things go from up to down and I started sky diving my way back towards my rapidly plummeting Jet. I was worried I was going to miss it but I smashed my way back into the cockpit with some rapid hammering of the E key, flipped the nose of the jet instantly back down towards the ground and then attempted to defy the laws of physics by pulling out of a violently fast nose dive, failing to do so miserably, only to then slam the entire weight of the jet directly onto that M1 Abrahams.
Id like to claim revenge, Id like to say I was aiming for him or that Id managed to eject at the last second and had somehow survived. I honestly had no idea he was there as I was going far too fast and having far too much fun to notice. If Id tried to do that, I would have failed spectacularly, but I still exchanged nods with an on looking developer who was watching from the sidelines and got straight back into it. I spawned at a destroyed gas station and made my way over to the flag capture point in the forest, the only one capture point my faithful team of Russian forces had so far failed to secure. I got into the foliage and I went prone, picked off the spawning US forces and locked down the flag. At the exact moment I managed to tip it back into neutral a friendly helicopter gunship flew over, letting lose a hail of bullets that burst through the leaves and cleaved the surrounding trees clean in half. I should have really been annoyed that the guy was on the verge of team killing me, but this was far too epic to get shirty when I was being treated to the magic of Frostbyte2.
The forest secured, me and my new squad headed back in towards the main town, emerging from the trees to a view of a road, a ditch and then a nine foot high wall just behind it. I glanced down the length of wall, looking for a way in until I remembered what it was I was playing. I switched instantly to my grenades and blasted a spectacular hole for us all to pile through, amazed at the dust it had kicked up and at how each individual piece of the wall had responded in a completely random, albeit authentic and downright cool way.
With a Death/Suicide ratio to be proud of (and a Kill/Death ratio to not be so proud of), I hung my headphones up on the edge of the screen and headed for door, exchanging one last knowing nod with my on looking fan and passing back out into the great Hall Six of Gamescom 2011. I rounded the Battlefield 3 queue one last time, looking into the hungry eyes of everyone that was waiting dutifully for their first chance to play the game. I felt a bond, a connection with these people. In just over two months, were all going to be out there, on the battlefield, fighting for victory at all and any awesome cost. My new brothers and sisters, comrades and enemies, all part of one giant shared experience with those proud few of us who can stand amongst the others and say I was there man, I was there.
I couldnt wait for Battlefield 3 before I got my hands-on time today and now, I really cant wait. Ill see you at the beta.
Battleblog #8: Build your weapon of choice
BY: HBrun POSTED: Aug 25, 2011, 12:00AM COMMENTS: 1 (Login Required to Comment)
We have well over 50 weapons in Battlefield 3. But each weapon in itself can be tailored to wildly differing play styles and combat roles. Read on for the full details on our deepest weapon customization ever.
Two weeks ago, we detailed the general design philosophy behind the gun play in Battlefield 3 together with Senior Designer Alan Kertz. Today, we are delving deeper into the thousands of weapon customization options you will have in the game.
Basically, each main weapon in the game has three accessory slots, where you can attach weapon accessories you have unlocked. Weapon accessory unlocks are received on a per weapon basis, meaning that the more time you spend with a particular weapon, the more options you will have to customize that weapon to fit different your combat role and play style.
A rifle in Battlefield 3 can be customized for wildly different combat roles. The carbine directly below has been equipped with a heavy barrel, bipod, and a 4X magnification combat scope. This would be ideal for a soldier who wants to engage targets at medium to long range and use suppressive fire to support his team mates.
In the picture above, the same carbine has instead been equipped with a suppressor, foregrip, and quick acquisition holographic scope. This setup would be well suited for Close Quarters Battle, especially indoors where stealth can be a vital factor.
The unlockable weapon accessories include an assortment of optics, suppressors, bipods, barrels, underslung grenade launchers, underslung shotguns, foregrips, flashlights, laser sights, and more.
While the class and model of your weapon will determine a number of basic values (like muzzle speed, energy, and fire rate), you can always modify it to tweak it towards anything from long range to close quarters combat.
So. Are you a long range sniper or a close quarter combat type of player? The neat thing is, in Battlefield 3, you can easily switch between both. With our powerful weapon customization features, there are no limits to the types of gameplay we support.
Stay tuned for Battlefield 3 Battleblog #9 soon
Did you miss the previous stories in the Battleblog series?
Battleblog #1: Lars Gustavsson on DICE's new multiplayer philosophy in Battlefield 3
Battleblog #2: With a bit of class
Battleblog #3: With an army by your side
Battleblog #4: Up close and personal
Battleblog #5: Years' worth of unlocks and rewards in Battlefield 3
Battleblog #6: Building Battlefield 3 from the gun out
Battleblog #7: Battlefield 3 introduces themed co-op campaign
For more information on Battlefield 3, visit the Official Site.
To learn about the Frostbite 2 game engine, visit the Frostbite 2 section on the Battlefield 3 site.
For the latest news on everything Battlefield, follow us on Twitter and our Facebook page.
This game is not affiliated with weapon/vehicle manufacturers.
Muzzle speed? sounds like bullet drop will be widely variable per configuration!