Post by Vincent Van Ghoul on May 30, 2012 22:20:32 GMT 1
Single Player Campaign.
-Visuals- 8.5/10
The graphics are good. Very good in fact.
The glare on your Holographic scopes, the bullets flying over your head, and the buildings you blow down all look fantastic.
The characters however, outside the cinematic, do not look as good as I think they could be. Your AI opponents all look alike, and that's all equally bad. Their facial textures, including your own teams, simply look too plain.
Other than the faces everything looks great, and the environment destructibility only adds to the magnificence.
-Sound- 8.5/10
No complaints here. The guns all have their own unique sound, and the voice acting Is really good.
I noticed that at times in heated situations the sounds could almost overwhelm you. A mix of full auto fire, heavy machine guns, tanks, and explosions all at once greatly helps immersion.
-Gameplay- 9/10
The gameplay Is pretty much what you'd expect from an FPS. Guns, grenades and knifes. There's little innovation here, but that's not really a bad thing. Everyone from FPS veterans to newcomers shouldn't have any problems getting used to the UI.
I do however think that the distinct lack of customization, and vehicle access that you get in the Multiplayer really make the Single Player Campaign feel lacking. It does very little to prepare players for the stuff they'll get into in the Multiplayer.
The vehicles you drive are limited to a Tank, and a passenger ride in a fighter jet. If you run out of ammo, or just want to switch things up, the weapons you can pick up from dead enemies all come with such varied set ups, It could be a big disadvantage for the player. A custom load-out for the SP Campaign would do wonders.
As would more vehicle interaction. If you finish the the SP Campaign, and decide to hop into MP right away you're gonna find yourself very outgunned by enemies you were not really prepared for.
-Story- 6/10.
The story is good. But that's it.
It's fairly dramatic, but It feels like much of the personal conflicts, and drama are being forced on the player, rather then simply being felt.
But I doubt this was written to be a good, solid story and more like a basic introduction into Multiplayer, which Is where most Battlefield players will be spending their time.
Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Review.
-Visuals- 8/10
Not much has really changed from the Single Player, but I do get the distinct feeling that some minor graphics, such as glares have been down-toned, or just turned off.
I could imagine this is because the MP section requires a bit more Processing power than the Xbox can manage, and having to spend more of it of barely noticeable details wouldn't really make sense.
-Sound- 8.5/10
The sounds are all the same, apart from the new voices for your characters.
-Gameplay- 9/10
Gameplay remains the same, with a few additions.
You can spot/communicate with your teammates to help pilots take out big ground targets, or help your sniper take out enemies.
Rather the single soldier you play in the SP campaign, in Multiplayer you have 4 classes, Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon. Each with It's very special weapons, and gadgets. And thanks to a massive variety in weapons, accessories, and gadgets you can play the game however you want to.
Snipers for example do not have to rely on sniper rifles, and lying far behind the action. They can equip a shotgun, or a PDW and hit the front-lines using a small flying drone to help spot enemies for the rest of the team, or use a laser designator to help pilots and engineers take out enemy ground, or air vehicles.
There are a few balance issues with some weapons, for the moment I believe only a single shotgun is unbalanced, but expect that to be banned from most servers.
Also, I must criticize DICE/EA's recent decision to remove all of their servers, and allow players to rent their own servers. Meaning every time you want to play a quick game, you are playing on another players server, and with his/her rules.
This really destroys large portions of gameplay for me, and many others since Admins are given full power over their servers, including banning whoever they feel like. I have been kicked, or banned at least a dozen times for reasons varying to needed space for friends/clan mates, to didn't like that i had more points than the admin.
-Overall- 8/10
A good, solid FPS. The Frostbite 2.0 Engine really comes together here, and everything is really well done.
Despite some early balance issues in Multiplayer the game itself works great now, and It does require skills to win it. Good teamwork, and knowledge of how to best help your team Is what wins the wars.
I do however think that the single player campaign should have trained the players better for the tasks they receive in multiplayer. Namely how to fly/drive. You will undoubtedly come across a new guy who's never flown a helicopter before, and having a newbie flying simply spells disaster.
That said, I feel that at for the moment the only bad aspects of the game are at the fault of the players. The idea that players should be able to rent their own servers is great, I love the idea that clans could have servers for training, and tournaments, or just for friends to play together.
But the sad reality is that a lot of the servers players end up on play with distorted rules, sometimes caters exclusively to the Admin. And the ability to kick and ban whoever they see fit, and why they see fit Is a huge game breaker for me. I really don't like getting kicked for reasons like letting friends in, or just because I'm "too good".
If the server/admin functions were to be revised I would definitely get far more enjoyment out of it, but as it is now, every time i get into a server I'm usually greeted by the admins welcoming message telling me what weapons I'm not allowed to use, or i end up on a Clans server, with 2-10 Clan members on the enemy team, all on voice chat. Guess who wins those matches.
