Battlfield 3 Beta Review

"Battlefield 3"

On September 27, 2011 those who purchased "Medal of Honor" had the opportunity to have a two day head start on the rest of the world to play the "Battlefield 3" beta. I was at my best friends house as he turned on the beta to play a game. He was unable to get into the beta because he "Could not connect to EA Network". I'm sure this is something that those who have played the beta have experienced. I assured my friend that there was probably an overload of people trying to play, and download, the beta, so EA's servers were probably overwhelmed. As I left that night, my friend was finally able to get into the beta. I called him to see what he thought, and he wasn't as excited as I thought he would be. He explained that the graphics are only "A little bit better than Bad Company 2" and "It doesn't look as good as the PC version" (this was on Xbox 360). I explained to him that nothing on a console is ever going to look as good as PC, and it's still a beta.

Two days later, those who did not purchase Medal of Honor, were able to access the beta. I downloaded the beta that night with much anticipation. As I got into the main menu, I clicked on the Multiplayer button which brought me to a screen where I could search for a game to enter. Like my friend, I too received a message stating "Could not connect to EA Network". I was utterly disappointed. I figured that two days later, the beta would be running smoothly, and that everyone would get in with no problems. I clicked the button several times, hoping to get into a game by chance, and finally I got into a game! I got into a game and began to play the "Rush" mode that those who have played "Bad Company", or "Bad Company 2", will be familiar with. The graphics were actually quite a bit better than those of "Bad Company 2", and the physics were flawless. A wall crumbling in front of me made me want to sit and watch it all happen. I would catch my self looking at the environment, and the remember that I was in a live game where people could shoot me. One thing I had to laugh about was when I shot a glass window; it took about 3 shots to shatter the entire thing, but if I went up to it and slashed it with my knife it shattered right away. As far as realism goes, that was the only thing that I could think of that wasn't spot on with physics. As I was enjoying all of this, the game ended abruptly. That same message appeared on my screen, informing me that the game could not connect to EA online. Yet again, I was very disappointed. Lucky for me, I had "Gears of War 3" to keep me occupied while I patiently waited to play more of the "Battlefield 3" beta.

The next day I went over to another friends house whose brother in-law had downloaded the beta to his Xbox. The beta worked fine there, no problems getting in, and let me just say, I was very impressed by the way the game ran. The sound effects were crisp and clear, and very real. As the first area of operation was completed, the attacking team had to await orders to move on to the next area. As those orders were being rattled off over the opsat, I really felt like I was at war receiving those orders. They were as real as it gets. The weapons in the game are a huge improvement from "Bad Company 2", which is one thing I have always thought DICE could have done better with. They certainly delivered in this one. The customization is far advanced from "Bad Company 2" as well. Once unlocked you can pick a scope for your weapon. Obviously this is nothing new, but what is new is that there are many variations of zoom that you can pick depending on your environment, and can mount it on any of the weapons you have. If you want to snipe in close quarters, then you can choose to take your scope off completely, and use your iron site.

One thing that has been added that I thought was very clever, is a tactical light that you can mount under the barrel of your assault rifle or small machine gun. I even saw this light mounted on a pistol. When this is equipped it is very effective in blinding your opponent in less lit areas of a level. Another addition, that has been seen in first person shooters before, is a laser sight. This weapon attachment, when pointed at an opponent, will light their screen up with a red hue. I thought that this was a very clever addition, because it makes sense that if a laser was being pointed at me that I would see it. This doesn't blind like the tactical light, but it does inform you, or your opponent, that you are about to get shot, so you better move. Something a lot of Battlefield fans have been waiting for, is ducking. It is possible to crouch in previous games, but something that could not be done in the "Bad Company" series was to go "prone". This  adds another level of strategy to the game, and is a very big improvement. Being able to belly crawl through the battlefield to get to safer areas is a big help. One area of the map is a subway, being able to lay down at one end, and snipe people at the other end of the map, was very helpful, and made it very hard for the enemy to spot me.


The fluidity of gameplay for this particular map is much like the "Call of Duty" series, using high paced gameplay, rather than strategic. The map starts outside, and then makes it's way inside, after each objective is completed. When outside gameplay is more strategic, but once the battle moves inside, it becomes much higher paced. Obviously it's a beta, so I can't expect everything to be included, but I was a little disappointed that there weren't any vehicles. One thing that DICE is famous for is the vehicles they include in their games. I have a feeling that they didn't include any vehicle gameplay because they are adding so many new gameplay mechanics with vehicles alone.


All of the gameplay that I have commented on is very positive. I am not overlooking what is wrong with the beta. There are a lot of issues with the beta that make me very nervous about the final release. At one point I fell through the map, and couldn't get out! I had to commit suicide so that I could get back into the action. At one point I shot someone and killed them, when their body hit the ground it began to slide to the side, with their weapon following. As I was running outside to get to an objective, I looked to my left to see one of my teammates running with me. The entire lower half of his body was in the ground, and he was still running. When an enemy killed me and it showed him on my "kill camera" there was a magazine that he had just unloaded, floating by his waste. The eyeballs on one of the Russian characters were pure white with no pupils. I shot an opponent in the head as he laid prone, at which point his body began to sink into the level. There were a lot of problems that I hope DICE is able to fix for the full game.


All in all the beta is a pleasant experience. My only complaints are that sometimes it's hard to get into matches, and there were a lot of bugs. I am giving this beta a 3 out of 5 stars. Obviously I played this beta on the Xbox, so I would like to know your experiences if you've played it on PS3 or PC.

Until next time, keep on gamin' on!