Battlefield 3 - Page 43

The kind of reputation that gets it a huge rabid fanbase in the first place, of being a great series of games that people enjoy. Im not trying to get into a bf3 vs mw3 flame war. A lot of people still love CoD - this isn't really an opinion so much as a fact. They could have shown nothing at all of the game and people would line up for it.

This is exactly why I feel that demos for big release titles can only hurt sales. The hype monster creates more than enough sales, to the point that a demo/beta can only hurt.

Titles of this magnitude can never live up to the hype.

Especially when the marketing is so good. The caspian sea multiplayer trailer for this game is literally the best video game trailer I have ever seen, and a lot of my friends agree (who aren't even fans of BF). It's impossible to live up to that level of hype. Especially with a demo that doesn't even include any of the cool stuff in the game. I mean, the two best parts of battlefield, that sets it apart, are the destructible environments and the pretty vast amount of different vehicles. Neither are really showcased in this demo map. A poor choice IMO, which only serves to kill sales, especially for newcomers to the series. I guess maybe they expect that veterans already know that stuff is great, and they are trying to present a COD-like experience for newcomers, to woo them over? I dunno.

That all being said, from everything I've read, I haven't heard anything that we haven't known/expected. The graphics are about the same, if not a tiny bit better than BC2 (on console). Those of you who expected more than that without new hardware are kind of delusional. We've known for a bit now that there wouldn't be jets in the beta. The game playing like BFBC3 sounds like a pro to me lol.

One big negative for me though is that I was planning to play a lot of the beta, but if you can't play with friends, I honestly will probably only put an hour or two into it.

Yes, caspian sea is literally the best trailer I've ever seen. The second best is the one they showed right before that.

Yet, every time they've shown the game by itself in extended play - the E3 tank demo (UGH) - the games com coop demo (snore!), it hasn't looked like anything special.

Why they went so small with this beta is beyond me. Because its not a beta, its a demo. They can call it a beta, but people will make decisions about whether or not they're buying based on it. They should have put their best foot forward...unless this IS it.

So yeah, they probably should have just made another trailer.

downloading the beta now. I'll devote some time to see if we can join each other. Gotta be a way!

I really care more how it plays rather than how it looks... I'm tired of these same old whores with new dresses on type of games(madden/cod)

I imagine that for anyone who has never played a BF game before, it'll blow their mind. Mostly in a good way.

Same here.

Really lame if we can't squad up in the beta.

No code for me Anyone kind enough to part with an extra one?

I'm hoping so never played any of the series

I saw some of you in a party, were you in the same game? Harp, Zath...Lowgn I think

Well, after putting in close to 2 hours with the beta (on PC) it has left me underwhelmed and frankly disappointed.

Firstly, the graphics in the beta are not much better than the graphics in BC2 on PC at the maximum settings, but with worse performance. The new animations are definitely a nice addition, but beyond the changed art style the graphics don't seem that amazing right now. I just hope they held back on the beta and that the final game will be an improvement in both appearance and performance.

Secondly, Operation Metro -- specifically the part inside the tunnel -- is 100% a COD style map. Once the action went underground, I felt like I was playing COD with better graphics. Simply put, the gameplay is a meat-grinder inside the metro. Not sure what Dice was thinking when they designed this map as it goes against everything that BF stands for, namely open maps with multiple flanking routes and most importantly VEHICLES. The vehicles are what make BF the game that it is, without them it might as well be any other shooter. Honestly, this map inside the metro is like Cold War in BC2. Already bored of this map after an hour of play.

I have come to the conclusion that Dice is really targeting the COD crowd with this map and "beta" (aka demo). Without large open-ended maps and vehicles this is not BF. I sincerely hope that they will unlock Caspian Boarder on the PC beta, so that we can actually play battlefield and not this COD-clone with next-gen graphics.

On the PC side, if you have something to say about the graphics can you post your specs. That helps. Thx

Yes, however Zath and I were on one team, and Harpua and Lowgn were on the other.

From my 1.5 hours of playtime - it's a thumbs up. Fun. Would I like vehicles (none in the beta!) and other maps? Yes - but that's an indication of how much I want to play. It was a little disorienting at first, but after a while I stopped being raped constantly. Those flashlights... brutal. Blinding.

Well, I'll agree that the underground phases of this map are definitely much more confined and close-quarters than anything in BC2, it's still not quite a COD clone. Some very long corridors, and if you were to play it the traditional run-and-gun COD style you won't be very successful. Still, lots of choke points that can be difficult to get past, especially on the last set of M-COMS (or whatever they are called now) underground.


This is hard to dispute.

this was one of my biggest fears..

I never played bf2 only bc2, I enjoyed the beta this afternoon can'T wait toget back home and pay

After almost two hours of 360 beta gameplay, I wholeheartedly agree with just about what everyone is saying. The presentation and gameplay does feel like sort of an updated, more polished version of BF:BC2, the subway tunnel has elements of COD all over it and the vehicles/airships (the factor that distinguishes the game as a true Battlefield experience) are purposely absent and sorely missed.

I'm enjoying playing the beta but it didn't impress me like I was hoping it would. I just think EA/Dice could have provided the BF fans and the COD loyalists a beta experience similar to what we've all seen in the Caspian Border trailer which inarguably made us drool with anticipation. If they would have achieved that, they would have definitely sealed the deal, scored a knockout and left everyone counting the days until the official release date after the beta was over.

Weren't vehicles and airships included in the BF:BC2 beta? Correct me if I'm wrong.

BTW.. lowgn, Zath and Harp, did you guys figure out a way to squad up/play in the same game?

Let's hope your right. It's the competition for the consumer's dollar that forces the guy on top(COD) to adjust/improve and give us better games. It'd be great for ALL of us if BF cuts into COD's market.

Jumping on now... so is there a way to party up or no?

I was trying to party up with a friend, but it never would work. It was hard enough to get into a match at all at first.
We could get into a squad but when we tried to find a match it wuold never work. We ended up just going solo.

I can't believe how many people bought MOH. I'm sorry

To me the graphics look much better than BC2. Not sure why someone would say they don't. Recoil is a mother, and I'm still learning the 'map' but so far so good. It looks like they have ungodly number of unlocks. Getting into a match wasn't too bad after the first try. Would be nice to have some vehicles to play with but for a free beta/preview I really can't complain. Prone is nice, I like how they did it and suppression is sweet as well.

I traded that POS in as soon as I recognized it for what it was soon after release and got top dollar for it. It looks like the email associated with your EA ID gets you in if you played MOH at all. Checked my junk mail on a friend's recommendation and there it was this morning.

Graphics are crap IMHO and I'm only saying that with the understanding that they may be degraded to make MP more fluid. Outside is OK, but inside the station is garbage IMO. There are also glitches which are expected. On one respawn I was treated to a blue hue until I died.

I noticed a couple of glitches that really started bother me:

* Intermittent screen flashing, almost like a subliminal message
* Flashing textures
* Sound randomly dropping out, going to about 30% volume for about a minute
* Crouching behind cover causes my guy to start bouncing
* Lots of screen tearing

Hopefully they can get this stuff fixed in the final release. It just doesn't feel very polished and you would think they'd have these kinks worked out so close to release.

So put in about 3 hours so far and I'm liking the game quite a bit. There are goods/bads.

The goods:
- You are rewarded (or more rewarded) for: squadmates spawning off you, disarming/arming MCOMS, reviving, various teammate things.
- I enjoy the leveling up of the guns. The customization is really nice.
- Animations are very sweet. Though I did have difficulty hopping a fence.
- Health meters now above everyone. As a medic, this is nice.
- When going to revive someone, you can see who you are about to revive. MUCH APPRECIATED.
- Leveling up is very fast. Maybe it's because of the beta and they want to see how people use perks over time.
- Suppression fire is really sweet. It's a nice addition.
- There is some music that plays if the MCOM is lit with 5 tickets left. Kill everyone and the game is still not over. That's right - you still have to disarm the MCOM or the base is lost. I really like this as it yields some nail-biting endings.
- The landscape feels more dynamic. Anti-air missiles are launched and take out approaching Hercules aircraft. Kinda like Atacama Desert but the missile wake is huge - wonder if I'd get burned in it.
- Fires cause damage to you. Neat!


The bads:
- K/D is now shown on scoreboard throughout the match. So if you're having a bad match, everyone knows it. I pissed off Lowgn by asking him how his game was going after noticing he was having an abysmal match (after getting my tags - jerk!). Sorry, Lowgn - I honestly did not mean to offend you. After the initial jabs at the end of the match, this last time wasn't meant to be a jab or anything negative. I'm not Link! I was figuring you were going for my tags again or using the SMG at range which seemed to not be the same as BC2, so I was curious to know if that wasn't working well or something. I guess this just illustrates how it can be a negative. I personally like it just so I can see how I did with everyone else, but I'm sure if Link was calling everyone out in the party it would get old fast.
- The game feels very much like I'm playing COD. No vehicles, no destructible buildings. That said, I don't mind it. I don't play COD (just the demos and didn't like them), but I do enjoy the game. I find myself having to tear myself away from the game even though it's 1.5 hours past my bed time!
- Still getting disconnected from games. UGH.
- Joining in as a group is a real PITA. So far it's just the 4 that can join in like BC2, but a lot of times you're split up on teams. Once we even got split up into 3 separate squads. This really needs to be fixed.
- I really wish they kept explosive damage to MCOMS. At current BC2 levels it's a nice option if the enemy team is doing a good job of disarming.
- The knife is still really weird. Animations are great, but I have failed to knife someone in the front, yet got knifed myself when I was at 100% (someone in the party said I should've been taken down to 50%). I failed to knife someone from behind a couple times, too. Ugh!
- Killcam is still in the game. I got teabagged for the first time tonight.

Glitches:
- A couple times I felt like the earth was shakin' or I was makin' love to the ground. A few times a squadmate spawned and was half underground/half above.
- Sometimes looking around you get white flashes.
- Medpacks blow through walls. Seriously - concrete walls, aluminum walls, whatever. Want it out of the way? Throw a medpack on it! Oddly, trees cannot be broken by medpacks. If you guys like, I'll get this on video tomorrow for the LOLZ.

Final thoughts:
- If you aren't sure about this game, do try it out. It is fun and addicting and still does have a battlefield feel to it.
- When you do join, you will die and die a lot. You'll learn quickly to duck to prone every now and then just in case someone sees you. Running out in the open gets you killed much faster than in BC2.
- If you don't have the beta but want to know how it's going, by all means join my/our party and ask away. I joined RaZoR/Smokiee/etc's party afterwards to answer some questions and I hope that was OK with them (seemed they appreciated it).
- The beta is 1.3 GB in size, so be ready to wait a good 20-30 minutes or more.
- Thank you Sal for giving me this opportunity (though I did curse your name a few times while we were all trying to get into a game for a good hour!).
- If you want me to take some video of something, I certainly can. Not sure what I can take that is different from other footage already posted, but let me know if there is something you want to see

Have to agree with Servo, disappointed overall and felt maybe too much like COD to me probably due to poor map and some other questionable changes. Much different feeling than I had the first time playing BC2 Beta which blew me away.

Good summary overall Zath.

My biggest complaint from my first impression that remained even after playing a few rounds was the K/D of team displayed. Yes Zath that is exactly what it is like -- didn't mean to snap at you but yeah I think you should have known how it was going at that point.

Besides that aspect, I think it takes away from the spirit of team based objective modes. If they want to display K/D in Team Deathmatch fine, but don't think it belongs in Rush and Conquest. BC2 did it right in my opinion, and it is what sets it apart from other FPS. Only score is displayed to compare how you did with others. If you get a lot of kills/streaks you get plenty of points, but that's balanced with points you can get from teamplay and going for objectives.

Anyway, will keep at it and see how it goes, but not preordering BF3 quite yet.

Great write up Zath. I'm playing it on the PC this time around. Graphics are looking good and the one level we get has some decent variations on textures and looks. I know it is beta so the bugs are to be expected. Only a few minor grips I have is that video settings can not be changed until you start the match, as well as key bindings. For those that may venture to the PC side of it, you can use your 360 controller and I thought it worked pretty good (felt like playing on the Xbox again).

Overall I am very excited for the game, just because we will have all variations of the game which will be nice. Looking forward to conquest mode where we can see how the game truly shines. I also like the fact that you have the choice to be revived or not.

Compared to what? PC, sure they will look like crap. Compared to BFBC2 they are better IMO. Outside for sure, there were no inside maps in BC2 so tough to say. I kept comparing the buildings and outdoor structures on Phase 1 and 4 to any map in BC2 and its really no comparison. BC2's buildings were basically all the same and where in this map they were different. Plus the detail outside in Phase 1 dwarfed what was in BC2.

Maybe my eyes are going but comparing 300+ hours of BC2 to a couple of hours of BF3 and it was easy to see..to me at least.

Nice write up, Zath. Pretty much agree with everything you commented on.

It took me a little bit to warm up to it, but by the end of the night I had a hard time pulling myself away. I really enjoyed most of the changes and it started to feel right at the end. Metro is just a poor map for showing off a Battlefield game - think this is going to be our new Nelson Bay.

I just saw some screenshots of Caspian and they look amazing - total Battlefield map. Guess PC server passwords leaked and some people got in for a bit. Why they didn't use Caspian to show it off is beyond me. I think they're trying to woo the CoD crowd.