Battlefield 3

[Vandole]

salodin just buy it at g2play.net...... it's like $35 and its a digital copy.

[Hank]

IGN review is up for PC version:

Battlefield 3 suffers from an identity crisis.

It delivers scorching multiplayer, fitting of its decade-long pedigree of famously expansive big-team battles, but stumbles over a generic single-player campaign that feels like a different game.

While DICE may not deliver a memorable story here, it doesn't need to when Battlefield 3's online warfare raises every bar imaginable, delivering one of the best multiplayer experiences of the year. I doubt Battlefield purists will complain much about the campaign, honestly; I know you're enlisting in this battle to bring down entire armies online.

Editor's Note: This review covers PC only. IGN will post either a review update or an entirely different console review once the Day 1 patch goes live for Xbox 360 and PS3 and we're able to play the game in its final retail state. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

From the beaches of Kharg Island to the hills of Damavand Peak, Battlefield 3's multiplayer maps provide an immediate sense of scale. Everything about their design screams size, personalization, and the need to take creative initiative to succeed. Choose to pop headshots from the prone position, spin barrel rolls in a jet outfitted with personal unlocks, or see how many dog tags you can knife from your opponents; Battlefield 3's multiplayer is about the freedom of choice.

The online fight feels like a geography lesson (in a good way). Depending on the game mode, each map utilizes a different area or shifts wider and wider as gameplay progresses. You might not see half of a map like Caspian Border or Seine Crossing during your first few Rush matches. Yes, certain areas feel empty and repeated map elements like shipping crates conjure deja vu, but the sense of scope is exhilarating. Where many online shooters teach you the nooks and crannies of every map, Battlefield 3 is a wide sandbox that encourages variety and exploration. Battlefield 3 shines in matches with 63 other players, where every bullet has a new enemy's name on it.

Is the gameplay balanced? Battlefield 3's online teeter-totter comes down to personal preference. I've been pinned down at my spawn point in Operation Metro by a dozen, well-stocked snipers and I've taken over an entire conquest map single-handedly. I'm no Maverick in a jet, so I learned to rain down hellfire from a chopper. For any class or tactic that doesn't work, like a painter's palette, Battlefield 3 offers alternatives. All four streamlined classes (Soldier, Engineer, Assault, and Recon) get their own problem-solving unlocks, so leveling each one is paramount to sitting on top of the leaderboards.

Battlefield 3's rewards and progression will keep you coming back to its online rumble for a long time. From adding heat-seeking missiles to an Anti-Aircraft Tank to simply changing camouflage, there's always a carrot dangling just out of reach -- if you can wrangle the score to earn it. While the newly implemented Team Deathmatch modes encourage high kills and low deaths, Battlefield remains a team-based game where you can sit atop the scoreboard no matter how many times you've died. Heal an injured teammate, resupply a sniper, or make sure a tank gets fixed up, Battlefield is about working towards the greater good and it's just as refreshing now as it was in 2002 -- all while looking outstanding on PC.

From sun flares to smoke bursting from a collapsing building, Battlefield 3's Frostbite 2 engine provides marvelous visuals. It performs admirably on lowered settings, but for anyone who's doubled up on their 580s, Battlefield 3 provides a gorgeous spectrum of environments speckled with detail to brag about. Nighttime elements present a stark intensity, with glowing fluorescent signs dotting the cityscape and street lights blinding you from seeing enemies. The waves crashing on a beach below a late-game villa are mesmerizing -- as is the simple scrub brush dotting maps like Operation Firestorm. At maximum settings, Battlefield 3 looks stunning.

The engine isn't perfect by any means. I encountered prone legs jutting through walls, saw snipers half-buried in mountainsides, watched my dead body stick through the hood of a jeep, and even noticed a story character float in a straight line from point A to point B, walls be damned. I've seen flower pots float in midair, noticed AI soldiers in their shooting position long after death, and I somehow committed suicide by running over the lip of a crater. These glitches are annoying, but they don't break the game. But they do break the immersion of the story and in the case of an undeserved multiplayer suicide, cause unneeded frustration.

While longtime fans know Battlefield as a multiplayer experience, its campaign and cooperative experiences can't be ignored. For those of you more interested in the single-player campaign than multiplayer, definitely take note. Whereas both Battlefield: Bad Company games added a story underwritten with humor, Battlefield 3 takes a more serious path. Its tale of global threats reads like twenty years of military fiction thrown in a blender and turned into a checklist. WMDs? Check. Russians? Uh huh. Insurgents tucked into Middle Eastern alleyways? Yup. It's all there and woven into levels through the recollections of Sergeant James Blackburn during an interrogation (didn't we see this in Call of Duty: Black Ops?). There's inherent tension in the threat of a terrorist attack, but Battlefield 3's campaign feels like well-tread ground.

Battlefield 3's campaign does hit some memorable moments (especially in the graphics department), but as a whole it's trite and frustrating. The campaign jams Battlefield 3's multiplayer into a linear box where freedom of choice gets thrown out a non-destructible window. There are only a few buildings to blow holes in, barely any vehicles to take the wheel of, and quicktime events adorn enemy encounters in almost every level. While you can literally crash a helicopter on an opponent's head while parachuting to safety if you so choose in multiplayer, campaign makes you hit spacebar at just the right moment to avoid getting punched -- they're two different games.

The co-op missions surround the events of the campaign, yet feel more enjoyable as individual levels. Working with a teammate leads to more creative approaches of attacks, though the same AI frustrations are in place. While opening doors and during other set animations, AI enemies gain invulnerability. They also have an uncanny ability to pick you out of the crowd. Even while using an AI teammate as cover -- not standard operating procedure, I know -- enemies still find you.

Additionally, most levels feature a bottleneck where death hits out of the blue. Whether it's a grenade exploding without an indicator, a blast from an unseen enemy, or late-game quicktime event that introduces a new button, the campaign and co-op levels are a minefield of frustration -- especially when cranking the difficulty up to hard. All told, it's a brief affair -- I burned through the single-player portion in under six hours, the co-op content adds another two or three.

Closing Comments
When you shut down Battlefield 3 and let the Frostbite 2-powered dust settle, it certainly has some problems. But DICE’s adoration of and expertise with the online experience permeates every aspect of its multiplayer. Regardless of the narrative missteps or the occasional glitches, Battlefield 3 offers an unforgettable, world-class multiplayer suite that's sure to excite shooter fans, whether they fired their first bullet in Battlefield 1942 or have just now heeded Battlefield's call of duty.

8.0 Presentation
The multiplayer’s robust, the browser-based launcher works well, but those who don’t play online won’t find much meat in the other modes.
9.5 Graphics
Frostbite 2 shines in multiplayer, single-player, and co-op.
9.5 Sound
You’ll hear every bullet whizzing by your head, and the crash of rubble all around you.
8.5 Gameplay
Traversing the enormous world feels great, on foot or in a vehicle, but the single-player’s quicktime events are just lame.
9.5 Lasting Appeal
Multiplayer unlocks will keep you chasing the dragon for months.
9.0
OVERALL

Amazing
(out of 10)

http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1210387p1.html

[Hitoshura]

Anyone getting PC version despite Origin being mandatory?

[Hank]

I believe most of them are getting it for the PC. I'm going x-box because of my friends.

[Shojin]

Yep. Bought from amazon and all pre-loaded on Origin ready for tomorrow.

[Dylon]

i'm getting payed today, and i have tomorrow off. im so excited to play this game its overwhelming. now i have to figure out how im gonna play it as much as possible lol...

[popsiclestix]

Did anyone buy the Japanese version from Origin? Did you get an email indicating that you should get a download starting on 21 OCT?

お客様へ

この度は「バトルフィールド3」をご

[rezn0r]

PC here (certain series get certain platforms for me, BF is PC), although I'm not sure how much time I'll have to play the next few weeks...

looks awesome either way. am I weird for being excited for the campaign?

[Vandole]

Anyone getting PC version despite Origin being mandatory?

still boycotting, even though i really want to play it.

[Insanecyclone]

[Azull]

I have no real issue with Orgin other then the fact it isnt Steam.

If people want more and more digital distribution we are going to see more companies come out with their own platforms like Steam/Orgin.

Cant wait till i get home from work Tuesday.

[Salodin]

salodin just buy it at g2play.net...... it's like $35 and its a digital copy.

Can't play it on pc atm, vid card too lame =(. Doing it on brobox for now till I can afford some upgrades.

[Minnich]

Also going to get this on X-Box tomorrow. if I can find it. I'll probably be playing quite a bit for the first week since I'm off work until Friday. Looking forward to it.

[Uzor]

The reason singleplayer feels so different and a bit incomplete (as the IGN review stated) is because DICE was short on time due to pressure from EA. As such, they had to prioritize and chose to focus on - and polish - the multiplayer component and leave singleplayer secondary. Hence why singleplayer feels so different and incomplete.

Imo it's a good move; most people will skip singleplayer anyway.

[Insanecyclone]

Windows 7/Vista 32-bit
Windows 7/Vista 64-bit

The new GeForce 285.62 WHQL drivers are now available to download. Recommended for Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City and Rage, these drivers bundle together all the enhancements and updates contained within the 285.27 and 285.38 beta releases, in addition to new SLI and 3D Vision profiles for many of today’s most popular games.
Performance Improvements

For Battlefield 3 we’ve improved performance by up to 11% since the release of the GeForce 285.38 beta drivers, have included several compatibility enhancements, a new and improved SLI profile, and a 3D Vision profile. Similarly, Rage has received enhancements since the release of the same drivers, and Batman: Arkham City compatibility has been implemented.

As mentioned, updates contained within the earlier beta drivers have been carried over, such as the many performance improvements made to games --between the release of the 280.26 WHQL drivers and today’s 285.62 WHQL drivers-- when running on our entire range of 500-Series graphics cards.

New in Version 285.62
This is the recommended driver for Battlefield 3. It contains several performance and compatibility enhancements for the final release of the game. Check here to see if your PC is ready for Battlefield 3.
Performance
Increases performance for GeForce 400 and 500-series GPUs in several PC games vs. v280.26 WHQL drivers. The following are some examples of improvements measured on Windows 7. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:

GeForce GTX 580:
Up to 6% in Battlefield 3

GeForce GTX 560:
Up to 5% in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 with SLI
Up to 11% in Battlefield 3
NVIDIA SLI
Added or updated SLI profiles for Battlefield 3, Dead Island, Diablo III, Dragon Age 2, Need for Speed: The Run, and Saints Row: The Third.
Added the following 3D Vision game profiles:
Battlefield 3

[tyven]

should be getting it on xbox at some point this week. look forward to MURDERING THE WORLD WITH MY LEET SKILLS

[jinkazama]

friends are telling me that it played like complete shit in the beta on PC

hopefully its improved. FFXIV beta > release really left a bad taste in my mouth!

[Insanecyclone]

lol@this guys name and fuck, no more ENEMY BOAT SPOTTED, spam.

[Vandole]

caved. which means sonomaa did too.

i'm itsvandole, sono is SonomaaBG. ADD US OR DIE

[Uzor]

friends are telling me that it played like complete shit in the beta on PC

hopefully its improved. FFXIV beta > release really left a bad taste in my mouth!

The beta and release version differs so much in gameplay it may as well be different games.