Chuck "Magnum" Ankenbauer reviews the latest installment to the EA Battlefield series.

http://www.simhq.com/_land3/land_128a.html

Great job on the review Magnum, I had lost my enthusiasm for BF3 after trying out the beta with all the spawn camping on Metro map, but now that the final version is out and I've played it a few days it has really wowed me and I really love it.

thx... a game like this is more "who" you play with that can make it or break it.

Just a quick note - you can play the single player game if your internet is out or even on but you don't want to log on. You have to start Origin, make yourself offline then just start the game normally and you can play the campaign.

good review! I agree with most of the pros/cons. My main irk is Battlelog...great idea, bad implementation. Trying to get myself and my other two roommates on the same squad in-game is a chore in itself. It's "clunky", absolutely no queue system (wtf???!), having to click "accept" like 3 times just to get into a game (especially when joining with friends), having 4 different tabs with blinking notifications for every little thing that happens, etc. etc...overall just a PITA. I don't see any reason why they couldn't just have made an in-game server browser with double-click functionality lol

Oh, and the game crashes like clockwork the first time you load/run Origin (either by closing it and then loading it up or just a fresh reboot of windows); and my roommates and myself have had game crashes when loading levels (although not as frequent).

Anyhoo, still a fun game; but if they don't improve some of the blatantly obvious flaws then I will never buy one of their games again. It's like they took a step backwards with interface design (at least for the PC)

I've no issues with Origin or Battlelog. The only time I see origin is when I click the BF3 shortcut and it brings it up. Battlelog is great as a stat tracker. Inviting friends can be clunky and hit and miss but no crashes so far.

An interesting Review, However it reinforced my view on the Menu problem. I and most people in my clan/community think the same as you over the battlelog. The graphics are awesome, but I also don´t like the exclusion of the commander mode, this will make non-clan games pretty chaotic.

Still Origin is the dealbreaker for me, there is no way I´m going to accept that massive breach of privacy.

With in-game web browser interfaces like Awesomium the external browser plug-in route seems odd. I like being able to bring up Chrome and view stats, maybe join a game but I'd like to do that in-game too.

Here I am replying to a review of something I already have. I wasn't going to buy BF3, the reason I did was Battlelog, just wanted to check out how it worked (that and the Frostbite 2 deferred rending engine). Some very nice lighting trickery used throughout.

What amazes me most of all, especially after being repeatedly shot in the face and back on the SimHQ server last night (until my game crashed), is the audio. It's masterful and worthy of an award IMO.

Good review although I must admit I have no personal experience with the game play. I bought it and went through the install and when I got to the part where I had to sign in to Battlelog to play single player...that crossed the line for me. I uninstalled and returned it for a refund the next night.

My two biggest gripes are the requirement to have all the online crap installed/running and that the game is yet another "follow the dot" offering (i.e., scripted missions). I personally think it's sad that game development is now driven by the herd mentality of the social media craze. Everyone is saying consoles are taking over the gaming market and of course console users have no problem with this for obvious reasons. But what's being overlooked is the loss of spontaneity "in game". Missions (and campaigns) are better when all the parameters are randomly generated and you have to use your wits to achieve a goal or objective with whatever resources you have to start and find during play. The emphasis on multi-player takes developers' time and effort away from creating thoughtful and creative campaigns for single play. Single play is nothing but an afterthought at best.

I read from a review of this game on Amazon that EA is steering Origin to become another competitive social media service (like Facebook) and as such, it is tapping information from the user and his PC that is a bit beyond simple game ownership authentication. It wouldn't surprise me if this were true. For myself, I don't play online...never have...never will. It's a shame the market's attitude towards people like me is "too bad".

To all of you raging against Origin.... Do you have a credit card, cell phone, email? Your privacy was breached long ago.

Sign in or sit out.

That's brilliant. All the articles and complaints about Origin should just be forgotten thanks to this post.

You make it sound like data collection and invasion of privacy is new to the internet. At it's most basic level every time you surf with cookies you're losing privacy. People dont' like it cos it's another program that we don't need and clunky. It's just another background thing that has to be loaded.

I'm still waiting for my favourite beer to show up in a game from all the data collecting over the years they're doing but I'm sure some EA/Activition/Ubisoft<insert distributor> employee a few thousand miles away and who doesn't even know my dog's circle of friends let alone mine, is having a giggle about my choice of games or how I'm doing statwise in BF3.

/tinfoilhat

RE: playing SP offline, like I said earlier - you have to fire up Origin, actually make yourself offline then fire up the game. I know it's not obvious but makes sense.

So do you launch the game from within origin, the game icon... because I still don't see how you can launch the SP since it's on a web site?

When Origin is offline then it goes straight to the single player campaign full-screen game, i.e. skips the battlelog bit in the web-browser and just starts. I didn't know that, but just tried it and it works fine.

cools. thx

Except those don't scan to check what programs I have installed and have uninstalled. That is what I do not like.

Aside from that, Origin itself is annoying. It is like Steam, but uglier, slower and uses more RAM. On top of that, to find servers you must use your web browser. Very annoying, there is no advantage to having it done on your internet browser over a real in game menu (like in BFBC2).

It's not about that! It's just like the frigging Steam. It is not necessary. And it steals your data + it gives you a sense that they control when you play the game or not.

And that's the point. They are trying to promote the PC gaming but are making it ever harder to play them through services like Steam or Origin.

So no wonder Xbox is getting more popular.

Are you really that naive to think that MS isn't doing exactly the same thing on Live?
If anything, Live is more restrictive than Steam in that there's no way for you to play your 360 games. At least with PC you can choose other digital distribution and/or DVD's if the distributor hasn't made a deal with Steam.

I suggest you read the Terms of use at http://www.xbox.com/en-US/legal/livetou

In particular -

So do people honestly believe there's some huge STASI-like department at EA who sift through whatever data has been collected from millions of users in order to...

...do what, exactly?

So what if they use that info to show you advertisements based on your interests? The entire internet has been doing it for more than a decade.

Not exactly the "feedback" I was hoping for... but whatever.

It was a great article, Mag. Covered the game very thoroughly.

Great review, agree on nearly all points.

Singleplayer could have been better, cut scenes felt very disjointed. I took longer than 6 hours, slowly working my way through, but I usually enjoy singleplayer as well.

DITTO on the co op, great but harder and 4 man or 6 is on my number one list of suggested improvements.

Just starting into multiplayer, but great so far, tho I'm getting my hind end kicked around a lot!

Graphics and sounds are VERY good IMHO.

Magnum, I think you should amend the review to mention that you can play the campaign offline. That's a big factor for some people in deciding whether to get the game or not. Although everyone knows that BF is all about the multiplayer but still most don't like the idea of a SP campaign that can only be accessed with an internet connection.

With one that limited and short, does it really matter? When I heard they were putting SP into BF3 I thought "hey, maybe a reason to go back after skipping every BF made since BF Vietnam came out", but not if it's like CoD4's SP...rails, short, interactive movie as opposed to an FPS game.

The CoD4 model is everything that is wrong with current FPS games. Mass Effect 2 is more like the shooters from the 90s than CoD and BF are now!



The Jedi Master

I wasn't aware my credit card company or my cell phone provider are scanning my HD.

Well, one feedback (I've given you similar in the past) is that when you review such a title, it's certainly not wrong to talk abit about the installation and that means also about Origin and it's downside. You have a tendency to review a game in a very positive manner while ignoring the suroundings.

Personally i would hate to read a review of a game from someone who hates the game or series... I'd prefer someone to review a game that actually likes the style and series... that said, i think i was pretty fair and just... but like I've said before reviews are just the writers opinion and I'm open to disagreement... my statement above is just about the feedback... maybe i should of just reviewed ORIGIN and left all the BF3 parts out. (this is me joking... FYI.)

and actually... to verify some info... i reviewed BF3 as a game, currently working on the review of MW3... but you'll notice in both reviews I do not compare them, I disagree with that... but do plan on doing a follow up article on the good and bad of both games and how they compare... IE Battle log vs Elite, etc etc.

Last week I bought two copies of BF3, for the two gaming computers I have. I got one copy installed OK, and the updates downloaded fine right away, but the second copy install was a major PITA.

I wanted to have both copies running for in-house battles, but for all the time I put into installing the second one I just could not get anywhere. I have one email address that I wanted to use with two screen names. And I think it was somewhere on SimHQ where I'd read that authorization did take a bit so I was prepared to be patient. But after a couple of days of casually trying to do the second install (and being busy with the A-10C Fly In) and not getting any notification back from EA Games for the second copy, I got my bro-in-law to use his email and his screen name. Last night we were able to run the second copy in Offline Mode so each of us were going through the Campaign, off-line separately on the two computers.

Tell you what, too, trying to install that second copy even with bro-in-law's email, the Origin interface would not show me a progress status so that took four tries to get BF3 onto the computer under his login account. Did I say PITA?

This morning I received an email in my account with a *second* "Welcome To Battlefield" notice. I wonder if this was from late last week when I tried to install the second copy using my second screen name and previously registered email? If so then it took four frackin days to send that to me - that's a joke.


So, tonight I'll check the second install and bro-in-law's email to see if his "Welcome" notice arrived and if his install can use Internet - if that's not available then I'm guesing that it is time to call support He has his Origin account working but when we try to start BF3 with his login creds they just get rejected w/o a clear reason as to why.


I am disappointed that no (unscripted) single player battlefield scenarios are available.


Magnum - I enjoyed reading your review and look forward to joining the SimHQ server. I did join the server briefly yesterday but with no other players at the time I could not do anything. I saw Squads A - F are available.
Can a player join a squad by themself or does a squad have to have two or more players in it?
I also read your tactics guide - thanks for the great guidelines and SimHQ server battle techniques, looking forward to working with teammates instead of just being out there somewhere on one's own. I'm into the Engineer and Sniper roles and am ready for some coordinated action.


Wrecking Crew
(Wrecking_Crewe for BF3)

you can elect to join in a squad alone or auto put... or you can open the squad box, leave the one your in and join in with another.

and thx.

To wrap up what I wrote about above -
Had to talk to four EA customer service reps over two days before both copies worked.

After I wrote the above, the second copy still did not work to connect to other servers or coop. The first rep I talked to said I had some messed up 'entitlements' in both installs and she made enough changes such that I could get beyond Origin and open BF3 in my install #2. The next two support guys did not have a clue what to do - "Umm, disconnect your computer from the internet and reboot." "You need Google Chrome." "Open UDP Port 17." Finally I talked to a guy and read him the error and he fixed it right away.


After we got both copies working, I showed my bro-in-law your tactical guide, Magnum, and we read through it together. Lot's of good points in there, like -
"...the point is to work as a team and use some basic tactics when playing, and always play the objectives."


So when is the next BF3 session on SimHQ?

WC

EA is patching alot of things soon (one of them being the flashlights)

Great review. Unfortunately, I'm about 5 years behind on first person shooters. Just recently revisited the original Far Cry (great game!) and today I ordered Medal of Honor the original for $5 on Direct2Drive:

http://www.direct2drive.com/9477/product/Buy-Medal-of-Honor-Download

So I've got about a dozen other shooters before I get to the latest and greatest. The good news is, I have plenty of hardware power for games that are several years old..LOL..

Nice job Mag..

that SP of MoH is great.... think you will enjoy that ride.

Original? You mean MOH: Allied Assault? That was indeed my favorite of all the MOH and even CoD games (since COD 1, 2, and 4 were the same people that did MOH:AA).



The Jedi Master

No..I think it is the Medal of Honor that occurs in Afghanistan?

It is. The single-player game is one of the best I've ever played.