Impressions: Battlefield 3 PC Beta
By Tom Yeates | October 6, 2011 | Previews | 2 comments | Share
Beta tests have become a key part of a game’s pre-release build up these days. It’s becoming unthinkable for a multiplayer focused game to not have some sort of public beta testing and in many ways it’s almost replaced the traditional game demo. Battlefield 3 is no exception, allowing users to experience the Operation Metro map on Rush mode from September 29th (27th for those who pre-ordered) until October 10th.
So…here we have it, the Battlefield 3 beta. The opportunity to test out a pre-release version of one of the most anticipated games of the year, it seems only right then that I should attempt to document my feelings during a time like this and reflect upon my time with the game so far. Shall we begin?
Battlelog
Ok, so let’s talk about the background details. First of all, the beta and indeed the full retail game will launch through EA’s Origin service. Secondly, Battlefield 3, at least in its multiplayer form, launches from a web based service called the “Battlelog”. This is a break away from anything in the series previously and at least in my experience, a unique way of handling multiplayer content. There is no in-game server browser or stats menu for the PC version of the game, Battlelog handles these things. It’s an interesting concept but not without its problems in the beta.
The stat tracking and social features look set to be a sure hit with players. You can track your kills, deaths, win-to-loss ratio, score with each class, kills and accuracy with each weapon, unlock progress, compare your stats to your friends list and see detailed reports on each game you play – it’s all there. It’s essentially like having a miniature version of Facebook purely focused on Battlefield 3, which will no doubt annoy a certain chunk of players who aren’t interested in giving a “Hooah” to another player’s status about how he has unlocked a new red dot sight…That aside, it’s certainly something I’ve sank a good chunk of time into, scanning through my stats and those of my friends. However, the inability to edit the game’s settings outside of a server feels unnecessarily restrictive. Perhaps this will change by the time of the game’s release at the end of the month, but for now it has proved to be quite an annoyance.
Battlefield 3 will feature a deep stats tracking and progression system.
That being said, the key issue with Battlelog which will make or break it, will be the stability of it. There have been plenty of hiccups during the beta with server disconnects, downtime of the service due to errors or the party system not working. This is a beta of course and probably one of the primary reasons the beta was released is to test exactly this sort of thing, so we can hope that DICE will be focusing a lot of their attention in the coming weeks on ensuring that launching the game through Battlelog is as smooth as it is intended to be.
When it does work, it’s excellent. The matchmaking has been swift and within moments you’re able to click the magic “Go to game” button and bam! there it is, loaded up in the background for you and ready to go. Will it be a success? It’s hard to say at this point. My feeling is that the system does have potential and that if DICE were to implement ways for players to customise their loadouts, graphics and sound options via Battlelog then it would be far more acceptable than it’s current form. It’s a service designed to improve the player’s experience and therefore DICE should make every effort to service that objective instead of having these unnecessary restrictions that slow the player down when in theory, this should speed them up.
So What’s It Like?
Just to clarify, I’m a long time Battlefield player. I remember following the development of Battlefield 1942 with no small amount of excitement, buying it on release day and proceeding to play the living hell out of it. I considered myself somewhat of a master of the sniper rifles and to this day maintain that 1942 has offered the best multiplayer sniping experience of any shooter to date. The series was a revelation and I’ve played every PC Battlefield title since, from the highs of 1942, Battlefield 2 and Bad Company 2, the so-so’s of 2142 and the lows of Battlefield: Vietnam, which I hated. So, with that background information out of the way – I feel it’s safe to say that I’m a fan of the series.
The beta throws you into Operation Metro, a map based in Paris in the Rush mode introduced in Bad Company. Therefore the map is objective based, and proceeds in stages. Stage one is a fight through a Parisian park which then moves into the tunnels of the Parisian Metro, back up into the entrance gates of the Metro and back outside into a street area. It really feels quite unlike any Battlefield map that I can remember. It’s varied, with the Park and Street areas offering the opportunity for longer range firefights and the Tunnels and Metro Entrance areas focusing on intense close quarters gun battles.
The tunnels make for a particularly challenging assault scenario and when it’s done right you really feel like you’re achieving something
It’s also infantry only, which I do enjoy but it has left me wondering why they didn’t choose to open Caspian Border up to more than just a limited audience since it’s a much more stereotypical Battlefield experience – offering vehicle play and a huge, open battlefield for you to kill and be killed in. Sure this is a testing ground for DICE but it’s also an opportunity for them to show other players, who might be unaccustomed to the Battlefield series, exactly why they should be playing their game. I do enjoy the map however, the tunnels make for a particularly challenging assault scenario and when it’s done right you really feel like you’re achieving something because the defending side are able to set up multiple choke points and really make you bleed for your objectives if they play their cards right.
As for the gun-play, I feel there has been a significant improvement in this department, particularly over Bad Company 2. Enemies no longer absorb bullets as they seemed to do at times in previous titles, and instead take only a few well placed shots to put down. Whilst there are some complaints about hit boxes and hit detection, this is much less of a problem than I think it has been before and I was very pleased with the way it has turned out in Battlefield 3 so far. Assault has been my favored class and I’ve used a mixture of the M16A3, AK74M, M416, UMP-45 and F2000 and had a great time with all of them.
This is me having a great time with the F2000
My main gripe with the basic mechanics of the game is in the Assault classes resurrect capability via the defibrillator. Whilst this feature is a must for any Battlefield game, DICE’s worthy attempt to make improvements to it has backfired in a way. In previous titles, a major annoyance was being constantly brought back to life in the face of enemy fire and immediately dying. DICE have tried to counter this by giving players the option to accept or decline the new life. Accept is bound to the spacebar by default, which causes you to get up off the ground and there is a brief moment of time where you cannot move. This renders you completely vulnerable and has resulted in my death on many occasions, when I could easily have go to safety if this feature wasn’t present. I can’t help feeling that in trying to fix one problem, DICE have created another…ah well.
Click…
Get it? That’s the sound something makes when it unlocks…No? Ah well, you can’t blame me for trying. So, yeah, the unlocks…Battlefield 3 has the deepest unlock and progression system in the series. Each weapon has a set of attachments which must be unlocked individually. For example, the M16A3 has 19 attachments, ranging from a heavy barrel to a suppressor, as well as a host of different sight attachments. This means that there are many layers of progression within the game itself. Your level/rank goes up, and this gives you access to new dogtags, and weapons available to all classes such as the UMP-45 or the 870-MCS shotgun; you rank up a weapon to gain access to different attachments and you also rank up your class, which unlocks different weaponry and equipment specific to that class – new sniper rifles for Recon, new assault rifles for Assault and so on. It basically means there’s a lot of variety for players and also a lot of things to work on for those who really enjoy persistent progression and stats systems.
There's a lot more choice available to players than in previous Battlefield titles.
Then there’s the medals and the ribbons…there’s literally a host of things for players to obtain and this really puts Battlefield 3 out ahead of competition in terms of player progression. We’re not even factoring in the vehicle progression and unlocks, which are not currently present in the beta. To put it succinctly: Battlefield 3 has lots of stuff in it. Stuff you can get.
My Eyes!!!
Whilst the gun-play is bordering on excellent and the progression system and customisable loadouts provide the player with more choice than ever before there are a few gameplay elements that I find annoying, and I doubt that I am alone in this regard. Tactical lights are too powerful, particularly on a map like Operation Metro. The flashlight attachment is designed to illuminate areas obviously but also to blind enemy players. It also blinds friendly players, which is never ideal. This in itself is not something I have a huge problem with but the tactical lights, the laser pointers and the glare from a scope lens can actually really dazzle you from a great distance. Players are practically encouraged to use them, even in outdoor environments where it makes little to no sense due to the blinding power. There should be limitations to the attachment instead of making it nigh-on impossible to see, or pinpoint your target if he is using a flashlight. With the added nuisance of all your team mates using them, it often means you’re blinded whenever you look at another player, friend or foe and for me that’s not what Battlefield should be about.
This is the flashlight on a pistol, it's like looking into the sun.
It’s not a game breaking issue, and I’ve definitely got along just fine despite it being there but I personally don’t feel it’s a feature that really adds much to the game, instead it acts as something which is annoying a large number of players who feel it contributes to their deaths on an all too regular basis, be it from an enemy blinding them from halfway down a tunnel or a team mate turning around and blinding his whole squad who are them promptly dispatched by an opportunistic rush.
Moving On…
Whilst there are bugs present and a few niggling issues, my overall experience in the beta has been very positive. Battlefield 3 looks fantastic, controls smoothly and with the retail release will come the rest of the maps, adding in the vehicle play which helps to really set this series apart from any other. The game echoes Battlefield 2 but also draws from many of the things which made Bad Company 2 such a good game in my opinion. It’s this desire to take the good things about the series and push them forwards that has led to me having such a good time during the beta so far and hopefully I can continue to enjoy myself as the beta winds down over the next four days. The only limiting factor is the fact that DICE have not allowed PC players to form their own squads in game during the beta, or make squads private. It’s an annoying oversight, even if it will be there in the retail version. Millions are playing it right now and are unable to easily squad up with their friends, which is a huge part of what makes a Battlefield game fun.
If DICE diligently addresses the bugs and little niggles present in this build of the game, which they are saying they will then Battlefield 3 looks set to take up a big chunk of my time when it finally releases on October 25th in the US and October 28th in Europe.
HAhahahaha...comparing the pistol's tactical light to the sun was priceless. And completely true...i also despise the power of these outdoor daytime flashlights.
So far, the BF3 Beta is great, and I agree on the flashlights and laser sights. It gives you away, and I always shoot at the lights and get my kills that way. That is why I always turn off my lights and lasers until I wanna blind my enemy or just get close range accuracy with the laser.