Video-game review: ‘Battlefield 3’

"Battlefield 3"

Reviewed for: Xbox 360 and Playstation 3

Also available for: Windows PC

From: DICE/EA

ESRB Rating: Mature (blood, intense violence, strong language)

Price: $60

No use wasting time being cordial: "Battlefield 3's" single-player campaign is a bummer. Military first-person shooters have increasingly valued flash over substance since "Call of Duty" dumbed it down and became the market leader, and the less said about "BF3's" me-too attempt - too many restrictive corridors, quick-time events, gimmicky diversionary missions that imitate instead of innovate, and stiflingly controlled scenarios that allow the psychic enemy A.I. to absolutely brutalize you if you dare attempt to ignore the continuous interface prompts and flex some creativity - the better. It's technically polished but imaginatively bankrupt, and DICE - which proved it could construct good single-player campaigns with the "Battlefield: Bad Company" offshoots - should know better.

Fortunately, buying a "Battlefield" game for the campaign is like watching the Super Bowl to see the Black Eyed Peas. The multiplayer is the reason we're here, and all the things the campaign condemns - the freedom to roam, to strategize, to fly that jet instead of simply sit in the gunner seat - are the things multiplayer lays at your feet.

First things first, a caveat: "BF3's" console multiplayer suffers a steep drop from its PC counterpart. It's limited to 24 players (two teams of up to 12 or four squads of up to four) instead of 64, and out of necessity, the larger maps have been pulled in a touch to prevent the slimmed-down armies from feeling too spread out.

Additionally, while the game remains plenty nice to look at when installed to the console hard drive, it doesn't look nearly as sharp as those jaw-dropping demos you may have seen of the PC edition. Xbox and PS3 hardware simply isn't capable. Combine that with player counts and match types (team deathmatch, territorial control, attack versus defend) you've seen before, and "BF3" isn't the game-changer all the pre-release hype suggested it would be - especially with this being the third full-featured console "Battlefield" game to appear since 2008.

Demoralized yet? Don't be: In spite of all the unfortunate news you just read - and assuming EA works out the server connection issues that continue to creep up as of this publication - there remains much to like about "BF3's" online skirmishes.

In short, the ingredients with which "Battlefield" made its name remain intact. Even in scaled-back form, "BF3's" maps are large enough to accommodate numerous attack strategies. If you want to commandeer a plane, tank or chopper, you can. If you want to ride shotgun and man the cannons, you can. And if you'd prefer to just hoof it on the ground, you obviously can. The usual classes (Assault, Recon, Support, Engineer) apply, and if close-quarters combat isn't your specialty, the maps (and all-inclusive experience points system) allow you to contribute by providing cover fire, medical support or assistance with completing territorial objectives while allies cover you. All is for naught if you and your teammates fend for yourselves instead of strategize, but it isn't the game's fault if you don't use its tools to their fullest capacity.

As is "Battlefield" custom by now, "BF3" is polished in every technical regard. Control is terrifically responsive, the sound is incredible, and - provided you accept the hardware's limitations - its representations of New York, Paris, Sarajevo and places in between strike an impressive balance between scope and detail.

Assuming those server issues dissipate, "BF3's" interface is similarly satisfactory. Everything's where you want it to be, and the addition of Battlelog - a variant of EA's Autolog social network adapted to "Battlefield" - is good news if you regularly play with people on your friends list.

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(c) 2011, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

"Battlefield 3"

Reviewed for: Xbox 360 and Playstation 3

Also available for: Windows PC

From: DICE/EA

ESRB Rating: Mature (blood, intense violence, strong language)

Price: $60

No use wasting time being cordial: "Battlefield 3's" single-player campaign is a bummer. Military first-person shooters have increasingly valued flash over substance since "Call of Duty" dumbed it down and became the market leader, and the less said about "BF3's" me-too attempt - too many restrictive corridors, quick-time events, gimmicky diversionary missions that imitate instead of innovate, and stiflingly controlled scenarios that allow the psychic enemy A.I. to absolutely brutalize you if you dare attempt to ignore the continuous interface prompts and flex some creativity - the better. It's technically polished but imaginatively bankrupt, and DICE - which proved it could construct good single-player campaigns with the "Battlefield: Bad Company" offshoots - should know better.

Fortunately, buying a "Battlefield" game for the campaign is like watching the Super Bowl to see the Black Eyed Peas. The multiplayer is the reason we're here, and all the things the campaign condemns - the freedom to roam, to strategize, to fly that jet instead of simply sit in the gunner seat - are the things multiplayer lays at your feet.