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Battlefield 3 preview

On October 8, 2011 by Ash Meehan

Battlefield 3 preview

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With Battlefield 3 just 3 short weeks away I got a chance to get a brief preview of one single player mission and co-op mission and the game offered up a lot.

The Battlefield 3 build I got to play was on the PlayStation 3 and it was not the final build and according to staff at the preview event it was the build from Gamescom 2011. Since this is not the final build what was seen does not represent the final product.

The single player mission played was the first half of Operation Guillotine and the Co-op mission was the same mission as the one shown at this year’s Gamescom.

Starting off I would say I was disappointed with the Frostbite 2 engine which really has nothing on its predecessor in the way of the destruction. The destruction in comparison to Battlefield Bad Company 2 is remarkably noticeable and when destruction does occur it is difficult to see behind smoke hiding it. Lighting in the mission was pretty poor too, I know it was a night level (single player mission) but at times it felt like I was running around with my eyes closed.

Stepping a bit away from the lighting we have the fire effects which I had issues again. The fire seemed out of place at part especially on the run down the hill where is looked like someone just placed a tree in a fire as you could see it clipping through the branch. Fire effects on characters didn’t look good either you can see this during the single player mission when an enemy burst through the door on fire after an ally grenade was thrown in.

If you think this is going to be me ranting about the engine don’t worry I am going to talk about the single player and co-op now.

Operation Guillotine sees you Sergeant Blackburn as part of the Marine Corps invading Tehran the capital of Iran in search for a high priority target. You start off on the side of a large hill overlooking the city, after a lengthy and unskippable scene of your team talking you are given a mortar launcher and you run down the hill to one of the cities walls. Now this section bugged me because you have a nice open area but you are forced down one section thanks to invisible walls. As you run down you come under mortar fire but don’t worry if it hits you because you and your allies will be fine. For example an battlefield_3_-_sp_-_operation_guillotine_-_02 ally in front of me took one right in the face and simply walked it off and all I got was a screen shake. It would be nice if it could kill you because it would be a nice challenge at the start of the level.

As you reach the bottom you set up the mortar and fire an illumination round and get helped over a wall by an ally. You have 2 weapons an assault rifle and a shotgun, but let’s not forget the knife. The first wave of enemies are a pain because you can barely see them and you get no conformation on screen to let you know you actually hit them. Once you get by them you get to another wave which can be easily killed with the shotgun (which has crazy range on it). Now I would like to say this, those 2 waves of enemies where the most challenging part of the entire level.

For the laugh on my third play through I decided to go knife only after the second wave of enemies. You now go into a residential park where I ran through the middle and the AI was hardly able to hit me in fact when I got to the enemies at the other end they just stood there and let me knife them (also at this point an ally was firing clip after clip into a rock).

Going up to an apartment just off the park I waiting for an ally grenade to go in so we could breach and this annoyed me somewhat because I kept thinking why can’t I throw in my grenade and do it, but alas the mission linearity and scripting was still sticking around from when I ran down the hill. The breach was completed with the door blasting open a burning enemy running out and dropping dead at my feet. Now it is time for the final stretch the last portion of the game the run through the apartment.

Going in you see the scripting again as you have to wait for your allies before you can go through a door and when the reach the door the most disappointing thing of the whole mission appeared and that was a quick time event for pushing the door open. Getting past the quick time event which you couldn’t fail we had another door and I braced for another push open door quick time event but I was wrong this time. As I went to open the door it was pushed into me by an enemy which caused the game to enter slow mo for me and the enemy looking away from me and shoot at me as if he was scared to shoot, luckily he was 2 feet away and shot over my head. At this point I proceeded to knife him and his allies behind him who just stood there.

With that completed we reached the end of the level, but not before I noticed not once did the level make use of the destruction engine. I tried to destroy environments but I could only shoot out specific lights (apparently some lights are bullet proof).

Read on for my thoughts on the co-op and for my final words.

Author: Ash Meehan

Hi, I’m the creator of SG Gaming Info. When I’m not working on my writing or creating content for this site’s YouTube channel, I like to relax and enjoy character driven story games.

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One Response to “Battlefield 3 preview”

  • This is an accurate review my friend. You know I am an experienced QA tester. And the clipping and lightning can be a nightmare. Also spawn camping in beta is rife and I don’t expect it to go away. But I still like the beta so far even if it is one map. Still learning the ropes, but I got 2 kills last night to my 8 deaths.

    Saying that I have it on pre-order. So I am going to be playing. It’s a shame I missed the Playstation event in Manchester over the weekend. But I’ve be sick.

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