Battlefield 3

[Teal]

I watched the video, and I gotta be honest...I'm not seeing that big a difference. Actually, I don't see one. I dunno, maybe it's my computer.

[Naples39]

Whoever decided that the screen should go all blurry with interference every time you change weapon in the load-out screen ought to be drawn and quartered. WTF is the point of that?

That was annoying me too. It's one thing to have stylized menus, but having an annoying effect for every little change goes too far. Everyone wants such eye-popping menus these days, but when games have so many options it all becomes very annoying.

[seanmac31]

I'm wondering when someone is going to point out that the SP campaign bears a stunning resemblance to Space Ace.

[Diablo25]

Good times with Fifa and Rob last night. Leveled up to 4 before packing it in. I'm really starting to get a clue on the maps. Looking forward to some more time with the game.

[FifaInspected]

Fun indeed! I think one of the funniest things I saw all night was at Tehran Highway.. Rob was in a full sprint trying to get to a vehicle and the dude drove away just before he got there.. Didn't seem to bother Rob though as he kept running after it as if he would eventually have the speed to catch him

[RobVarak]

Fun indeed! I think one of the funniest things I saw all night was at Tehran Highway.. Rob was in a full sprint trying to get to a vehicle and the dude drove away just before he got there.. Didn't seem to bother Rob though as he kept running after it as if he would eventually have the speed to catch him

Usually randoms will be bright enough to see and stop. Usually...

Sorry no mic last night, but good games. Still getting a feel for the maps and that bloodbath on Metro was terrible! LOL

[Naples39]

Sorry I missed the DSP party last night, hopefully soon.

When I was playing yesterday by myself, I found myself using tanks a ton, and quite effectively. I do expect the online gameplay to change a bit though as people adjust and learn what they are doing.

Also heard lots of griping from randoms. *sigh*

[FifaInspected]

Fun indeed! I think one of the funniest things I saw all night was at Tehran Highway.. Rob was in a full sprint trying to get to a vehicle and the dude drove away just before he got there.. Didn't seem to bother Rob though as he kept running after it as if he would eventually have the speed to catch him

Usually randoms will be bright enough to see and stop. Usually...

Sorry no mic last night, but good games. Still getting a feel for the maps and that bloodbath on Metro was terrible! LOL

Metro does have it's moments.. I do however like those tense battles of trying to hold that area at the top of the escalators.

[FifaInspected]

Sorry I missed the DSP party last night, hopefully soon.

When I was playing yesterday by myself, I found myself using tanks a ton, and quite effectively. I do expect the online gameplay to change a bit though as people adjust and learn what they are doing.

Also heard lots of griping from randoms. *sigh*

That was one thing I REALLY liked about BF:BC2.. The Randoms typically played a good game and understood the objective. I'm thinking that may happen again once COD arrives.

[RobVarak]

Tycho works his magic:

I may get around to the campaigns at some point, but they’re not why I purchased it, and performance there doesn’t sufficiently feed into my multiplayer progression. I understand that it’s whatever. I don’t care.

Here’s what I do care about: people are still, in 2011, driving a troop transport out of the base without actually transporting any troops. You’re spawning in and being killed in less than a second, and there’s the sometimes vague, not entirely satisfying gunplay. I imagine that the on the ground experience of warfare is vague and not entirely satisfying, so maybe this is a nod toward authenticity. All of the things that have made it so frustrating since the game was first compressed into an executable are still present, and they’re are (almost without exception) the ramifications of the absolute freedom the game offers. The yawning width of possibilities at any given second are intoxicating; I accept their bargain.

Incidentally, I jumped into a game with a DSPer who shall remain anonymous but with a tag that rhymes with "Bando" and who was playing Deathmatch. It occurred to me that I have never, ever played Deathmatch in a Battlefield game. After a few matches, I realized why...

[Brando70]

Having never played Battlefield before, I jumped into Team Deathmatch last night just to get a feel for the controls and a few of the maps. Speaking as a heavy CoD player, I really liked the vertical nature of all of the maps, something I felt was missing in particular from the Black Ops maps. At the same time, after a few rounds, I found TDM a little boring -- hate to admit it, but I missed killstreaks.

Are Capture and Rush the modes to play? I didn't want to jump into objective-based games without having any idea how to play.

[TCrouch]

I played single player for a couple of hours last night before inserting the Multiplayer Disc...to be greeted by a "Redeem Code" screen. I rented it from Gamefly, and I'm having a harder time justifying these little bullsh*t $10 purchases just to play something online. I really hate that companies are starting to bleed us dry at every turn with crap like this.

[Brando70]

Incidentally, I jumped into a game with a DSPer who shall remain anonymous but with a tag that rhymes with "Bando" and who was playing Deathmatch. It occurred to me that I have never, ever played Deathmatch in a Battlefield game. After a few matches, I realized why...

Ha, you just answered my question.

[Naples39]

Having never played Battlefield before, I jumped into Team Deathmatch last night just to get a feel for the controls and a few of the maps. Speaking as a heavy CoD player, I really liked the vertical nature of all of the maps, something I felt was missing in particular from the Black Ops maps. At the same time, after a few rounds, I found TDM a little boring -- hate to admit it, but I missed killstreaks.

Are Capture and Rush the modes to play? I didn't want to jump into objective-based games without having any idea how to play.

Conquest = COD Domination.

Rush is two bomb sites that have to be eliminated before the attackers run out of tickets (lives). Once eliminated, another two bombs sites further down the map become the targets.

I don't know who Tycho is, but I like Rob's post. Sometimes vague and unsatisfying gunplay in exchange for freedom, vehicles and teamwork is the BF series bargain.

[RobVarak]

Tycho from Penny Arcade.

Brando,

The objective-based modes are absolutely where it's at. So many of the support elements are minimized or even eliminated by TDM that it changes the game into a poor COD-clone. I prefer Rush, but Conquest isn't bad. It emphasizes the support skills and vehicles, which is where BF really shines.

COD is all about precision, control and single-handed Rambo brilliance. Teamwork helps in some modes, but even the nature of killstreaks emphasizes individual excellence.

BF is all about teamwork and the feeling of being a small but important part of an epic.

[Macca00]

I pretty much only play Conquest - it's team and objective based and I like that there are multiple objectives at once and within minutes your switching between being the attacker and the defender. Also, vehicles are much more important in Conquest - if you've got a good driver and gunners you can run around the map racking up points.

Rush, particularly if you don't have a good team (randoms) is just too frustrating on attack and there's little to no role for a medic on defence.

[Danimal]

I spent an entire session yesterday in an AA mobile gun (PC version) I sat on top of a hill parked under some trees. I'd i8nch out, take down some jets or copters and ease back. It took 3/4 of the game before they realized where I was and it didn't matter my spot was perfect. I think I went up almost 2 levels in that one match.

I also spent some time on that city map (not metro) and I found that one to be really fun. Lots of building to building fighting had a blast in that one as well. I was unable to connect with the 360 again yesterday so I just went with the PC for the day. I don't get the whole server thing on the PC side I join games and get kicked a lot by admins because they say the servers are private, if they are private then why can I see them?

[Brando70]

I played single player for a couple of hours last night before inserting the Multiplayer Disc...to be greeted by a "Redeem Code" screen. I rented it from Gamefly, and I'm having a harder time justifying these little bullsh*t $10 purchases just to play something online. I really hate that companies are starting to bleed us dry at every turn with crap like this.

This definitely was the most hoops I've ever had to jump through to play a console game. At first last night, I was unable to connect to multiplayer, so I tried the campaign. The opening would start, then stop, go back to the loading screen, then start again in an endless loop. Couldn't figure out what it was until I realized I hadn't connected to battlelog or whatever it's called. So that means to play this game at its optimum level I had to:

--Install two game discs
--Download a big update
--Install a 1.5g texture pack
--Enter a 25-character key code
--Register online

If I'm going to go through that kind of hassle, I may as well play this on a Dell Quadraphonic with 69 gigs of RAM and an Intel double-penetration processor that boasts an ATI 38DD graphics card.

[TCrouch]

I never registered or input that key, and played campaign for several hours.

[Macca00]

I spent an entire session yesterday in an AA mobile gun (PC version) I sat on top of a hill parked under some trees. I'd i8nch out, take down some jets or copters and ease back. It took 3/4 of the game before they realized where I was and it didn't matter my spot was perfect. I think I went up almost 2 levels in that one match.

I also spent some time on that city map (not metro) and I found that one to be really fun. Lots of building to building fighting had a blast in that one as well. I was unable to connect with the 360 again yesterday so I just went with the PC for the day. I don't get the whole server thing on the PC side I join games and get kicked a lot by admins because they say the servers are private, if they are private then why can I see them?

The maps are different (bigger) in the PC version - that City Map (Seine River) has another section across the river in the PC version (at least on Conquest). Speaking of the PC version - updated my NVIDIA drivers - looks incredible, the level of detail is phenomenal, grass, trees swaying in the wind, the draw distance. Craziness.

I find two versions play quite different in Conquest - I prefer the 360 version for the smaller maps (Grand Bazaar and Tehran Highway) because there's less players and it's less hectic. With 64 players Grand Bazaar is just nuts. But the large maps - Caspian Border, Kharg Island and Operation Firestorm are epic on the PC because it's double the number of players, more vehicles, bigger draw distance and more command/capture points, you really feel like you're in this massive war.


My only beef is that when I signed up for the PC beta I used a different email than the one I used to sign up for XBL/360/Windows - so now I have two different Origin/Battlelog accounts and they won't let me merge them. Stupid.

[Danimal]

Macca what's your PC name so i can friend you.

[Macca00]

"DrMacca"

Yours?

[RobVarak]

Do I need an invite for the DSP platoon, or can I join on my own?

[Danimal]

"DrMacca"

Yours?

Mine is either Danimal1966 or Danimal_1966 I can't recall and can't get to it from the office.

[RallyMonkey]

Do I need an invite for the DSP platoon, or can I join on my own?

This...

And on another note, I've never had more fun at a game I suck at than I have with this. I missed the other BF experiences but never again. This is pure fun even though I'm like 40% kill/death ratio.