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Battlefield 3 Review: Superb multiplayer, meh campaign mode
The multiplayer mode of Battlefield 3 is stellar, offering the player hundreds of fighting options, tons of unlockable upgrades, and countless hours of fun playing with up to 63 other online gamers for PC and 24 players in PS3. But the campaign mode is another matter altogether. The situations are repetitive, the plot is severely cliched, and the linear gameplay is so constricting that the player may feel that none of the events happening in the single player mode is in his or her control. The two modes are so different that some might say they each deserve their own separate reviews. 
Multiplayer You start multiplayer by choosing a class: soldier, engineer, assault, or recon. Each class gives you a set of objectives and you must achieve these objectives if you want your team to win. Battlefield has always been about teamwork and not so much about getting the highest number of frags. Sometimes you need to defend your teammates by planting yourself in a sniping position for the duration of the battle. Sometimes you need to rush into the middle of a firefight to heal the wounded. There are tons of ways fighting on foot could go. And then there’s the vehicles.
Blow the enemy to smithereens with tanks, machine gun mounted Humvees, helicopters and fighter jets. Heck, if your fighter jet runs out of missiles, you can eject, crash it into an enemy tank, and continue fighting on foot. That’s how freely players can engage each other in Battlefield 3’s multiplayer mode. And don’t worry about the maps, even if you’re piloting an F-18, the maps are so big that you’ll never run out of sky. This is one of the best multiplayer experiences I’ve had in a long time. It’s just a joy to blow your enemy to kingdom come, provided you have a stable Internet connection, which is hard to come by in the Philippines. Campaign The single player campaign is a mishmash of missions that seem highly derivative of that other popular first person shooter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. You mostly play as Sargeant James Blackburn, running after middle eastern extremists who have acquired nukes and are planning on using it on New York City. What is it with NYC and these terrorists? The POV changes a few times so you get to play as other characters in the Battlefield universe. But don’t get your hopes up, because the story feels like an afterthought and the strictly linear gameplay is enough to snap you out of your suspension of disbelief. This is most evident during the numerous minigames that suddenly pop-up during the course of the campaign. Some intense, near-death situations are dumbed down by allowing the player to escape certain death by simply pressing the X button or the space bar. Clearly, the developers want you to play the multiplayer mode. The campaign is just there because, hey...why not, right? There’s also a co-op mode that serves as back-up stories for the campaign, but they are equally disappointing. It’s a shame they didn’t come up with an engaging single player campaign story, the sound and visuals were engaging and very realistic. When you begin the campaign it really draws you in until you slowly realize you’ve played this game before, except it was called Call of Duty. 
Graphics The visuals of the game are just breath taking, especially in the single player mode. Dare I say, better than Call of Duty’s. The rendering of smoke is so lifelike that you’ll want to cough while running through burning buildings. The sound of bullets whizzing overhead are also enough to make you lower your head while in the relative safety of your living room couch. Explosions, shrapnel, and flying debris are also rendered in painstaking detail. But in my opinion, it’s the sunlight that really takes the cake. You will find yourself under the rays of the scorching desert sun many times while playing this game and the guys at DICE made sure that you’ll feel both the sun’s beauty and its harshness. 
The Verdict Overall, the stiff, cliched campaign mode is not enough to overshadow the rich, immersive multiplayer of Battlefield 3. It has always been a game that is best played with many, many others. And this third installment does not disappoint, in fact, it pushes the bar for multiplayer games to be more open and give players more options to frag their enemies. The number of unlockable upgrades will keep you playing for hours. This is a must-own game for those of you who love first person multiplayers. Just be sure your Internet connection can handle all this firepower before you go and get a copy. — TJD, GMA News
All games reviewed on the site are provided courtesy of Datablitz.com.ph
