Friday 3 February 2012

Battlefield 3


   Battlefield 3 (commonly abbreviated to BF3) is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in North America on October 25, 2011 and in Europe on October 28, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and EA Mobile confirmed a port for the iOS platform. It does not support versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista as the game only supports DirectX 10 and 11.

   It is a direct sequel to 2005's Battlefield 2, and the eleventh installment in the Battlefield franchise. The game sold 5 million copies in its first week of release, and was released to critical acclaim from most game reviewers. The PC download is exclusive to EA's Origin platform, through which PC users also authenticate when connecting to the game.

   In campaign mode, players take on the personas of various military roles; including a USMC recon Marine, an F-18 systems officer, an M1A2 Abrams tank operator, and a SPETSNAZ operative. The campaign takes place at various locations, including Iran, and follows the story of Sergeant Blackburn and later, Dimitri Mayakovsky.

Gameplay:

   Battlefield 3 features the combined arms battles that made the series popular across single-player, co-operative and multiplayer modes. It reintroduces several elements absent from the Bad Company games, including fighter jets, the prone position and 64-player battles on PC.To accommodate the lower player count on consoles, the ground area is limited for Xbox 360 and PS3, though fly space remains the same.

   During an interview with Game Informer Magazine, EA stated that Commander Mode is unlikely to be included, which was met with some criticism on the EA forum.

   The game features maps set in Paris, Tehran, Sulaymaniyah, New York, Wake Island and Oman. The maps cover urban streets, metropolitan downtown areas, and open landscapes suited to vehicle combat.

   Battlefield 3 introduces the "Battlelog"; a free cross-platform social service with built-in text messaging, voice communications, game statistics, and the ability to join games that friends are already playing (though both players need to be on the same platform).


Campaign:

   The game's campaign takes place in the year 2014. The initial sections of the campaign are set near the Iraq-Iran border, where the US Marine Corps are fighting the People's Liberation and Resistance (PLR).The game later moves into northern Iran, continuing the fight against the PLR. There is a mission set in the streets of Paris, and another set in the sewers and subways of New York.

Cooperative:

   A demo featuring the new co-op mode was featured at Gamescom 2011. DICE GM Karl Magnus Troedsson confirmed that a split screen option will not be available in co-op mode.[17] Battlefield 3's new Battlelog social network, DICE noted, would be tied to all co-op matches, allowing players to try to beat friends' scores and to track their performance.

Multiplayer:

   Battlefield 3's multiplayer matches see players take on one of four roles: Assault, Support, Engineer and Recon. The Assault class focuses on assault rifles and healing teammates. The Support class focuses on LMGs and supplying ammunition. The Engineer class focuses on supporting and destroying vehicles. The Recon class focuses on sniping and spotting enemies. The mechanics of the weapons have been changed to utilize the new engine: compatible weapons may have bipods attached which can then be deployed when in the prone position or near suitable scenery, and provide a significant boost to accuracy and recoil reduction. Suppressive fire from weapons blurs the vision and reduces the accuracy of those under fire, as well as health regeneration.The Recon class can put a radio beacon anywhere on the map and all squad members will be able to spawn on the location of the beacon.

  Several game modes are present, including Conquest, Rush, Squad Deathmatch, Squad Rush and for the first time since Battlefield 1942, Team Deathmatch.

   The PC version of Battlefield 3 does not feature a main menu; instead the game is launched via a web browser from the Battlelog web site.A server browser is present in console versions of the game, however.


Plot:

   Set in 2014, Sgt. Blackburn leads a five-man squad on a mission to find and safely return a US squad investigating a possible IED in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, whose last known position was a market controlled by a hostile militia called the PLR. Several weeks later, the US sends Marines into Iran. Naval aviator and F-18 pilot Lt. Hawkins engages fighters over Iran and takes part in an air strike against Mehrabad Airport. In the aftermath of the air strikes, Blackburn and his squad are sent to Tehran to perform battle damage assessment and apprehend the leader of the PLR, Al-Bashir. While investigating an underground vault in the target's suspected location, Blackburn and his team learn that the PLR acquired Russian portable nuclear devices, and that two of the three devices are missing. Being overrun, and requesting back-up, an M1 Abrams convoy led by Sergeant Miller is deployed to extract Blackburn's team. Miller facilitates Blackburn's helicopter extraction, but is captured when waiting for a Quick Reaction Force. Miller is promptly executed by Solomon and Al-Bashir, with the event being filmed.

Later, Blackburn and his squad manage to capture Al-Bashir, who realizes Solomon betrayed him and reveals his plot to detonate the nukes in Paris and New York, before dying from the wounds he sustained in his capture. Blackburn's team also gets a lead on an arms dealer, Kaffarov, who was working with Solomon; however, while pursuing Kaffarov, the Americans encounter a large Russian force, who are also attempting to apprehend Kaffarov and are hostile towards the Americans. Almost all of Blackburn's squad is killed, while a Spetsnaz team led by Dima assaults Kaffarov's villa. Dima successfully interrogates Kaffarov, and reveals Solomon's plot to Blackburn.

Blackburn's commanding officer arrives and to save Dima's life and let him escape, Blackburn shoots his CO. Due to this, Blackburn is captured and interrogated by agents within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and explains all of his previous operations to them in flashbacks. During Blackburn's capture, Dima attempts to stop the attack in Paris, but he is unsuccessful and his team is wounded in the resulting detonation. The CIA agents do not believe Blackburn's story, since Solomon is a CIA informant and there is no concrete proof of his involvement in the terrorist attacks. They instead believe that Russia is responsible for the attacks and that Dima had played Blackburn.

Left with no other option, Blackburn and surviving squad member Montes break out of captivity to stop the attack in New York. Solomon shoots Montes, but Blackburn manages to kill Solomon in the resulting melee, as well as recovering the last nuclear device. In the epilogue, having been diagnosed with radiation poisoning, Dima writes about the efforts of both him and Blackburn to stop Solomon's plot. He then readies his gun when a knock is heard at his door.

Awards:

  • Best Shooter, 2011 IGN People's Choice Award
  • Best Multiplayer Game, 2011 IGN People's Choice Award
  • Best Xbox 360 Shooter, Best of 2011 IGN Award & 2011 IGN People's Choice Award
  • Best Xbox 360 Multiplayer Game, Best of 2011 IGN Award & 2011 IGN People's Choice Award
  • Best PS3 Shooter, 2011 IGN People's Choice Award
  • Best PS3 Multiplayer Game, Best of 2011 IGN Award & 2011 IGN People's Choice Award
  • Best PC Shooter, Best of 2011 IGN Award & 2011 IGN People's Choice Award
  • Best PC Multiplayer Game, Best of 2011 IGN Award & 2011 IGN People's Choice Award






IMDb: Rated this game with an 8.4/10.0.
According to IGN: "The quality multiplayer tradition returns, but the campaign feels like a different game.", rated "Amazing" with an overall score of 9.0/10.0 and ranked #76 out of 16770 PC rated games.

IGN Ratings for Battlefield 3 (PC):

  • 8.0 "Presentation"
The multiplayer’s robust, the browser-based launcher works well, but those who don’t play online won’t find much meat in the other modes.
  • 9.5 "Graphics"
Frostbite 2 shines in multiplayer, single-player, and co-op.
  • 9.5 "Sound"
You’ll hear every bullet whizzing by your head, and the crash of rubble all around you.
  • 8.5 "Gameplay"
Traversing the enormous world feels great, on foot or in a vehicle, but the single-player’s quicktime events are just lame.
  • 9.5 "Lasting Appeal"
Multiplayer unlocks will keep you chasing the dragon for months.

Reviews:



   Battlefield 3 suffers from an identity crisis.

    It delivers scorching multiplayer, fitting of its decade-long pedigree of famously expansive big-team battles, but stumbles over a generic single-player campaign that feels like a different game.

    While DICE may not deliver a memorable story here, it doesn't need to when Battlefield 3's online warfare raises every bar imaginable, delivering one of the best multiplayer experiences of the year. I doubt Battlefield purists will complain much about the campaign, honestly; I know you're enlisting in this battle to bring down entire armies online.From sun flares to smoke bursting from a collapsing building, Battlefield 3's Frostbite 2 engine provides marvelous visuals. It performs admirably on lowered settings, but for anyone who's doubled up on their NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580s, Battlefield 3 provides a gorgeous spectrum of environments speckled with detail to brag about. Nighttime elements present a stark intensity, with glowing fluorescent signs dotting the cityscape and street lights blinding you from seeing enemies. The waves crashing on a beach below a late-game villa are mesmerizing -- as is the simple scrub brush dotting maps like Operation Firestorm. At maximum settings, Battlefield 3 looks stunning.





Published by: Electronic Arts
Developed by: DICE (Digital Illusions CE)
Genre: Online Shooter
Number of Players: 1-64
Release Date:
Europe: Q4 2011
PEGI: 18+: Violence, Bad Language, Online Game
Also Available On: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

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