Something BF2 didn't have was a campaign, and anyone who has read my criteria for a good game will know that it must have a campaign (at all costs), so to see one on BF3 was a delight, and I jumped straight on it.
1st Impressions and Not Game Stuff:
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| (better late than never) |
After fighting through origin and then repairing the download that didn't work first time, then logging on and loading the game I realised that this wouldn't be a game you could just hop in and out of. But then again neither was Half Life and that did OK I suppose.
The first part of the game starts on a train where you're armed with a pistol and have to get to the end of it. The pistol seemed pretty powerful and I loved the feedback from it, it's the exact opposite of Metro 2033 whereby it feels like the gun is actually doing something. But then we meet the dreaded quick-time event for the first time, because a cutscene of you climbing onto the roof is not enough, you have to spam the space-bar to do it. This leads onto a completely pointless bit on the roof of the train where you can't move on minute but then the next you can for some reason, only to jump back into the train. Talk about pointless.
Then there is another cutscene, which wouldn't be so bad if it actually did something useful.
Instead it sets the game up to be very poorly scripted, with a very basic view on the military.
The level loading times are massive as well, made even longer by the fact that you'll die a lot in the game.
Graphics and Glitches:
| Open skyboxes, linear gameplay. |
There are glitches galore in the game which is a shame because it looks amazing despite not being too taxing on my PC (i5 3750k and an HD6870). People go through walls and seats more times than is acceptable, especially considering the budget this game no doubt had. But I need to reinforce that graphically the game is awesome, looking so much better than the recently released Watch Dogs.
The maps have a lot of invisible walls too, with one stealth section being very tricky as to go straight ahead (the more direct route) looked clear, but for whatever reason my character couldn't seem to move past a point. The actual designated route was back a bit and off to the left. But why can't I choose how I get to each point?
The edge of battlefield desertion device is a pain too. I saw some cover up ahead where a friendly AI was crouching, so I go over to him to share said cover and a warning pops up that I'm leaving the battlefield. So I run back to where I was, get stuck on a glitched surface and die. There was a ton of AI in the area I moved into, in what way is that going out of the battle area?
AI:
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| There'll be a glitch somewhere I guarantee it. |
Oh dear. EA messed up big time on this. I'm not entirely sure if there actually exists any AI in the game or whether the game is just one long set piece. Friendly AI WILL steal you cover and trap you in corners and be really vague about what you need to do. For instance near the start of the game you are told to wait behind cover because there's a sniper. They say "wait here until we get into position" so you wait, and then they shout "he's up in that tower block (of which there are a fuckton), in the middle. You need to take him out, we'll provide cover" So I get up and look around for this sniper and before I can I get sniped by him, no covering fire, no nothing. What is transpired I was meant to do was wait for a team mate to silently pass me an RPG so I could then stand right up and click anywhere on the screen to blow up the sniper. I mean talk about linear. For that first mission I might as well not have existed. My team killed virtually everything for me, they stole my cover which got me killed too many times, the only bit where I was on my own was one long quick time event.
But yes, back to AI, the enemy AI can be summed up as follows. They know where you are even though they can't possibly have seen you, if one person sees you, the rest instantly know where you are. They have perfect aim and you don't have any idea how much health you have. It is terrible, it may as well not exist and I hate it.
Gameplay:
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| This is your view all too often |
Very harsh would sum it up. You will die lots. Due to the game's lust for you to have some shitty glare effect blind you at all times the enemy are as good as invisible. But they can see you. There aren't any gameplay mechanics apart from the shooting one. Which to be fair is excellent, all the guns give a distinct feedback, all feel good to fire and is really the only good part of the campaign.
There is no health bar which is a stupid idea, although I doubt the inclusion of one would he;p much as you die instantly from the slightest damage. Yes it is realistic but it is not fun (yes I can sense the hypocrisy Adam).
On the other hand there was some nostalgia from old PS2 games where dying every 5 seconds was part of the game and I do moan about how games are designed for retards now so I shouldn't make a fuss really. But the loading times are so long that dying takes too long to do a lot.
Conclusion:
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| Your actions are superfluous to game outcome. |
The story is poorly scripted, the gameplay is very scripted and the fact that the enemy are completely camouflaged and very deadly makes for a pretty tough game. I liked it because the shooting was very good, I don't care too much about the mindless shooting but I do care about poor level design and a very forceful hint system. Not the worst game that has been made, but it's by no means good.
It gets a 5 out of 10. (if it hadn't been for the shooting mechanic it would have been a 3).
If you want a campaign, don't buy a multiplayer game I suppose is the message from this.
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| All too often the prompt won't even come up to tell you what to do. Much spamming of 'e', 'left click' and 'space' happens. |