Battlefield 3 - Xbox 360 Beta Impressions

Today I will give you some early impressions detailing the Xbox 360 version of the Battlefield 3 beta. Lets get some formalities out of the way early, shall we? Battlefield 3 is a modern first-person shooter developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It releases October 25, 2011. This particular article is specifically detailing my early experiences regarding the Xbox 360 version of the Battlefield 3 beta.

Gamemodes - One game mode and that is Rush.

Rush - I played Rush many times in both Bad Company games. Attacking forces must advance through enemies defenses and destroy M COM Stations throughout the map. The defending team must protect all M COM Stations from the attackers. It's a simple game of defense versus offense and it can be quite entertaining sometimes. Most times defenders win and it seems to be that way in Battlefield 3 on Operation Metro map.

Operation Metro Map - Operation Metro map is the only map on the Xbox 360 version of Battlefield 3 beta at the moment. This map starts out in a park in sunlight but quickly turns into a underground subway battle. The early part of the subway portion is very linear. Actually, many sections of Operation Metro are linear which makes for Attackers in Rush really difficult. There are open areas in the subway section featuring escalators and open lobbies. But most of the map is train cars and linear passageways. There are also quite a few backroom hallways in the Operation Metro map.

Classes - There are four different classes in the beta including Assault, Engineer, Recon and Support. What primary guns you start out with in default depends on if your Attacker or Defender. Every class give or take has a Primary, Secondary, Gadget 1, Gadget 2 and Specialization slot.

Assault - This class starts off with either M16A3 or AK-74m for primary weapons. Sidearms are MP443 and M9 with the Medic Kit. I played with this class early and often. It feels sorta like the medic class in other games the way you can just toss around health packs to squad members and other teammates. I would say it's a good class to start with in Battlefield 3.

Engineer - Not much use for this class in the beta due to no vehicles being available. However the Engineer class has always been a favorite of mine in Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2. Primary weapons are M4A1 and AKS-74u. Sidearms are the same as all of the other classes. Gadget 1 is SMAW and RPG-7U2.

Each weapon in the Battlefield 3 beta has a detailed stats page showcasing everything you need to know about each gadget and weapon.

Support - I played with the Support class and it seems like a good class to lay down suppressive fire with. Primary weapon is the M27 1AR and RPK- 74M. Secondary guns are the same as above. Ammo Boxes are the "Gadget". If you want to keep supplies from running out for you're squadmates and teammates, pick the Support class.

Recon - Sniper class, need I say more? Primary guns MK 11 MODO and SVD. Secondary guns are the same as above. The Gadget is Radio Beacon. If you played with the Recon class in Bad Company it's quite similar.

Controls - Feels similar to Bad Company 2. Only difference so far is the prone option. To prone press down the Right Thumb Stick all the way till you're prone. The controls as to be expected aren't that good due to it being a beta. Seems aiming is kinda off. It seems clunky and wunky and or jerky if I can say that. Sprinting and doing the automatic parkour moves are nice.

Custom Kits - The menu is there but I can't confirm yet if you can make custom loadouts. I haven't played it enough to unlock many options to be frank. I will let you all know later if there are Custom Loadouts in the beta.

Glitches - First game I played on my Xbox 360 it simply froze ten minutes into the match. I had to restart the console. Not a good first impression if I must say. That's not all, almost every match I played had stuttering issues and framrate drops. Connections issues in game are apparent. Finding matches were easy to find on the Xbox 360. Battlefield 3's beta does have quite a bit of issues on the Xbox 360 regarding freezing, glitching and stuttering. Good thing, it's a beta and DICE has time to fix the kinks before the game ships in a few weeks.

My Unlocks - Not much, but for leveling up to Private First Class I attained the 870 MCS shotgun.

So what do I think about Battlefield 3's beta running on the Xbox 360? It's a gorgeous game with great sound design. I do like the Operation Metro map, it's not a great map but it's a solid map. The game does have glaring issues relating to glitching, stuttering and freezing. Thanks for reading.

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Battlefield 3

As Call of Duty slowly and surely dominated the first-person-shooter genre, the veteran series Battlefield was put firmly on the backburner. EA wanted to change that with Battlefield 3. They mostly achieved their goals in trying to take a piece of Call of Duty's pie. In fact, this game has one of the strongest multiplayer modes around-though if you love playing single-player you may be extremely disappointed. Regardless of what game mode you choose, the gameplay itself still remains tight and authentic.

There are certainly some parts of this game that completely put Call of Duty to shame; in my opinion, the graphics are the best on any console game, bar none. Granted, you have to download an optional texture patch for the Xbox 360 version to make it look pretty. And not to beat up on the Xbox 360 version too much, but it comes in two discs, as opposed to the one disc PS3 version. It's a minor gripe but it's worth noting. In the win column, Battlefield 3's multiplayer maps are vastly larger than those in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and this makes getting into a vehicle very appealing when starting a match. Other than the size of the maps, though, you can't compare Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty's multiplayer too closely, as they are very different.

Many of the first-person shooters currently on the market have guns that feel like peashooters. That isn't the case at all with Battlefield 3. You actually feel the recoil hammer your weapon when you shoot down the barrel and you can even upgrade your barrel so you can have a steadier shot. Nothing is as satisfying as aiming down your sight, firing ahead of your target and seeing your bullet drop directly on their unsuspecting body. That being said, there is a bit of a learning curve to this game because of the bullet physics. You have to adjust your shots accordingly for targets at a distance. No longer can you magically shoot straight across the map.

The gameplay on the ground works very well but you're probably wondering how you would travel across a huge battlefield. Don't worry, you're covered with an immense garage full of vehicles. You have your standard tanks, jeeps and boats but where it really gets interesting is in the sky. They have two different types of helicopters: one for attacking and another for support and transport. They're both incredibly fun to zoom around over head in. I can't mention vehicles and not touch on how awesome the jets are. Yes, this game has flyable jets. They're not overpowered at all- in fact, they might be a little underwhelming for air to ground battles- but once you see another jet flying around you can definitely indulge all of your Top Gun fantasies.

Mutliplayer is such a big feature in games because it gives our beloved software more shelf-time. And if we can judge how long a game survives just by their online modes, Battlefield 3 just might be immortal. You have the standard game modes such as "Deathmatch" and "Squad Deathmatch," but the real meat and potatoes comes from "Rush," which pits one defensive team trying to defend a bombsite against an offensive team with limited respawns. Once the attackers successfully plant on two bombsites another two pop up and the multiplayer map gets even larger, which isn't a problem with the dynamic spawning system. It's not an entirely fresh idea but the way this game really sets it up with the engaging atmosphere you can't help but be pulled in.

Now that we've covered Battlefield 3's strengths, we definitely have to go over its flaws. The elephant in the room is the horrid single-player. It's very similar to Call of Duty's multiple character viewpoints, where you switch playable characters throughout the story. Unlike Call of Duty, though, Battlefield 3's missions aren't memorable and often times try too hard to blow you away. The only really cool set piece in the campaign is when you're the gunner in a jet. Yes, you're the gunner- you don't actually fly the jet. Which is pretty damn lame. The single-player just feels like a watered down training mode for multiplayer.

This game does offer co-op, if you're dead set on enjoying some sort of story. The missions are actually set up well but are mostly forgettable. Unlike Halo Reach, you can't play with multiple friends. It's just you and one other. It would've been cool to have three or four buddies helping you out, but it's only a minor detraction. Though the only reason I trudged through the missions was to unlock more weapons.

If you like being rewarded you're going to absolutely love how they set up the unlockables. As previously mentioned, you can unlock guns through the co-op by completing missions. Though where you're going to do the most unlocking is online. You can pretty much have any scope on any weapon. Want a hunting scope on your M4? No problem! Want a red-dot sight on your Sniper Rifle? Okay. You can even unlock things for your vehicles, for instance, having flares for your attack helicopters. None of the unlockables feel unbalanced either, which is important for a game that thrives on its multiplayer.

For those looking for a decent change of pace to your close-quarter first person shooters then do yourself a favor and check this game out. Though the single-player lacks any memorable experiences, you'll be blown away by the amazing multiplayer. There's a learning curve when you jump online but if you have the patience to learn everything about the game then you'll no doubt have a new favorite in your collection.

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