Atomic: Battlefield 3 multiplayer hands-on: the Caspian Border map

Atomic: We had some impressive hands-on time with Battlefield 3 recently and had to share our thoughts.

"First and foremost, Battlefield 3 feels a lot like Bad Company 2, but in a very, very good way. It’s the myriad of gameplay tweaks across the board and the incredible prettiness of Frostbite 2 that makes this deserve the title Battlefield 3 and not Bad Company 2.5. Anyone who played Bad Company 2 will be right at home here, while fanatics (myself included) will instantly notice the differences."

[gw4k]

I am pretty sure Atomic has had a Hands-on with a video of Battlefield 3. Let's be honest here folks!

[NachosWithCheese]

If, by video, you mean that we actually played the game at GamesCom, then yes... we certainly had hands-on with a video.

[gw4k]

I'm going to stick with you watched a video that was recorded at GamesCon. Hehehe

[NachosWithCheese]

As you wish.

[limewax]

So this was the PC version? Out of curiosity, was tessellation being put to visibly better use than other recent DX11 titles? This is kind of one of the things I'm really hoping for from BF3s graphical aspect.

Sorry if you mentioned it and I just missed it, I do skim a little bit, it's a bad habit

[ko-zee-ii]

And what are you basing that on?

[grifter024]

I actually like the idea that Support has the ammo now and the assault has defibs.

IF in a perfect world ....Support classes will be further away in an entrenched position throwing out ammo packs where assualt players can run back to for more ammo while they revive teammates running forward.

[Iroquois_Pliskin]

what lol really? Assault are medics kinda of now? nicee

[e-p-ayeaH]

that´s pretty n00b in my opinion.

[grifter024]

Ayeah- Or whatever the hell you say your name.

How is that "Pretty Noob?"

I HATED having to spawn far off in the back because 1. Snipers think they are doing something while we are attacking 2. Support players are few and far between.

I welcome this change.

[Black102WingS]

Can't wait for BF3 but I never thought I'd say this but I'm soo addicted to Resistance 3 online its SO awesome I even gave up playing Killzone 3 because it lacks content when compared to Resistance 3. Content over Graphics ftw

[skeletonss]

were like SO excited for you .

[GrumpyVeteran]

I think any similarities that BF3 has with BC2 will ring alarm bells for the veterans of BF, and especially the big fans of BF2.

I'm concerned myself.

[NachosWithCheese]

I've seen a lot of this coming up and it's worth addressing. I like to see it as a merging of two great games: Battlefield 2 and Bad Company 2. Bad Company 2 definitely had a multiplatform design mentality, but this wasn't something that made for a bad game. A lot of the great stuff of Battlefield 2 with the optimisations of Bad Company 2 and new exciting tech (seriously, can't rave enough about the physicality) makes this a game that offers a lot to BF2 and BC2 veterans.

[Hufandpuf]

Bf2 fans might be worried about this. I was playing BF2 and talking to some about bad company 2 and they said it sucks because it's too dumbed down. I like both bf2 and bad company so I'm actually glad about this but I'll miss the bf2 feel.

[NachosWithCheese]

In our interviews with the DICE guys (who are awesome, by the way), they talk a lot about learning from the good and bad of their games and taking on board a lot of fan feedback. This extends to non-Battlefield games such as Mirror's Edge (which they admitted had its fair share of flaws) and taking on board feedback from the recent Alpha (introducing the command wheel).

[Hufandpuf]

Great, I can't wait to play it then!

[hiredhelp]

The devs are mearly taken the best of both bf2 and bad company. making it miles better and adding in more stuff. it will feel like bf2 it will have a feel of bad company 2. im sure youll be happy when you get ur hands on the game trust me.

[theonlylolking]

BF3 is BF2 with pretty graphics and destruction.

[NachosWithCheese]

Have a read of the preview to find out some more specifics. I get that you're trolling, but I think that BF3 has a lot to offer CoD players looking for something fresh (I recently played MW3 and it was... samey).

[Elwenil]

Let them have their game and we will have ours. I really don't want a horde of CoD players coming in and playing Rambo on my teams in BF3. It's hard enough to get a decent team together in BC2. Just my .02

[chickens]

many people who have played the game have said, even though people say it looks the same, it feels different when you play it.

[3GenGames]

But that's false and retarded, while in the opposite topic it'd be true and smart.

[Swiggins]

Neither is correct....

[skeletonss]

that bored huh

[miDnIghtEr]

Well of course. For BF fanboys, it's ok that this is BFBC 2.5.. No problem at all. And yes, every minor tweak and addition is just completely awesome.

But COD MW 2.5... No no no no no no... there's a big problem there. They need to stop giving the millions upon millions of people that love the style of the game and the speed of 60fps, in a more arcady fps fast paced war shooter, they need to stop making the game the same with minor tweaks and additions, because it is NOT awesome.

Same old story. It's ok for one, but not the other.

[SH0CKW4VE]

Like the other comments abov mentioned im worried about the feel of the game since you mentioned it was like BC2 that makes me think of extremely slow sluggish movement and getting stuck on every inconcievable object which was pretty frustrating when trying to get out of someones crosshairs.

Also the Sniper Rifle damage model worries me as When I played the alpha any kind of full auto rifle with a grip and a scope easily did a marksmans job better than his purpose built rifle could.

Im all for balance but I think theres a far better alternative to balancing bolt action sniper rifles which really should be one shot to the chest.

Im also worried about the vehicles incase they feel underwhelming.....like for example how a chopper in BC2 is so easily damaged by light arms fire and how the rockets dont seem to be "impactful" at all, at least nothing like BF2. And on that note im worried im going to be forced to use a specalisation to power up my tank shells so they actually kill people, they said about removing damage boosters and armour boosters for ground forces but I think the same should be applied to vehicles.

Also id liek the chopper rockets to be more effective against tanks than infantry because that is their main purpose, anti tank while the little bird would be primarily anti infantry.

Im not asking for a realistic representation by any means but I have my concerns about balance, because a Sniper Rifle being outperformed by any automatic rifle with a scope (and ANY kind of modifications) at sniper range has me questioning the "balance" methods seen present in the alpha. Come beta il be looking out for these things I mentioned and although they say they can still tweak things between then and release I dont think the things I could have problems with will be addressed.

[MrSent]

I played the alpha and I can honestly say it felt different than BC2. The avatar movement felt very quick and precise. The Hit detection was very very good. (killing multiple enemies with a single clip.)

I was also skeptical about that and you dont need to worry. The movements are good.

A couple things to consider:

- Engineers can be equipped with Anti Air missiles instead of the dumb target dart gun from BC2.

- All guns have been tweaked since the Alpha build

- Hard Core mode will ship with the game, so you wont have to worry about not being able to take someone out with one shot from a sniper rifle.

[iagainsti120]

good news on the hardcore that's all i play unless i don't want a challenge

[3GenGames]

I wouldn't be worried about it because BFBC2 was slowing, but it didn't have Jets, and just more vehicles in general. Plus with this, pretty much all maps will be Harvest Day size at the smallest but with more vehicles, so it will give more freedom and will let players duke it out more with vehicular combat and just be a better experience IMO.

[tunaks1]

cant wait!

[badvlad]

nice read 4 once! people need to talk about bf3 outside the box thats not including old news

[stannyman73]

I hope you can configure the knife button on consoles the amount of times iv died wishing I could have the right thumb stick to use ya knife instead of the dumb shoulder button please sort this out DICE!!!!!!!!!...

[iagainsti120]

I'm sure that's the default in BC2, i think i remember changing it because i like the thumb stick to be crouch since i mostly play support or sniper. (then again I'm on ps3 too)