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The Battlefield 3 beta launched today for the 1.5 million folks that pre-ordered on Origin or grabbed Medal of Honor: Limited Edition -- everyone else gets in Thursday. If you weren't one of chosen, or just want to check out our coverage regardless, this is for you.
As with the alpha, Operation Metro is featured in a 16v16 Rush setup (console players see 12v12). Thankfully, the map has been tweaked which seems to have worked out for the better: attackers now have a fighting chance.
What's new and old
Many of the goodies promised are in: more authentic sound (RPGs in particular are stunning -- I kind of just wanted to hear them over and over again), realistic animation (very fluid), prone, and a heap of unlockables, to name some. Squad leaders don't seem to play much of a role right now, but replacing that spawning system is the Recon radio tool, which, when deployed, allows your squadmates to spawn on it, so for example, you can spawn on them near a hotspot, deploy the radio, then efficiently keep suppressing the enemy.
Other nifty gadgets include Claymores for Support (haven't seen them yet, though), and laser sight and scope specs which can partially blind the enemy, among others. I'm just touching the tip of the iceberg here, but take my word for it when I say customization is indeed extensive, and made more enjoyable now that unlocks are per weapon. Returning favourite weapons include the SV98 sniper rifle and M249 Saw -- thoroughly enjoyable to say the least.
Battlelog
Outside the game itself there is Battlelog: DICE's social platform that houses stats, friends lists, and a whole bunch more. I can't speak for the console version of it, but on PC it serves as the hub for the game itself -- even the single player and co-op campaigns. While the initial reaction when announced was negative, it proves extremely efficient for the most part in practice (thanks in part to very quick Alt-tab support). Indeed, it seems almost silly this hasn't been done until now, as a web browser can do a hell of a lot more than an in-game server browser can. For one example, you can easily link to the server you're on to a friend or friends via IM or whatever, who can then click it and join instantly.
It takes a little getting used to, but for the most part it's pretty intuitive. If you're looking to hook up with friends or a community, add them Facebook style, or just join or form a 'platoon', which allows you to get together at any time time -- a much welcomed feature and easy to pull off (speaking of which - join ours). Alternately you can simply form a 'party' and voice chat it up -- quality is roughly 75% what you get with popular program like Mumble and Teamspeak, and works well (the videos above are using Mumble, so ignore that). While some may find the quality insufficient, the efficiency may well make up for it.
Progression and stat junkies should be in absolute heaven, here: everything is tracked, from weapon use to kill/death ratio to unlocks and a whole lot more. Upon finishing a round, you'll be able to access a 'Battle Report', which details extensively what went down for each and every player. Unfortunately these appear to be limited to five at a time -- the option to save the better ones would be excellent.
PC features, performance
Graphics options are very thorough, and the graphics themselves impressive as ever, albeit weakly textured in some areas (foliage). The final version of the game is said to have even more options and be quite a bit more impressive again, though already it's about the best looking shooter you can find. In any case, besides the standard stuff, 3D for both AMD and NVIDIA users is there (though 3D isn't ready yet), and Eyefinity is said to be working great (haven't heard anything on 3D Surround yet, though feel free to let us know if you've got it running).
Performance is surprisingly affordable: on a 1055t 2.8ghz CPU and 6950 2GB GPU, Ultra settings are a viable option, though not ideal. Indoors I can run smoothly above 60fps, but outdoor performance is around 30-40 and feels sluggish -- bringing some settings down to High keeps everything flowing nicely, rarely dipping below 60, and reaching up to about 90 fairly often. Those in the community with lower-end gear seem to be running around 40fps average with varying settings, so the scaling is there.
Final thoughts
Battlefield 3 definitely takes influence from its spin-off series Bad Company in its gameplay design, but it's too early to say if it's too much or just right at this point, particularly given we've only tested an early version of a 32 player Rush map -- proper judgment will just have to wait until launch, when 64 player Conquest maps, commo rose, and other key features will be ready. In any case, it does take more realistic and less arcade approach which proves incredibly addictive fun, and very quickly made me want to toss aside Bad Company 2 -- great as it is -- in favor of it.
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Good; sounds, pretty, new mcom rules are implemented (yet), smooth
Bad; sniper rifle flashlight scopes (glint is *bleep*ing ridiculous), regen health, regen armour, half the unlocks which would likely need beta balancing are removed, mcom rules will be implemented in final, kil cams, scope glint once again its that horrendous (although demize has said it will be toned down - but quantified, so could be oh so minor its negligible), grenades are still floaty, kill cams...
I know its a beta, but jesus, half of these things are design flaws, not bugs, and need addressing sharpish. That, or mod tools.
Also, the fact that the game actually has greens and blues is fan-*bleep*ing-tastic. I could not see myself playing another brown game for a year and a half.
Crouch toggle - Available or not? Can anyone confirm?
Can enemies enter friendly spawns/bases and steal vehicles or spawn *bleep* ?
Does the shooting feel as slow, sluggish and/or pants basically as BFBC2 ?
If the equipment and vehicles regen health, what does the engineer class do ?
What kind of game mode is the BETA ?
What are these MCOM rules people keep mentioning ?
Are buildings more varied than the 3 designs we had in BFBC2 ?
What changes have been made to destructable enviroments ? What scale are we talking here ?
Cheers.
2. No. Its one thing the game does reasonably well at, although deviation and lack of bullet physics is a joke. Where you aim should be where your shot goes, not randomly inside a 3 foot box. But in general, the sounds, and most importantly, the feel of the guns are there. Oh the sounds are glorious. Apart from screaming 'grenade' giving away your position because a decent player knows how to play.
3. Engineer brings the heavier explosives to bear. It also provides quicker regen with the tool, and an easy way to get points.
4. New mcom rules are that mcoms are immune to damage. In bf2 when you loaded up an mcom with c4 and blew it up to provide an alternative method of progression. Now, imagine that being removed, leaving only capping it to be an option, but defenders able to plant explosives on it. Basically, as soon as you start planting explosives, they trigger the c4, causing no harm to the mcom whatsoever.
5. Don't know, there's only one map so far.
6. So far, not much visible particularly. You can't really go on a mass terraforming spree if that's what you're asking.
mario - nope. Still need to macro if pc, sol otherwise.
cyanide - you don't need a killcam. With a sniper, you can see where they are because of flashlights, and when you die, your screen points in direction of shooter. With practise, you'll learn the sniper spots, and there would have been one method of countering them in the field, and that's a mortar, but that's not an option to test.
And in squad leader magic mortar burst firing binoculars... Yeah more than enough to counter snipers. In moh, simple answer, get a rocket barrage/predator missile on them. 6 kills is not hard to achieve in moh. Same applies here, except they have a bright as *bleep* torch coming out of their head showing where they are at all times while having a 'fire at me' dorito above them because of 3d spotting.
Definately going back to my ghetto shotgun rifle to unlock. Really, really cba trying to 'snipe' with a 'sniper rifle'. Spending every 30 seconds as a 6 second respawn delay to go back to position to do it once again is a joke.
Buildings will be more more varied.
Destruction will be more extensive than BFBC2, but not so much you can tear down the entire map -- tactics need to be preserved. I believe some buildings will be fully destructible, but most only partially. I noticed in beta grenades can blow up smaller cement walls. Single player will show off more extensive destruction, but with set pieces.
X.
But thanks for answering, guys.
Anyone else experiencing floor glitches? Been having a fun time boosting up my kills with this glitch lol.
Spawncamping has always been the series' biggest problem, and I don't think it's gonna go away in BF3.
But, from what I've seen, those BC2-style killcams in BF3 are probably gonna do a great job at preventing spawn-camping from becoming the game's number 1 problem, although it'll probably still make it into the top 99.
In BFBC2 you can spawn into a game half way through where the enemy team has all the decent vehicles, 5 more players and is just spawn trapping with little the player can do. Anyone with experience at this game , like you, knows this.
Its has been mentioned by several people before on here. Its a genuine problem with BFBC2 regardless of skill. Infact if spawning directly into agame where this is already taking place then skill doesnt even come into it.
So Antipathy, imagine...
Your playing alone, you spawn into Conquest on ATACAMA desert and the enemy have every checkpoint, 5 tanks with engineers and both choppers, they are anhialating your spawn in unison using pro-piloting skills direct and non line of sight tank fire AND the remaining infantry are infiltrating the base contunuously by spawning on the nearest tanks. What do you do ? Heroicly shoot down 2 choppers with a CG, destroy 5 tanks then walk/drive single handedly the 500m across to the first checkpoint without anyone noticing before taking it alone Rambo style ?
Hey mate, i havnt played with ya, maybe your an outright battlefield pro. But heres the crux of your point... Anyone who CANT do that is shit ? Come on.
And they have greatly increased map size but kept the games 12 Vs 12 ? Damn.
Not gonna cut it. When you have some way of influencing a game, getting spawn trapped just proves how shit you are. You have 3 squads on console. Amount of times I saw 3 squads head to a on laguna alta was astounding. No staggered advance, no cover, just mass rush. Soon as the ifv was lost, push through to spawn camp.
A shit player would rush a. A better player would fan the *bleep* out, and go for b (if american), then c, or vice versa (if russian).
I'm not 'boss' at the game, but I know enough about how to win maps, and apply my own military experience.
arcanium, must have been playing with some proper idiots to allow that to happen. Keep one member alive, get squad leader to spawn, rest spawn as recon, and then move out and deploy beacon in advantageous positions. Or rather to let entire teams die at the same time without allowing the squad leader to spawn on you.
Edit; as for map size, its a disgrace, heavy metal was far too spread out for 3 squads, at least there's more going on in these maps. But yeah, I think I'm going to get a pc version after xmas.
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