[Multiplat] Battlefield 3

[kagemaru]

Wow, after all the hype I must say the impressions are a bit disappointing.

It's a beta and I hope people here aren't forgetting this when forming their opinions.

I'm trying to give DICE the benefit of the doubt here since it would make absolutely no sense to put so much effort into their engine just for things to look the same, if not worse, in some respects.

I've already seen a number of posts on other forums of people cancelling their pre-orders due to the state of this demo, so in a way I do feel sorry for DICE.

I have to wonder though. Was it DICE or was it EA's marketing department that thought it would be a good idea to primarily show PC footage 99% of the time? Sure it helped gain attention to the title, but if 80% of your market are going to play this on consoles, I'm sure the team was well aware of the potential backlash they may experience.

 

[patsu]

I can try it myself now

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011...battlefield-3-open-beta-now-available-on-psn/

Starting now, we are happy to invite all PS3 players to the much anticipated Battlefield 3 Open Beta!

...

1 map (Operation Metro). 1 mode (Rush). no vehicle. destruction enabled.

EDIT: Downloaded ! But I may be too busy to play today.

 

[assurdum]

Wow, after all the hype I must say the impressions are a bit disappointing.

I found more frustrating to see the people checks the multiplayer beta only to meter the final graphic of the game... really, what the hell of logic is that... even unchy suck in the multiplayer map compared to the SP experience...

 

[djskribbles]

agreed.

 

[RobertR1]

I found more frustrating to see the people checks the multiplayer beta only to meter the final graphic of the game... really, what the hell of logic is that... even unchy suck in the multiplayer map compared to the SP experience...

The gameplay opens up a can of worms also, don't worry.

 

[patsu]

From my experiences, PS3 betas only benefit the engineers by highlighting issues pre-launch. From marketing and user satisfaction angle, they seldom deliver.

In general, I only use beta to gauge (roughly) where the game is heading, and also shortlist Gaffers who want to play the same game together after launch.

The chatroom is already raging with R3 vs BF3 comparison, BF2 vs BF3 laments, etc. etc.

Funny thing is everyone complain about each and every major shooters, but post launch I still see them in the party/lobby. ^_^
I think the less hardcore fans will be affected negatively by betas more, even though they may complain less.

 

[joker454]

I'm not sure what people are expecting here. If you want good graphics then build a pc, otherwise what you see on console is what you should be expecting from 2003/2004 designed hardware. Deal with it, it's what you will be looking at until 2013/2014. There is no magic sauce, the hardware is ancient so anything running on it will be littered with compromise. At least you get to play a version of the game, so be happy for that!

 

[Laa-Yosh]

You're far too sour. Current console games actually look pretty nice IMHO.

 

[(((interference)))]

Played the 360 beta for an hour last night, getting into a game is quite a hit and miss affair.

It does look rather underwhelming and I was complaining about Crysis 2, has similar kinds of problems with artifacting and pop in everywhere. The indoor environments fare far better than outdoors though.

Other than the lighting which is pretty impressive at times, I'm not sure it looks better than BC2.

I do like the changes to gameplay though, they made the weapon handling somewhat closer to COD and the shooting feels a lot more authentic.

 

[joker454]

You're far too sour. Current console games actually look pretty nice IMHO.

They look very good considering the hardware, but what I don't get is people's expectations.

 

[NRP]

They look very good considering the hardware, but what I don't get is people's expectations.

I was at least expecting it to look better than BC2. I mean, Gears 3 looks better than Gears 2, Reach looks better than Halo 3 . . . etc.

I wasn't expecting parity with PC.

 

[RobertR1]

I was at least expecting it to look better than BC2. I mean, Gears 3 looks better than Gears 2, Reach looks better than Halo 3 . . . etc.

I wasn't expecting parity with PC.

They added more players and the maps are bigger. Those resources have to come from somewhere.

 

[Dungeonscaper]

From my experiences, PS3 betas only benefit the engineers by highlighting issues pre-launch. From marketing and user satisfaction angle, they seldom deliver.

In general, I only use beta to gauge (roughly) where the game is heading, and also shortlist Gaffers who want to play the same game together after launch.

The chatroom is already raging with R3 vs BF3 comparison, BF2 vs BF3 laments, etc. etc.

Funny thing is everyone complain about each and every major shooters, but post launch I still see them in the party/lobby. ^_^
I think the less hardcore fans will be affected negatively by betas more, even though they may complain less.

R3 was a huge disappointment to me from playing the demo, it looks ugly in sub-HD and has way more framedrops than R2, nothing about the graphics was particularly impressive and the gameplay just felt rehash of R2.

Battlefield 3 was incredibly fun though and that's what matters, despite what one thinks of the graphics. It's extremely addictive but I'm still going to have to put it off for a while as I still haven't got all my weapons platinum on BC2 and I imagine BF3 will be the biggest time sink to enter my life should I get it. Also I forgot to mention the destruction has improved a lot too; grenades and guns blow chunks out support columns, concrete railing, buildings and the usual but in many more 'steps' than BC2; so there's like 20 'chips' per wall rather than the entire wall blowing up in smoke ala BC2. The new knife stealth kills are pretty neat as well; you just knife when you're behind an enemy and you get a cool killing animation and their dogtag. I am worried about how the framerate will hold up in larger maps with tanks, jets and other vehicles and their projectiles and explosions spewing dust, smoke and fire everywhere though, just from what I've seen in metro.

Anyway I like the idea of betas: being able to improve a game, for instance in the End War beta Ubisoft fixed LOADS of the bugs I submitted. They had, however, a well set out bug/ improvement reporting page online and I don't see something like that for BC3 so they're really just testing server load and performance and fixing any big glitches that get showcased on YouTube.

 

[Rangers]

I've been hard on this games beta graphics, but I think it's like Crysis 2. One crummy beta level in multiplayer, just isn't going to be representative of the SP campaign, which will likely be one of the best looking games on console.

I think it's just the oddity of everybody expecting a graphical monster due to that PC footage, coming crashing to earth by meeting with the worst possible view of the games graphics (again, being a MP beta, probably of a unimpressive level, on the weaker consoles).

I didn't play much but the 360 beta did seem riddled with major bugs though, which is a bit odd 1 month from release.

I actually kind of liked the little bit of gameplay from the first time I played it. I actually got a couple kills which is rare for me in MP. But I'm a general MP noob let alone battlefield noob so I'm not one to judge.

 

[NRP]

I just got a text from a friend who is playing the PS3 beta which said "OMG this game blows! It feels like 1999 all over again." LOL! Pretty harsh. He was all fired up too after watching gameplay vids on Youtube.

Anyway, I'm DLing the 360 beta as we speak to check it out first hand.

Edit: Can't even connect to EA servers. It says "If you are experiencing connection problems, it may be due to server maintenance." Who's the genius who schedules server maintenance the same day the beta launches?

 

[2real4tv]

From the little I played(360 version), gameplay is ok. Character models look horrible imo, definitely worse to BC2, the eyes look like zombie eyes. Also, it seems like the contrast is too high, the underground subway part looked ok.

 

[JB9861]

They look very good considering the hardware, but what I don't get is people's expectations.

I wouldn't read too much into it. Just like UC3 airfield map players need to see something else in all likelihood. Perhaps they prefer the compromises other devs make. HW isn't necessarily the problem because I've read numerous comments (not here) about how both Gears 3 & UC3 are possible on current HW. Not to say necessarily they should come to that conclusion compared to other work, but the console base definitely can still be impressed by the art and choices.

 

[AlNom]

From the little I played(360 version), gameplay is ok. Character models look horrible imo, definitely worse to BC2, the eyes look like zombie eyes. Also, it seems like the contrast is too high, the underground subway part looked ok.

Eh, it shouldn't be a shock if they reduce quality for online multiplayer, plus we have no idea how old the build is. There's a reason they call these things multiplayer betas, and testing the online infrastructure is more important I would think.

 

[(((interference)))]

They added more players and the maps are bigger. Those resources have to come from somewhere.

They're still supporting 24 players on console same as Bad Company.

And Operation Metro at least isnt bigger than maps in BC2

 

[Barbarian]

I can't connect to EA's servers either. No surprise I suppose, it was the same nonsense with the Crysis2 beta. Major let down.