Post of Ambiguous Impressions from the Alpha

*At EA DICE, there are terrible people. Having shown us a daunting teaser for [Battlefield 3](/games?search=Battlefield 3) back in the day, featuring a fighter jet, they clearly indicated the direction they would be working in. Moreover, the bonus pre-order pack is impressive – gamers will get several multiplayer maps from [Battlefield 2](/games?search=Battlefield 2). Overall, future battles promise to be as epic and large-scale as possible. The thing is, the developers are in no hurry to reveal the strengths of their project. At E3, as I’ve mentioned several times, Electronic Arts showcased tank battles (and can we even call those clips battles?). "Okay," thought the players, "the testing starts soon, and then we’ll discover all the delights of the new ‘BF.’"*

However, no. For the alpha test of the third part of Battlefield, the developers allocated the map Operation Metro, which features an urban park and, essentially, the subway itself. The "assault" mode involves two phases of combat: fighting in the park and battling in the metro. If the defending team can withstand the enemy's onslaught, they won’t have to retreat into cramped corridors. The tasks are simple, let’s dive directly into the game.

The attacking team must do everything in their power to blow up two key enemy objectives. In this challenging endeavor, they are assisted by an armored vehicle that can carry up to four soldiers, just like in Bad Company 2. The defenders, in such a situation, must rely solely on their engineers – it will take a lot of strength and time before the equipment is destroyed. A few redesigned classes of soldiers must coordinate effectively among themselves to turn the mission's success in their favor. It’s disappointing that at this stage, few teammates are genuinely benefiting their squad and team overall: medics are found hanging around elsewhere, and when trying to reach a wounded comrade, they perish; snipers move around the perimeter, keeping their heads down in colorful bushes; machine gunners forget to set up their, well, machine guns on the ground to suppress aggressive enemies. It’s hard to say anything about engineers: they are currently being used exclusively by the defending side. Overall, evaluating [Battlefield 3](/games?search=Battlefield 3) as a team game at this stage of testing is quite challenging. Amid all this chaos, it feels similar to [Call of Duty](/games?search=Call of Duty), but in the latter, the equivalent game mode – "Demolition" – is much more engaging.


Another problem with the new Battlefield is the graphics. The environment looks undoubtedly decent: the texture quality brings back memories of Crysis; the animation of the soldiers is also impressive (to be fair, parkour reminiscent of Brink looks pretty good in BF3). However, such visuals completely distract our attention, and it’s very easy not to notice someone’s head in nearby bushes. Many players understand this perfectly, opting for the sniper class. We take a position somewhere at the edge of the perimeter (like a longitudinal wall with abundant vegetation) and calmly shoot down enemy bodies. It will take a long time before anyone finds and kills you. In this case, it’s not even necessary to change your location.

Half of all time playing as a sniper will be exactly like this.

"It’s realism," you might say. That’s great, but I still can’t forget those times in Bad Company 2 when I was kicked from servers for so-called "base rape" (on the map "Heavy Metal"; while playing as a sniper class, I wouldn’t let enemies launch a combat helicopter from their base). With [Battlefield 3](/games?search=Battlefield 3), there will probably be a similar problem, but there’s also another annoyance.

It completely lacks the feeling of where the enemy opened fire on your soldier. In the already mentioned Bad Company 2, if you recall, there was a characteristic camera shake, indicating where the soldier was being shot from, prompting you to try hiding in that direction. Gradually, this became somewhat of a reflex. In [Battlefield 3](/games?search=Battlefield 3), everything is more complicated. Yes, a red line appears on the screen, but the realization that you're about to be killed comes far too late, which makes the class selection menu (and I believe it's implemented worse than in BC2) feel more familiar than the actual gameplay. Well, those moments when you respawn and, after just five seconds, see your soldier’s hand twitching again can be utterly frustrating. And it would be one thing if we understood where the fire was coming from. But no, a couple of seconds pass, and we’re back on the ground, and there wasn’t a medic or spirit nearby. Realism, damn it? Let that exist in Arma or Americas Army.

Fights in the tunnel can be quite visually spectacular. But more often, battles turn into this: soldiers crouched behind cover, occasionally sending a kibble or two of lead toward the enemy.

One of the main distinguishing features of Bad Company 2 – destructibility – is practically absent on the map presented in the alpha. Fragile-looking benches somehow withstand volleys of fire from the APC’s cannon, and the same goes for subway cars, except that in their cabins we’re sending regular grenades, not big shells. Well, the plaster on the walls chips off, that’s okay.

And my final critique of the game is its launch method. A brilliant solution: to join a map in [Battlefield 3](/games?search=Battlefield 3), you have to log in to Origin, click on the corresponding shortcut, and in the opened browser window, log in again, then select the "Multiplayer" option, after which you’re taken back to Origin. As if the game is launching. At first, such maneuvers provoke only confusion, but after a couple of days, this whole process will start to irritate fiercely. Why couldn’t this "Battlelog" be implemented directly within Origin?

It’s better not to choose such a position for a sniper. It’s easier to find some colorful bush and settle there.

In principle, that’s all. It’s currently difficult to say whether this is the right "Battlefield" or not. Hundreds of hours of life spent in Bad Company 2 and [Battlefield 2](/games?search=Battlefield 2) remain quietly silent within me, trying not to say unnecessary words. Which is fair: alpha is an alpha, and the main goodies of the most anticipated game Gamer.ru will be provided to gamers somewhat later. We hope for the best and await a truly typical Battlefield map: with vast spaces, abundant vehicles, and untamed ground for tactical ingenuity.