When fans of the Battlefield series boast about their favorite first person shooter they like to brag about the huge maps, vehicles and the awesome multiplayer. There always is a heated debate on countless gaming websites about who is better Call of Duty or Battlefield. I personally have played the crap out of both of these series and came out on Battlefields side. Call of Duty was feeling to linear in its campaign to me in the past few years, and the multiplayer has declined. Which side I prefer isn’t what I would like to talk about though. I would like to talk about what I’ve noticed with the Battlefield campaign and how it might be trying to take on that linear campaign style of Call of Duty. EA and Dice are taking a big gamble making the campaign this way.
Battlefield 3 so far won’t disappoint fans with its sprawling maps; great vehicular combat in its multiplayer as to be expected. The campaign on the other hand has you in really tight hallways and streets that you cannot veer off the beaten path from. Fans of the series won’t feel like they are playing in a vast open world like the previous Bad Company 2. Bad Company 2’s levels had wide open spaces that gave you more choices on how to deal with your current situation.
This game was pretty linear on where you could go, but you had more map to take different approaches. One example of this is on a campaign stage I saw, the enemies randomly pop in and out of cover. The fighting seems to be more of a “stop and go”, shooting enemies and then advancing. This is not what Battlefield fans are accustomed to as you don’t have the option to creatively get around the enemies and flank them to take them down.
One thing that Battlefield has been known for is its destructible buildings. The Frostbit engine has been one of Battlefields most valuable assets. The Frostbit 2 engine, which DICE has been talking about a lot since they announced it, might not be what we are expecting. Battlefield Bad Company 2’s
destructibility and large battles in the campaign allowed you to take different and make different routes by demolishing buildings and cover in your way, the destruction in Battlefield 3 seems to be all about the cinematic. What I mean by this is that all of the large scale destruction DICE has been bragging about is basically just for cut scenes. The days of strategically carving your way through the levels buildings to take down your foes seem to be gone, for single player anyway.
This linear level approach that DICE and EA are taking might add to the Battlefield experience and it might not. I for one don’t think it will make it better, but who knows. Will this game out sell Call of Duty? I for one don’t care, Battlefield will always be on the top of my FPS list. Millions of fans wait for the release for this game hoping that it will be everything they look for in a Battlefield game. I am one of those fans, but I will miss the days of full on level destruction in the campaign to make tactical decisions on the battlefield.
