The confrontation of Electronic Arts and Activision always resembled a whale battle with an elephant. While Infinity Ward and Treyarch have copied the best Hollywood productions with wide strokes, Dice with a jigsaw at the ready was digging in details – they polished the balance to perfection, increased destruction, made friendship with specialists in weapons. There was no forces left to create a bright single -user campaign. Each time it turned out to be a clawed and unforgettable appendage to the multiplayer regime.
The authors, however, did not hide that even flirting with a single in Bad Company 2, looking quite seriously, nothing more than light flirting. Wards Activision and Electronic Arts, working on their militar-attractions, did this as if in two parallel, not intersecting universe. Some time after time they gave the players bread and spectacles, others re -reinforced the technology to perfection and, it seemed, gathered in spirit.
Bash on the bash
This year everything was supposed to change. In April, John Rikitello, Executive Director of EA, said that Battlefield is about to show Call of Duty Kuzkin Mother. A real arms race began. Dice literally flooded the players with videos, in which military chronicles were demonstrated by some prohibitive realism. The race "Abrams" on the desert against the backdrop of burning oil wells, a game of jackdaws with a sniper who has settled in the building, a shootout on Tehran's streets.
Most of all, we were afraid that Rikitello's words would have to be understood literally. No matter how good DICE are, they can’t compete with Infinity Ward in the scope, in the depths of the plan, in the ability to highlight the main thing in each scene and focus on this main attention of the player.
Fortunately, it turned out that John was cunning. Speaking of direct competition, he had in mind that the Battlefield 3 in the multi -user campaign will be in the same weight category as COD, but the expressive means of Digital Illusions chose completely different.
[Bullet]] The same tank rash, first demonstrated on E3, in fact turned out to be not so long and much more interesting than it seemed at the exhibition.
Infinity Ward and Treyarch to attract the attention of the player, in the manner of their manner, they twist the degree of absurdity to the maximum. To understand the absurdity of the plots invented and the grotesque of most gaming scenes, it is enough to ask yourself only one question: what is the likelihood that all this will happen in real life. Call of Duty lives according to the laws of an expensive Hollywood action movie-while something explodes on the screen, falls, roars and rumbles, the viewer does not have time to think about the reliability of what is happening. This time appears only with the final credits, when, in general, it is already the same.
I will go out of the outskirts
Dice went a different path. Battlefield 3 is a bet on realism. The developers seem to make a movie in the genre of wetmenters – events beaten in a pseudo -domestic chronicle did not seem to actually happen, but go guess.
If there is a raid on the tank, we are shown how the hero climbs on the tower and descends into the hatch. During the shooting, they demonstrate how one of the crew members charges the gun. The take -off of the fighter from the deck of the aircraft carrier begins with checking the main systems when the character puts on the helmet: the sounds around are fading, and during air battle there is no certainty that in a second an enemy missile will not fly under the tail. Even at an average level of difficulty, they kill here quickly and without unnecessary conversations. Jumping through the obstacle, the hero beliefs on him plausibly with his hand and throws his legs, falling on his stomach-insures himself with his hands, and moving in a plastyski-carefully pulls up a weapon.
[[Bullet]] Russian landing. The game generates beautiful views every few minutes – however, there is no time to admire them.
At the most important moments, the heroes do not play dramas, do not conduct sincere conversations and do not fall into lengthy discussions about the importance of their mission to all mankind. On the contrary, finding themselves under fire, they are roughly swearing, give short and clear orders, and the tasks explain briefly, without any playfulness. There are no Hollywood artisans that build supermen; All those around are just soldiers in the war, and this only emphasizes the drama of the situation, allows you to completely plunge into action.
Thanks to these and hundreds of other little things that happen on the screen, you really believe. Battlefield 3 makes you feel like a real fighter in the war, and not a participant in a theatrical performance based on. At the same time, DICE is mercilessly cut out of the repertoire all the most dreary, without which not a single combat clash is complete. Battlefield 3 does not have to crawl to a position for hours and die in a clean field from a single sniper bullet. It is not necessary to fire from the trench for a long time, and the clearance of the road takes five minutes from force. But the left in the game is more than enough, so that in the end we get not just the most reliable (for this it is worth contacting Operation Flashpoint ), but also the most cinematic military chronicle.
[[Bullet]] Partian continues to hide behind a long -destroyed shelter. Such moments – like a lot of cold water, instantly stop trusting what is happening.
At the same time, the developers manage to accommodate almost the entire standard Hollywood program into it – the business and flight on the fighter is not limited. For a relatively short plot campaign, we will be given to shoot from the bomber for ground targets, they will force us to fulfill a sniper mission, stage a light but fascinating stealth for us, organize a dozen hand -to -hand ones and ask to cover an unarmed partner dragging on the shoulders of the tongue.
I said: “Gorbaty!"
All game episodes are connected by a through plot. The protagonist – the sergeant of the Marine Corps Henry Blackburn – during interrogation (a grin addressed Black Ops ) recalls recent events. The main scene is the Middle East, but at some point we will be asked to run through the streets of Paris and New York. There are no unexpected turns and non -standard moves here. The plot only justifies the sequence of missions, but there are hardly many people who will call it intriguing or at least fascinating. To be honest, we would not be very upset, if there were no plot at all – within the framework of the game concept, a series of unrelated tasks in different parts of the world, with different purposes and different heroes would look quite appropriate.
The plot is sometimes played with Battlefield 3 A cruel joke. In an effort to catch up with Sassens, Dice in some places ex lending a stick and fall into a frank Hollywood region. When Russian Dmitry “Dima” Mayakovsky appears on the stage, discussing morality with a characteristic immigrant accent (in the localized version, the emphasis and frankly crooked replicas, thank God, corrected the game, begins to crack at the seams, and during the final fight on Times Square and completely spreads to pieces. Fortunately, this happens only two to three times in the whole campaign.
[[Bullet]] In Battlefield 3, Russians tried to show, let’s say, adequately. But sometimes they still look like strange, near -thawed guys, capable of destroying an entire city alone.
The rest of the time, only small flaws and shortcomings spoil the impression. For example, the developers said long before the release that in single mission, the destructibility will greatly limit. But then no one could have imagined that there would not be a single task in Battlefield 3, in which it would be necessary to destroy the building. Yes, what is the building – here it is quite possible to play without destroying anything at all, according to the script it is completely not required. If you still deal with the destruction of everything and everything, then interesting things are suddenly found out. The same objects on the same missions easily explode and fly into pieces, on others – in them you can discharge all the ammunition, but do not achieve anything.
Judging by this, Dice left destruction within the framework of a narrow spatial corridor, in which, in their opinion, the player should remain. In this corridor, gas tanks are detonated, the headlights beat, realistic holes are formed in the fences, the boards are scattered into small chips, and enemies can not be smoked due to walls, but with grenades with grenades along with brickwork. But it is worth taking a step left or right – and the game on the level of interactivity rolls out five years ago. I must admit that we don’t remember the last time we saw a shooter in which glass does not hit the cars, the bulbs cannot be extinguished with a shot, and a light plasterboard septum can withstand a direct hit from RPGs. Against the background of graphics, which, with maximum settings on the head, is ahead of everything that the rest of the games showed up to this point, such things cause a real rack.
In addition, it turned out that Dice is completely unable to work with checkpoints. Control points are rarely arranged and often completely inappropriate. It would seem a trifle. But the need to recall at a high level of complexity a ten-minute episode fifteen to twenty times at some point begins to enrage. After all, there are many points inside each such episode where the autosasurization point should be set.
[[Bullet]] not a single game that can compete with BF3 according to the level of graphics, now it simply does not exist. And there is a suspicion, for another six months or a year.
Finally, in Battlefield 3 there are missions on which the scripts are disguised so ineptly that it remains only to be a wonder. Smart, competently acting opponents at some point may not notice you at all, because according to the scenario you should have been on the other side. Or a whole detachment, instead of hiding or at least lay down, will stand and wait under cross enemy fire Patrick Spins Casino when you come closer and thereby activate the trigger. I do not take it to describe on paper, which should be in the heads of those who left such flaws in the game, the main feature of which is the reliability.
But all blots and absurdities are not enough to shake the gameplay. Ninety percent of the Battlefield 3 campaign is a fascinating and extremely realistic chronicle, which we became a participant in. Not a Hollywood action movie, but a documentary about the war. And the correct answers to the eternal question of the players, which is better, the new Call of Duty or Battlefield 3, still two. Such – Modern Warfare 3 is better. And this is – Battlefield 3 is better. Because the confrontation of these two militar-shutters is still akin to the battle of the whale with an elephant. It seems to be both hefty, but one in the water, and the second on land. One about the movie, and the other about the real.
Reigracy:
Cool plot:
Originality:
Easy to master:
Gameplay:
8
Graphics:
10
Sound and music:
9
Interface and management:
9
Waited?
For fans of BF-the best militar-player of our time. For fans COD-the second most important militar-player of our time. For everyone else-just one of the two best militar-shutters.
Mania rating: 8.5
"Great"
Battlefield 3:
Happiness is a Warm Gun – Yes it is
If in the single -user campaign DICE, whoever says what, practically do not intersect with Call of Duty, then in a multiplayer where the competition between the two series was always minimal, a conflict suddenly occurred.
The basis of the multi -user regime Battlefield has always been large cards, shootings at distant and medium distances, the ability to play in detachments, management of various land and air equipment. Here it was possible to run somewhere with his associates for several minutes, then in half a minute to shoot the enemy from the hill and go on a long path to the next point. Skiing adversity most often came out stupid and chaotic. The weapon was made so that it did not allow you to clearly feel the hit on the target, the mechanic of movement did not allow to write out pirouettes next to the enemy. It seemed that the developers themselves really did not know how to make the players fight close – they gave them or took the opportunity to shoot in the jump, then blocked the ability to lie.
Zhivchik and Laugh
COD multiplayer, on the contrary, was always more dynamic, tactics dominated the strategy, and many fights decided precisely at the near distance. It was easier and more interesting to get to the enemy and put his turn point -blank than to kiss hundreds of meters. The game space in COD was built respectively. Where in BF the wide open spaces, here are narrow passages, boxes, trenches, buildings, or even the battle inside the buildings. Even sniper shootouts started from a distance of one hundred or two meters, but not in three hundred and five hundred.
[[Bullet]] Thanks to almost complete destruction in the game, such funny incidents sometimes happen. Palma fell on Abrams and rides with it. When the tank freezes, it is extremely difficult to notice it from the side – the foliage masks.
Battlefield 3 Dice decided to catch two birds with one stone at once. Preserving the scale of maps and a strategic component, they added to each level a lot of areas where the enemy has to face nose to nose. This is a pile of containers, and at home, and just rocks with narrow crevices. The most important thing is that the developers have corrected the shooting and management mechanics. Now it is convenient and pleasant to fire at a close distance, and not always you need to fall to the ground for this. The authors hint easily and elegantly – look, we have retained the former scale of the BF, but now we can play the same way as in COD.
The old horse will not spoil the furrow
In all other respects, we have the good old Battlefield 2, rebuilt by modern standards. Additional modes, an upgrade system and pumping each class individually migrated directly from Bad Company. Equipment management has a little complicated and made more realistic. Added a lot of small details and innovations, but the general mood, the spirit of the game – remained the same.
A separate line is the question with destruction. Almost everything can really be smashing in the multiplayer – from a small fence to a huge building. Unless they are not allowed to crush the rocks, but key objects remain unchanged. But it is important, in our opinion, another. There was practically no destruction in Battlefield 2 (the ability to blow up the fence in a strictly defined place – not counting). In Bad Company 2, almost everything could be blown up, but there was not always such a need. Yes, to smoke the enemy from the building, I often had to trim it with the ground. But only. Battlefield 3 appeared strategic destruction. Let us explain what this means, on a simple example.
[[Bullet]] even at the smallest levels dice puts the technique. On narrow streets it is especially vulnerable.
In BF2, you knew exactly where the hole is located in the fence (wall/pipe/something else), and fled to it. The enemy also knew where the hole was, and he was waiting for you from the other side – the place of the fight was predetermined. In Bad Company 2, the obstacle could be destroyed and crawled in an unexpected place for the enemy. Here are just the barracks themselves, which would give you an advantage in the attack, there was little. BF3 levels are arranged so that you are literally forced to constantly destroy something, and the defending side to change tactics depending on where and what you blew up this time. This is a completely new sensation, which before that was not in any other network shooter. Small, local breakthrough, milestone in the development of the genre, if you want. For this new way of interacting with space, which is difficult to describe in words, but easily feel, being in the game, the developers want to applaud.
Breeding
Nevertheless, the multiplayer BF3 is evolution, not a revolution. We have no doubt that the game came seriously and for a long time, at least before the release of Battlefield 4, but at the start of its fate was not easy. For so many years, DICE has not learned how to reinstall their games to brilliance. The output of each new project turns into a protracted paid beta test. BF3 is no exception. Numerous departures, connections, lags, hanging, errors are just a small list of what players encountered.
[[Bullet]] Having spent a decent time, you can completely clear the space around the flag. No one can approach the capture distance unnoticed.
After a week, some of the problems were resolved, but we are almost sure that in a month there will be enough bugs. Knowing Dice, it can be assumed that they finally polish the game only to the second or third large patch. In the meantime – how lucky. Some from the very start play without problems, and some erupt curses on the forums.
Astrologer, dog handler, Batllog
Battlelog, which everyone was so afraid, turned out to be a very comfortable thing. If desired, here you can collect detailed statistics about the matches played, see the effectiveness of the game, compare it with how other participants played. For a single player, this may not be so much good. But for the participants of the Battlelog clans is indispensable. Here you can always see which of the colleagues, on which card and how effectively I fought lately. How much time he spent in the game and in general – is it worth it to keep it in the clan further or easier to find a comrade dingling.
The only inconvenience is that Battlelog works in a browser, a single -user campaign is launched through it, which means that you need to connect to the Internet for the game. On the other hand, while loading the level, you can safely read the news or study statistics.
It's a small thing – wait until DICE will fix everything that does not work in the game and get rid of a bunch of bugs. After that, it will be possible to relax and calmly play one of the best militar-multiplayers. In principle, no one bothers to do it right now, but there is no guarantee that you will not join the army of dissatisfied players who are still tormenting the official forum of the game.
Battlefield 3 vs. Video cards
At the beginning of this year, we in the "Iron Workshop" complained that there was nothing to download new generations of video cards. If five years ago, the developers of games loved to boast of the number of training grounds in the frame and promised to learn how to grow grass in real time, then a year ago everyone came to some general graphics standard. As a result, even new games without brakes went on entry -level systems, and there was no point in buying expensive boards.
There are a lot of explanations for this. Someone believes that a rapidly obsolete console iron is guilty of everything, under which the lion's share of the games is made. Someone is closer to the version that the developers do not want to invest in new engines and the work of modeliers and programmers. Another version – the companies realized that the point is not in the schedule, it is better to focus not on a beautiful picture, but on a verified gameplay.
Not only many players complained about the schedule, but also the manufacturers of video cards, who gathered in the spirit this year and forced Igrodelov to tighten the quality of the picture.
The first serious test for computers was Rage , Designed on the engine ID Tech 5 Engine. The widespread use of high resolution textures and effects DirectX 11 unpleasantly affected performance and should have push users to buy more powerful video cards. Alas, it did not work out.
Further to computers came Batman Arkham City. The game is markedly different from the console version – it added in the number of landfills, acquired a reliable physical model and many effects that were absent on consoles. Well, now I settled on our test stand Battlefield 3 with the highest detail of objects, support for physics and dynamic light sources.
To make an upgrade for the sake of Rage-the lesson is strange, Arkham City is generally good on medium systems, but Battlefield 3 is the game for which it is really worth it to prompting a computer. To show why you will give your bloody, we have collected three systems different in power and compared their capabilities.
As a reference computer on a test stand hit Meijin Core i7-980x with an installed six-core processor, 6 GB of RAM DDR3-1333 MHz and a top video card MSI N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC , dispersed from 778 to 800 MHz.
The alternative for him was our test stand with a similar configuration, but simpler video cards. First, we fished out from stocks popular in budget computers GeForce 8800 GT. And then put a fee recommended for Battlefield 3 GeForce GTX 560 Ti.
The testing method has chosen a simple. Installed Fraps , We got the stable 40 FPS from each video card and shot screenshots at the resulting settings. See the results in the pictures.
Separately, it is worth telling about Battlefield 3 in 3D Stereo. To look at the game in volume, we specially went to Nvidia and appreciated the early build on 3D Vision 2. It looks impressive: in the game there are practically no fake "texture" objects that come out to the forefront. True, to see all this beauty, you will need a powerful computer like our reference Meijin Core i7-980, since the load in stereo is serious.
GeForce 8800 GT
The GEFORCE 8800 GT maximum that we managed to get from Battlefield 3 is stable work on low settings. The difference in the schedule compared to the reference system is visible to the naked eye. Firstly, the details of the environment are very different. Take a look at home (1), they lost almost all balconies and air conditioners. The flag (2) that looks more like a broken sheet of plywood looks sad and fluttering in the wind. Got the shadows. On GeForce 8800 GT, they fall apart for a pixel set (3). It is better not to remember dynamic lighting on weak cards at all. With an increase in the distance, the light from the bulbs practically does not change (4).
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
With GeForce GTX 560 Ti, the game was stable at high settings. To the honor of the developers, I must say that there is a difference in comparison with the capabilities of the top -end GeForce GTX 580. Differences mainly relate to work with light, shadow and textures. The screenshot clearly shows that the shadows of the shadows are noticeably larger in the “ultra” settings, and their details are higher (1). Plus, work with light is visible. New sources appear (2), light boundaries are smoothed out. And, of course, the most important thing – the power of the GeForce GTX 580 is enough to include smoothing, which removes a characteristic ladder along the edges of objects (3).