My thoughts on the Battlefield 3 beta (also it's my birthday).

So, as you may or mat not know, recently the Battlefield 3 demo was put up for download on various platforms. And since I was at home for my birthday (more on that later), I decided to download it and play it between playing Shadows of the Damned (more on that in another blog post). Anyway, I feel like I should point out that I played the PS3 version (because my PC can't handle modern games, and I don't pay for Xbox Live), and that my only experience with Battlefield games prior to this was the demo for Bad Company 1. So clearly I am an expert on all things Battlefield (not really).

Presentation

A lot of the attention that BF3 has come as a result of the game's graphics. Now, obviously the multiplayer component of the console version of the game isn't going to look as good as the single player component of the PC version, but the game still looked pretty good. Not mind blowing-ly good, or even as good as various PS3 exclusives that I can think of (the Uncharted 3 beta comes to mind, so far as betas are concerned). Conversely though, the map was huge. I don't know how it compares to the maps of previous BF games, but it seemed pretty big to me anyway. Almost too big for the number of players (but that's likely a result of the lower player count from the PC version). But the down-time between meeting other players was a little refreshing in comparison to smaller, more focused games like Blops. The framerate seemed pretty solid, and it didn't seem laggy. The interface was nice, but I couldn't find anything in the beta that showed the controls, so it took me a while to figure out how to do stuff like drop med-kits. And there's no way to mute other players, which is unfortunate when the only person talking is some 12 year old jabroni who curses every time he dies. For all I know there may be some way to mute everyone on a system-wide level, but having to resort to that isn't a great solution. Unless you can mute people, and the game just did not convey that to me in a clear way (which is also a bad thing).

Gameplay

Have you played a first person shooter before? How about one set in modern day? Well, then you have a good idea about how this game plays. You aim down the sights, and you shoot people. Now there's obviously a lot more depth than that, what with squads, classes, and objectives to complete, but you've played a game like this before. And that's both a good and a bad thing. Even though I had almost zero experience with BF games, and did not know what the controls were for the game, I was still able to figure out the basics within seconds. conversely, there wasn't really a whole lot to separate it from other modern day FPS games. It just kinda felt like a slower paced Call of Duty. I found it relatively fun, but not incredibly fun. Especially since the game is a little buggy. Occasionally (and with no apparent reason) some things like aiming down the sights or sprinting just won't work...Until I do a melee attack. Then those abilities start working again. But, it's a beta. It's not a finished version of the game. On the other hand, this game is coming out within this month. Even if this version is a few weeks old, the fact that bugs like that are in the game this close to release might be something to worry about. The game is far from unplayable, and these bugs will likely be ironed out before release, but it still seems odd to me.

Anyway, I may have sounded critical there, but overall I enjoyed the beta. The first couple of matches I played were really fun, but after that the one match and the one game type got kinda old. Again, it's a beta, so it's limited in scope. It was enough to make me go from having almost zero interest in BF3 to be moderately interested in it.

And also it's my birthday today. How old am I? Well, I feel like putting some sort of elaborate riddle here about it would be funny, but I can't think of anything. So I'll just come out and tell you. I'm 21 today.

And no, I did not go out drinking, and I don't plan on it any time soon. I don't even drink caffeinated beverages, let alone alcoholic. I'll probably drink a beer eventually just so I can say I tried one. Not any time soon though.

My birthday weekend was pretty uneventful. I played and beat Shadows of the Damned. I think I'll write up a full-on review for it soon, but until then, I'll just say that I liked it a lot. And of course I played a bunch of the Battlefield 3 beta, then I watched Ancient Aliens of The History Channel (because I'm one of those people who thinks the pyramids and other ancient things were built with alien assistance, but that's a blog for another day). And then I ate some cake/ice cream/nachos. Oven-baked nachos covered in sprinkle-y cheese and a bowl of melted cheese (I want to say over-melted cheese). Nothing too out of the ordinary, and no special birthday presents (though I think my dad might get me Rage, which is out Tuesday, for my birthday). It was fun though.

Nothing else worth mentioning. I am super pumped for Rage, but I probably won't get a chance to play it for several weeks because of me being at college and everything. My friend and I have decided that after playing through Deadly Premonition and Alpha Protocol together, now that Gears 3 is out, we're going to play through Gears 2 (which he did not play "back in the day"), and then Gears 3. You know, to balance out what types of games we play (two story focused games with mediocre/bad gameplay, and now two games with less focus on story, but great gameplay (and co-op)). That should be fun, assuming we ever get a chance to play it, since we're both in college with classes and everything.

So, expect something about Shadows of the Damned from me within the next few days, and possibly something about the tale of a missing Ronald McDonald bench. But that story has not finished unfurling in real life, so that may wait a while.

Anyway, anyone else out there play the BF3 beta? Or Shadows of the Damned? Or sit on a Ronald McDonald bench?