GDC 2011 - Battlefield 3 First Impressions – Raising the Bar

102
Dan Webb

Battlefield 3 is all about "full blockbuster value," said DICE's General Manager, Karl Magnus Troedsson, as he prepared to show off Battlefield 3's single-player to a packed club in downtown San Francisco last night. They did it in 2005 with Battlefield 2 and they're aiming to do it again in 2011, offering robust single-player, co-op and multiplayer modes for all to revel in.

With more than 3 years development under their wings already, Patrick Bach, BF3's Executive Producer took to the stage to show off the PC version of the game, noting that the PC is the lead platform. Before the presentation kicked off though, the focus shifted onto DICE's pride and joy, the second iteration of the Frostbite engine. Aptly named, Frostbite 2.0.

With improved animations, using the same EA tech - ANT - that can be found in recent FIFA iterations, Frostbite 2.0 looks to be establishing itself as one of leading engines in the industry. The second iteration not only sees improvements in micro and macro destruction, but in its audio and its scale. Expect "bigger landscapes, bigger cities, but also going indoors," exclaims Bach. That's enough about the tools of the game though, let's focus on the gameplay, which I'd like to remind you once again, was on PC.

The year is 2014. The place, the Iraqi and Iranian border. Thanks to constant pressure from the local insurgents, the PLA, the area is extremely hostile and Marines are there to offer stability to the region. The USMC’s job in this  mission? To head into the dangerous meat market district and find the whereabouts of Jackson's squad who went missing while investigating a potential chemical weapons factory. We pick things up with a squad of 5 marines in the back of an APC, armed to the teeth with military-grade weapons and chatting as if it was just another Friday night in their local watering hole.

The squad steps out the APC onto a dusty downtown street that’s swarming with locals as they stew in their cars in a traditional traffic jam. As the sun shines down on the troops, the squad picks up pace, passing off the main street into a hauntingly quiet and deserted alleyway. After kicking their way through a metal door, it’s not long before a rabid dog, jumping up at a nearby chain-link fence, breaks the silence as he growls and barks at the visitors. The squad, unaffected by the distractions on the way to their objective, enter another building as a tremor from a nearby fault line rumbles through the city, this time knocking out the lights as the sun shines through a solitary set of windows.

As the crew step out into another desolate alleyway, the troops hang back and wait for a PLA jeep to pass. When it’s passed, the troop spring to life and sprint across the road as the squad leader gesticulates with his right hand in the air for them to run to cover. Once across, the squad open a door and continue to pass through a dimly lit series of rooms until they’re stood in a garage. The deft silence was broken as the troops passed out into a parking lot as a sniper manages to pick off one of Bach’s squad and then all hell breaks loose.

First things first, Bach dragged the downed soldier from the parking lot into the nearby, unclear whether it was a fatal wound or not, before proceeding out into the parking lot and engaging in an intense firefight. Popping out of cover, Bach begins to whittle down the numbers, chipping away at the scenery behind them with every missed shot. After a couple of minutes, the madness passes and the squad regains its composure. “I’m up, I’m up, I’m fucked up but I’m up,” remarks one of the troop, moments before an RPG-armed PLA insurgent comes into sight, taking out a nearby car that cause Bach’s character to get thrown backwards.

Getting to his feet and stumbling to cover, Bach’s able to take out the RPG-armed insurgent, which in turn triggers another wave of foes to come flooding around the corner. Too distracted by the rest of the squad, Bach continues to pick them off without really breaking a sweat. In the adjacent apartment block, another soldier comes out and attempts to gain a foothold on the situation by taking up the high ground. The quick thinking Bach though is able to ping a grenade behind where the insurgent appeared, with the resulting explosion creating a hole and a cloud of dust where he once stood. “Fall back!”… “Cease fire!” shouted the squad leader, as the squad return from whence they came.

Skip forward five minutes and the gameplay picks up on the roof of a nearby building. “Dude! That’s a fucking 50!” one of them screams as sniper fire pings past the squad. The constant rain of sniper fire causes the squad to stick to cover, watching as stray bullets destroys the walls at the edge of the roof, decimates plant pots and even pierces a nearby pipe, causing steam to bellow out of the resulting hole. Wow, is the word you’re looking for.

The sniper fire causes the team to enter a prone position, as they crawl to safety to get a visual on the pesky sniper, who happens to be stood in the window of a hotel over the way. With shrapnel and chunks of the wall covering the soldiers as they lie, another one rolls over a rocket launcher so Bach can save the team from an early exit. In the downtime of sniper fire, the squad rises to offer suppressing fire as Bach pings a rocket at the general direction of the hotel. The resulting explosion was spectacular, not just because it did its job and took down the sniper, but because of the destruction it caused. Not only did the explosion leave one hell of a crater in the hotel’s exterior, but the smoke and fire that poured out and 50ft neon hotel sign that dangled from its bracket was an incredible sight to behold. Holy frock is the phrase you’re looking for.

Skip forward again and we pick things up with the squad running through a labyrinth of tunnels, following a wire into a vent and into a small storage room. As Bach unplugs the cable from a transceiver, he turns round only to get assaulted by an insurgent that guarded the post. What proceeds is a mouse button press QTE scene to overpower the guard, making quick work of him with a brutal combo and takedown. From there the squad passes through a series of tunnels, with lights flickering demonstrating the impressive light capabilities of the Frostbite 2.0 engine, and the crew move back out onto the street.

From out of the frying pan and into the fire, the squad waltzes into another intense battle on the mean streets of the downtown area. With choppers flying overhead, the crew proceed to push back the PLA, picking off various enemy combatants who took the high ground on an overhead walkway. Opting to take the high ground from them, Bach and co. continue to whittle down the numbers as they pour in from every angle. As they swarm underneath, Bach continues to clear the LZ as a chopper flies in and assists the squad. From there, Bach’s ordered to fall back and man the 50 cal on the back of a jeep back down the road from where they came. After blowing up a few cars and sending the swarming insurgents to an early grave, the unthinkable happens as an earthquake ripples through the downtown area. Watching the street crack and breakaway was truly a stunning sight, but it’s nothing compared to how the scene and the demo ends… and that’s with the earthquake causing a building to collapse, right on top of our brave Marine squad. The smoke and rubble that poured out of every facet of the tumbling building… well, holy fucksticks is the phrase you’re most definitely looking for.

For PC players it's easy to get carried away with what we saw, after all it was pretty spectacular; from a console perspective though, at this time we're going to try and remain grounded... trust us though, that's a big ask. If the console version can be half as good as what we saw last night, Battlefield 3 is looking likely to deliver and raise the bar for shooters for years to come. With falling buildings, impressive innovations with regards to the Frostbite engine – especially destructibility - intense firefights and even frickin’ earthquakes, Battlefield 3 is surely about to cause a stir in the shooter genre this year.

Battlefield 3 is scheduled for a fall 2011 release. For a sample of what we saw, check out the recent gameplay trailer that DICE released last night.

Comments
102
  • This looks solid. Sold for me.
  • I'm still wet from watching the trailer.... this article did not help my current situation.
  • Ye gods how I've missed old Battlefield. I might just pick this up on the PC for when none of my 360 friends are around.
  • Haha @ #2 thats funny Seriously, whenever this comes out cannot be soon enough
  • I saw a 3 minute preview on Yahoo news, this game looks & sounds Amazing, Call of Duty beware!
  • Clench your jaw activision, I feel a K.O. punch coming.
  • Yeah Call of duty is going to have to Bring something good out this Nov if not Battlefield wins lol. Im getting this game no doubt lol
  • Damn just from reading this and watching the gameplay video I am so fucking sold on this game already!
  • I'm not big on COD games nor Battlefield, more of one of those "Halo people", and I can admit that the gameplay I've seen for this game really impresses me. Might actually pick this one up!
  • is the gameplay heavy? dunno what i mean my self, but i mean heavy like BFBC2 to what cod feels like? as cod feels light with the running and movement! know what i mean?
  • Well, how about them apples, eh? The game looks sweet. Hope it's half as sweet on the 360!
  • Can't wait hope it destroys CoD. the only way in the world that I would buy MW3 this year is if they finally made a new engine for CoD. But anyway Dice and BF for the Win
  • Day one buy for 360 and PC for me!
  • @10 - I know exactly what you mean. Not as easy flowing movement like CoD. Regardless, I still love this game.
  • @ 5 and 12. I would say to hold your breath on that because people thought like that with MoH while we know what happened with that. @ 6. Activision isn't afraid because the next CoD will out sell this. @ 10. B3 feels and sounds like another CoD while that can be a good or bad thing.
  • good cant wait for this game its gonna kick cods ass the campaign is what i am waiting for see how battlefields first campaign go beside BFBC
  • Any reason why there's no dedicated Battlefield 3 forum here and ps3trophies.org had one for a while?
  • There's quite a few games scheduled to release this fall that I would gladly buy in front of BF3, but... I imagine I will eventually get this. Looks good so far.
  • @ 16. Thats your own Opinion while thats not a Fact. @ 17. It hasn't been finished yet while you won't see the trophy/acheivement list or Forums until 1 or 2 months before the release of the game.
  • People need to stop calling this a cod killer, who really wants CoD players on battlefield?
  • "PC is lead platform" thank god!!!
  • @19 I'm talking about a dedicated Battlefield 3 forum in the "Upcoming Games" section which sister site ps3trophies.org had it for weeks in their "Upcoming Games" section.
  • @20. No kidding
  • @15/19 First of all i can tell your a cod fanboy so please vacate the area, not your place to be. Second don't ever compare Battlefield to a shooter thats nothing close to what it is. And thirdly considering the fact that EA is no longer the money grubby company that another is *cough cough* Activision *cough cough* and they actually care about the series development, an giving the community what they want. And not just to release the next show pony a bunch of twelve year olds throw profanity at while they beat it with a stick made of money. I really wouldn't be surprised if it did stomp call of duty.
  • @19 Btw, you DO know there's a forum section called "Upcoming Games" where most games in there do not have an Achievements list released, right?
  • @20 they play cod nowadays like its halo so they might as well go there.
  • @ 22 and 25. I'm sorry if I offended you while I was just trying to help you. Its sad that you need to be an ass to someone that was just tryin to help you. @ 24 and 26. I'm no CoD fanboy while I was just commenting on the actual fanboys. CoD and Battlfield are similar FPSs espcially with the Class Customization in BC and perks in BC2. EA is greedy just like any other company especially with the whole VIP pass. I see you forget that EA has made a lot of their major titles with a yearly installment and Battlefield has been a yearly installment since Bad Company. Activision is just another company as well while its not their fault that they know their niche and using it to their advantage. Lots of people use profanity in Online games even if you're an Adult or a Kid. You act like nobody swears in Battfield while that has happened since the old PC days. I'm just speaking the Truth while B3 isn't going to beat CoD especially when MW2 and Black Ops broke the previous sale records for video games. You do know that a lot people play multiple FPSs while you don't know that since you're a Battlefield fanboy.
  • All this talk about the PC version is making me quite on edge, im wondering will the console version live up to the hype of the pc version? Im really looking forward to this game but some part of me doesn't want to get excited as i got a feeling the console version wont be anywhere near as good... Also, i hope it doesn't become like Medal of Honor i hated that game..
  • @27 If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all...comment on the vid and then get on with your dull life. Definitely getting this game, just have to decide between the PC or xbox.
  • @ 27. I'm just commenting on people that commented on me while there's nothing Wrong with that and I'm not saying anything bad about people anyways. People should just comment on the video while we know that people will say things that aren't related to the Topic. If you want the version that isn't downgraded then go PC. If you want the version that has more of your friend playing then go with the crowd that has most of your friends.
  • I meant @ 29 not 27.
  • Actually.... no one I know is actually sold on the next COD. So many of my friends (including me) were extremely disappointed in black ops... then I showed them bad company 2... now they want this game.
  • i agree with what webb says in the article "holy fucksticks" this is going to be a kick in the head for the COD franchise and a benchmark in the FPS genre
  • The difference between the CoD and the BF series is that one makes a rehash on a yearly basis without anything new in it, while the latter improves and delivers a better experience with a new engine at every sequel. BF > CoD.
  • Shaping up to be a fantastic game well worth my $60...and am willing to throw out more for a special edition. I'd also like to say that if even one of those pictures/screenshots are from in game and not cutscene, that's fucking amazing on levels I cannot begin to fathom.
  • I love my xbox but I may need to upgrade the old PC when this one comes around.
  • What happened to the days when people could like more the one game? I already know as of now I'll be pre-ordering this and most likely the next CoD title as well. I game on more then one console, and I don't have any bias towards anything. Why is that so wrong today?
  • its that people are sick of shitty games getting more hype than they deserve.
  • God damn Webb, you have made me so jealous, as if you've even been hands on with this! Bleh!!
  • @35 Look at the teaser trailer released :)
  • Damn! I have high expectations now!! Day 1 buy, of course!
  • So happy that I just spent as much as I did on my new PC; now I can play this on all platforms if need be! And by that, I mean if I ever wanna use my PS3 for more than just letting my mother watch DVDs. xD
  • This just sounds better and better as the weeks go by. Looks like the sort of game I've been waiting for. Pre-order is imminent.
  • I doubt this will kill CoD. Although Battlefield is a better game, it takes skill which is why more people prefer CoD.
  • I think Blue Protoss is Bobby Kotick, hence the dickriding Activision and douchebaggery to everyone who says otherwise
  • hope it looks that good on the 360 ^_^
  • #27 He is talking about a dedicated section in the forum. There are many "upcoming games", even ones that haven't been announced yet, that have their own section in the "TBA 2011 and Beyond" part of the forum. It's funny how you completely avoided the question in #25 and actually were no help whatsoever. People saying this will kill CoD is ignorant, sales talk people and CoD will outsell everything. Battlefield will probably be the much better game though. Sadly, after the shoddy Medal of Honor, I now need to wait for my Battlefield 3 BETA access to get excited for this. Even then I need some serious convincing, I enjoyed the MoH BETA but the MP in the full game was all a bit of a mess. On top of that, EA reset my EA account back in May time after I asked them why I wasn't getting my veterans M1 Garand, resulting in me losing all my progress in games linked to my gamertag. Bad Company 2 and 1943. That still makes me angry inside and makes me think twice before purchasing another EA FPS.
  • Oh crap, another game I need to budget for this year....but this looks too good to pass up. I'm already broke and it isn't even April yet.
  • 1day buy - cod killer !!!!
  • No one plays Battlefield for the single player
  • @50 I do Also on topic, this looks pretty amazing
  • Looks good. Sorta reminds me of the movie Black Hawk Down. Next thing you know, yer running about with a death guy (no offence intended) trying to shoot the ummmm... I'll definitly picking this up (Well at least it will be better than that shitty annual cod, wait is that MW3 over the hill, with new xperiences. Nah mate, thats just anothr cod :P Oh. Lol... shit, i talk too much ;)
  • @ 45. I'm not Kotick while I do know how to run a Business and that you're a Blind Fanboy. @ 47. I wonder why EA started resetting accounts for no reason. 3 of my friends decided to play BC2 again and when they loged on everything was deleted except some of their Vietnam stuff. It sounds like EA needs to fix their servers or the VIP pass is broken. @ 49. Thats what people said about MoH while that didn't happen. @ 50. People do that with a lot of the Online games while thats a waste of money when you don't play the Single player.
  • I doubt this is going to affect CoD sales as it is aimed at different audience (with it's destrucions and vehiculat combat). It's been like that since they came up with BF and CoD.... OT: I for one can not wait! I will defo pick this up next year as I will be busy with other releases late this year^^
  • @ 50: I buy Battlefield games specifically for the single player. =/
  • One of these days, an article will be published on a gaming website without the comments section erupting into for-and-against Call of Duty vitriol, and a pig will be seen flying high in the sky.
  • @24 When did i want an online pass? OT: Game looks great i`ll give it a try for sure.
  • @ every CoD hater out there...I'm not like everyone else, I rather enjoy both series. In fact I love both series. I started with CoD and that it was the cat's ass! Then I tried BC 1 and thought it was clunky in gameplay (I'm not tech savvy) but it took some getting used to compared to CoD. Then I played BC 2 and found it much better than the first game, but I wouldn't say it kicked MW 2's ass. All I'm saying is both have their great points as well as flaws. I'm also not huge on MP however I am currently going through BC 2 MP as I am addicted to achievements in general (OCD much). B3 looks great and I'll probably pick it up. That being said I'll keep buying CoD games because one: I need to see how the story concludes, I mean who doesn't? And two: they're just plain fun, that's because I could give a shit about graphics or sound or what fucking engine it's running on. These games feed off of each other, so when one does better, the other strives for even better, i.e. the new enging for B3. Why compare both stories as well? Do you want all games to have the same story line? Give me a break...chances are half of you will probably have your parents buy the game for you anyways. At some point both have to end though, how many games can you have in the same series...I guarantee BC will have a 3rd game and then a Battlefield 4 or something... So if you don't like CoD stop fucking whining about it and comment on the game the articles relates to itself. Both are guaranteed to do well in sales, I signed up to this website for more info on all sorts of games and get some intelligent insight on people's thoughts of upcoming games, not a bashing of games that consistently sell millions upon millions of copies. They're obviously doing something right. Grow up you fucking babies!
  • I also can't help but notice some CoD bashers on here actually have some Black Ops pics on their gamer profile...here's looking at you @6 and @24.
  • @59 cause when you go to my profile it changes to what it really is.....Saren O.O
  • @59 Yup you make a good point. I actually realy enjoyed every single COD game ive played. And the dude in my picture was THE MAN in the missions. Anyway, I feel that this engine will give COD lots of competition. On the other hand, I also think that majority of COD players dont read forums or care about the engine, or know about so many issues in COD that they will continue to buy it regardless.
  • MW3 and MF3.. Its gonna be a good year.
  • @ 34 B.f. is better then cod. and to all the stupid cod fanboys shut up already. cod died after mw2 for me. the was terrible and im not a fanboy for any series besides maybe halo but online for the story except reach witch honestly disappointed me. but i play gears i play battlefield i've m.h. i've played alot of shooter both arcade and retail. but cod died with mw2 the games campaign was terrible cause it just jumped and in the ned every just died execpt for soap and mctavis and they just fly like theres no problem wtf. really the campaign was like micheal bay movie that was directed a drunken idiot with no skill. second the multiplayer is way to noob friendly and the servers aren't monitored so modding and lag switching are able to go unchecked online i quit when i was online a lvl. 30 and had the game for only 3 weeks cause i said screw it and traded it for fall out 3 goty. and thats another reason battlefield is a great game they monitor there servers so lag switching is near to impossible and the online time Ive ever had lag cause i was playing with people from Aus. and modding has has stopped along time ago there was a long time ago when bc2 first came out people had mods that allowed to snipe with the pistol but thats all but stopped.. but anyways back on topic i cant wait for this game already preordered it. graphics look amazing so far this and crysis 2 and gears 3 are looking to be great games i just hope home front and spec ops: the line well be good too.
  • WOW, this forum has become a pissing contest, "COD is better", "BF is better", they are 2 totally different games people as far as gameplay goes, and multiplayer. It just boils down to what you are into. I like the insanely huge maps of the BF multiplayer, but I also enjoy the campaign of the COD seris better. The server for COD have always been shit as far as hackers and modders go. Have never seen a hacked game on the BF games, Not on the console anyways
  • Sold BF:BC yesterday after I put my game in and checked my stats, ALL MY GODDAMN stats were reset....including rank, equipment, guns, etc. Thanks DICE, I think I'll wait on your "game" until all your shitty bugs are ironed out.
  • @ 64. Its sad that people can't enough Battlefield and CoD because both of them are good franchise. I guess some people can't afford both of them.
  • then to, I guess most of you whom hate BF, probly suck at it, same with COD, most haters prolly suck at it to
  • from watching the trailer and reading articles on it, its clear to me that ea/battlefield franchise are going in the right direction, where as CoD is just going over old ground trying to get people to buy into the same repetitive shite. cod4 and waw were, sorry are excellent but ive been let down by the last two and wont be buying another, until they step up!
  • omg im so excited
  • This one looks awsome.. the 2nd was awsome on pc.. i had many hours of fun on that one and im sure i will on this one.. CANT WAIT!!
  • battlefield has been around for a while now, its only getting better
  • @ 71. If CoD is going the Wrong direction then Battlfield is going the Wrong direction as well because you can only do a certain amount of War and Conspiracy stories. Every game that comes out is repetitive especially with the AAA titles. It seems that you shouldn't be a single game because all of them are repetitive especially with Online play.
  • I can't wait for this to come out
  • This looks amazing sooooo can`t wait for it to be released
  • @unwillingshadow You're compensating for something and taking the internet too seriously. Really bad for your health.
  • Looking forward to getting away from COD. It's been getting old.
  • This will totally be the game to make me buy a pretty new PC. Last time I did that was for FarCry 1, Half Life 2, and BF 2!
  • Hope the game plays as good as it looks
  • I'll end up getting it on all 3 platforms knowing me. It happened for Bad Company 2.... PC still my baby.
  • Dont think ill get this, Ill be getting GoW3 and CoD this year, this looks ok. This will play the same has the first BF and 2nd and MoH, Same game modes and stuff.
  • I am looking forward to this for sure. I loved BC and BC2... I do love CoD as well but nothing compares to the BC games.
  • i hope it's not the same old slow gameplay as the last 2 games or it will still be shit.
  • Sounds Great! I loved MOH so i hope this isnt a dissapointment :)
  • @ #82, is the pc version that much better than xbox/ps3? are the servers faster or something?
  • wow the troll here is messing up my mojo anayways bf2 was awesome, i want bf3 already!!! *slaps keyboard* *head bangs table* *clicks bf2 icon*
  • This looks so cool cant wait to play this on all modes, think co-op is gonna be good but cant wait for multi-player.
  • Want nao. will sell soul
  • Always liked the hint of realism, apart from historical events, cod makes no effort, destruction 2.0 steps on any feature in cod
  • Oh Yeah!!!! Count me in!!! COD BEWARE!
  • Absolutely drenched in WIN
  • After seeing what I have for Battlefield 3, I regret having never played the earlier games.
  • Holycowowmygod!
  • @94 Same here, this looks like it'll be a nice time away from COD. :)
  • Hell Yeah... Its About Time!
  • This will be epic, beat COD by a mile
  • this will be soo good! if the graphics stay like that, it will add a whole new perspective! should definetly beat cod
  • No Contest. Battlefield > COD
  • The best graphic game of 2011 :)
  • Battle feid that is all that life is. This game will be grate. Is there a release date?
  • I like the some-what realism or Battlefield unlike crazy- Hollywood explosion Call Of Duty. Both great games but we shall see the real Heavyweight Fps Champion at the end of the year.
  • Reserved it the first day I could. I was sold the day Bad Company 2 came out
  • looking forward to this one
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