The Penny Arcade Expo is in full swing, and one of the companies taking part in showcasing games to the community is Electronic Arts. They’re showing all sorts of titles on the floor, but the big one that has a line pretty much wrapping around the booth twice is Battlefield 3. This highly anticipated shooter – and rightfully so, might we add – takes realism in first-person action to another level, and we had a chance to stop by for a quick hands-on session to see how it’s shaping up. Only one mission was playable during the time we had with the demo, a night mission in an overseas city. We find ourselves in part of a unit team that’s assigned the task of rescuing a high-risk target, stuck in the middle of a terrorist compound. So, like the good soldiers that we are, we head over to the building where he’s located, sneak in through a side door, and proceed to wipe out every bad guy we come across, either using an assault rifle or, if not enough ammo is on hand, a sidearm.
That’s only part of the mission, though. After proceeding through the building, we then have to get the high priority figure out of the city, riding along in heavily armored trucks and eventually coming face to face with a number of terrorists that aren’t too thrilled with who we’re carrying around. So they throw everything at us – RPG missile launchers, ambushes, and plenty of guns – to try and bring us down. The intensity of the mission picks up tremendously over the course of the game, with baddies popping up around every corner and plenty of gunfire pointed our direction. If you aren’t careful, you could find yourself slumped on the ground, clinging to life as you wait for a buddy to revive you. It’s quite realistic, as DICE nailed down the essence of combat to its very core. But that’s part of the excitement that it truly packs. It’s right up there with other games of this nature, particularly Call of Duty.
And the co-op factor? Excellent. You’ll want to make sure you have a player who’s on the same page as you, sticking together in case you need back-up or suddenly require a revival. Fortunately, DICE has developed a good system here, where you can see what your fellow combatant is doing through on-screen indicators and stay by their side, so you can get through each combat situation quickly and effectively. Wandering off might get you killed unless you really, really know what you’re doing. Just use the buddy system and you’ll fare well. As for the gameplay, it’s Battlefield all the way. The typical combat controls are in effect here, including melee attacks, fine-tuning your aiming by looking down the scope, hustling to get to cover, and so forth. Veterans will no doubt find Battlefield 3 easy to pick up and play, and will also come to appreciate how exciting the game gets as the mission picks up. The only downside is that we didn’t get to play any of the new segments of the game, such as the ones involving helicopter combat and jet simulation. We REALLY wanted to try these. But that will come soon enough…so we’ll wait. Sigh.
This feature hands-on preview concludes on the next page, please click Page 2 below to read more of our thoughts on EA's Battlefield 3.
