Easily one of the most prominent conversations amongst hardcore and casual gamers alike since the announcement of Battlefield 3 is how well DICE's new modern combat shooter will stack up to the legendary titan known as the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series. I feel it would be irresponsible on my part to ignore Call of Duty in this review since one of the biggest questions on gamer's minds this Holiday season will be: Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3? Well, with Call of Duty only weeks away from release it would be impossible for me to completely pinpoint a result. I have played every Call of Duty released on the Xbox 360, Battlefield: Modern Combat, Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Medal of Honor. So it should go without saying that I have enough experience in modern combat gaming to form a valid opinion. Regardless this is a review of Battlefield 3 and you will have to stay tuned to our review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to see exactly how they stack up against each-other; moving on.
On Xbox 360 Battlefield 3 comes packaged with two discs, the second of which includes the single player campaign only. The first disc includes the hyped multiplayer and co-op missions and the high definition texture pack. That's right. If you want to get the most out of the game's graphic settings, you will need to clear 1.5 GB of space on your hard drive to make it happen. If you're playing the game without a hard drive or don't have the space to clear, you will have to opt for the "standard definition" version of the game which is comparable to the quality of games when the 360 launched. Maybe not that bad...but bad enough that I could cut the graphics score in half. The texture pack makes a major difference not only in the textures found on guns, environments, and character models but also in the lighting as well.
The lighting I must admit is easily Battlefield 3's strongest suit in visual quality. The vertical rays reflected off many light sources seemed to be more common than I have ever noticed in real life, but for the most part the rays, refractions, beams, and bloom effects are all expertly well done and certainly worth commending. Before even starting the game, it's recommended you not only download the texture pack but also the day one update over Xbox Live which includes about 167 MB worth of patches. The game by no means looks bad. It certainly keeps up with the technology today and while it is still remniscent of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 in some aspects, DICE seemed to up the ante with more photo-realism and less of the almost cartoonish style found in the Bad Company series. If you thought Bad Company 2 looked impressive, then prepare to be most pleased with Battlefield 3. Smoke and particle effects are also quite awe-inspiring, and I have to suggest looking at the clouds during the campaign's jet tutorial (where you act as a co-pilot rather than flying yourself, by the way). The Xbox 360 may not be capable of producing the jaw dropping visuals found on a high end PC, but with the texture pack installed there is little to complain about.
DICE has made vast improvements to their Frostbite engine (now dubbed Frostbite 2.0) and I would go as far as to say it is the best destruction tech you will find in a video game. If you aren't impressed by the way the facade of a building crumbles, collapses, and turns to dust after an RPG attack then you're just silly. The engine isn't quite as superb in the campaign as it is in multiplayer, but the latter was the initial reason for its development. If there is anything BF3 can pack a major punch with on its competition, it's the Frostbite 2.0 engine. If the graphics aren't enough for you, the next appraisal has to go to the sound. I was always impressed with the sound effects in Bad Company 2, but BF3 goes the extra mile and produces highly realistic gun fire, bass pounding explosions, and just the right soundtrack to keep you involved in the more action-packed moments of the game. They were able to get some Johnny Cash in there too, so points for that. When you play online, make sure to pay attention to the gun fire coming from your teammates and opponents that are in separate areas. You can't tell me your hair doesn't raise just a little bit when you hear the echo of a shot fired from a hunting sniper or the ricochet of his round as it just misses your skull.
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