Battlefield 3

by Electronic Arts

• Frostbite 2 - Battlefield 3 introduces Frostbite 2, the incredible technology that takes animation, destruction, lighting, scale and audio to new heights.
• Feel the Battle - Feel the impact of bullets and explosions, drag your fallen comrades into safety, and mount your weapon on almost any part of the terrain.
• Unparalleled Vehicle Warfare -— The best online vehicle warfare experience gets even better with a fitting sonic boom as fighter jets headline an impressive lineup of land, air and sea vehicles.
• Urban Combat - Take the fight to iconic and unexpected places in the USA, Middle East, and Europe including claustrophobic streets, metropolitan downtowns, and open, vehicle-friendly landscapes as you fight your way through the war of tomorrow.
• Other returning fan favorite features include 64 players for PC and prone.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002I0HJZO
• Item Weight: 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: October 25, 2011
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,242 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,494 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Standard

Amazon.com

Battlefield 3 is a First-Person Shooter (FPS) that is designed to attack your senses, delivering a visceral combat experience like no other FPS before it. Sequel to 2005's Battlefield 2, Battlefield 3 utilizes the updated Frostbite 2 game engine, which allows for advanced destruction, sound, and graphics as well as a focus on dense in-game urban settings. Additional game features include: classic Battlefield mission-based gameplay, an impressive array of vehicles including jets and tanks, large-scale maps, an updated soldier class, 2-64 player support online and more.

Heart-pounding mission-based combat and maximized damage.
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Unparalleled vehicular warfare .
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Return to the Battlefield

In Battlefield 3 players take command of a team of elite US Marines as they experience heart-pounding misson-based gameplay ranging across diverse locations from around the globe including Paris, Tehran and New York. Along with ground combat, vehicular combat plays a major role with vehicles available including tanks as well as air support, featuring infrared and satellite imaging. The game contains both single player missions and competitive and co-op multiplayer actions supporting up to 24 players online, and set in diverse locations from around the globe including Paris, Tehran and New York.

The State-of-the-art Frostbite 2 Engine

Battlefield 3 leaps ahead of the competition with the power of Frostbite 2, the next installment of game developer Dice's cutting-edge game engine. This state-of-the-art technology is the foundation on which Battlefield 3 is built, delivering superior visual quality, a grand sense of scale, massive destruction, dynamic audio and incredibly lifelike character animations. As bullets whiz by, walls crumble, and explosions throw you to the ground - the battlefield feels more alive and interactive than ever before.

Key Game Features

• The Frostbite 2 Game Engine - Battlefield 3 introduces Frostbite 2, the incredible technology that takes animation, destruction, lighting, scale and audio to new heights. Built upon this powerful game engine, Battlefield 3 immerses players physically and emotionally to the world around them like never before.
• Feel the Battle - Feel the impact of bullets and explosions, drag your fallen comrades into safety, and mount your weapon on almost any part of the terrain. Battlefield 3's cutting edge animation, spectacular visuals and real as hell battle gameplay attack your senses and make you feel the visceral warriors experience like no other FPS.
• Unparalleled Vehicle Warfare - The best online vehicle warfare experience gets even better with a fitting sonic boom as fighter jets headline along with an impressive lineup of land, air and sea vehicles, all at your command.
• Urban Combat - Take the fight to iconic and unexpected places in the USA, Middle East, and Europe including claustrophobic streets, metropolitan downtowns, and open, vehicle-friendly landscapes as you fight your way through the war of tomorrow.
• Multiplayer Mayhem - Experience gripping multiplayer action with 2-24 player battles supported online.
• Amazing Animation - The DICE team set out to takes animation to the next level with ANT technology (previously used in FIFA games) that now allows the creation of more believable behavior than ever before in an FPS.
• Fight to Scale - Simply put, in Battlefield 3 you will be able to engage across some of the largest maps ever created, while close quarter combat is available too.
• Massive Destruction - Destruction is enhanced on both a macro and micro level. Chips fly off blocks of concrete used for cover, while whole facades and buildings collapse in screeching clouds of dust and debris.
• Best-in-Class Audio - Building on acclaimed High Dynamic Range (HDR) audio from previous Battlefield games, Battlefield 3 builds on the best-in-class legacy with a brutally realistic soundscape.

Back To Karkand Expansion Pack - Now Available for Download

Back to Karkand is a massive themed expansion pack for Battlefield 3 and is now available for download on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and PC Download. It features four of the most loved Battlefield maps ever, boldly reimagined with the power of the Frostbite 2 engine. It also gives you new weapons, vehicles, dog tags, and persistence in the form of all-new "assignments" to carry out on the battlefield. The maps included are Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Sharqi Peninsula, and Wake Island. All have been redesigned from Battlefield 2 as a return years later, changing the scenery and adding the powerful destruction that Frostbite 2 brings to the game. Please note that this expansion pack does not come with the game. It must be purchased separately.

Additional Screenshots

Feel the fight like never before. View larger.

Diverse real world settings. View larger.

24-player online support. View larger.

Extreme urban combat. View larger.

Product Description

Battlefield 3 leaps ahead of the competition with the power of Frostbite 2, the next installment of DICE's cutting-edge game engine. This state-of-the-art technology is the foundation on which Battlefield 3 is built, delivering superior visual quality, a grand sense of scale, massive destruction, dynamic audio and incredibly lifelike character animations. As bullets whiz by, walls crumble, and explosions throw you to the ground, the battlefield feels more alive and interactive than ever before. In Battlefield 3, players step into the role of the elite U.S. Marines where they will experience heart-pounding single player missions and competitive multi-player actions ranging across diverse locations from around the globe including Europe, Middle-East and North America.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 89 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Game itself is great! Origin and Battlelog slightly bring down the experience. December 12, 2011

By Mark Garety

Platform for Display:PC|Edition:Standard

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I wanted to write a review about the game itself, and not focus so much on things outside of the game i.e. Origin and Battlelog.

I've been gaming on the PC since the late 90s, and this is one of the best games that I have experienced. If you enjoy first person shooters on the PC, then this is a must. The game features stunning graphics, but it can still run, and look good on a mid range PC. This game goes above and beyond what other shooters have done in the past and has interesting and unique features (if you want to call them that) that other games simply do not have. These include realistic physics that affect all projectile objects (bulletts fall over distance), suppressive fire that blurrs the screen of the player being suppressed, lasers that blind you, flashlights that white out your screen in dark areas, and sniper's scopes show a glare in the sunlight. The game also features one of the best animation systems that I've seen. Characters transition naturally from animation to animation. Moving about the environment feels realistic, and it looks realistic when viewing other players. The game provides the opportunity to drive and fly all the vehicles in the game during multiplayer. This is what Battlefield is known for. The vehicle combat is fun, but it requires skill, especially when flying in jets or helicopters.

Aside from these new aspects of the game, the recent trend of unlocks and leveling up in shooters is found in this game. You gain experience points for doing things in the game, and that translates into leveling up and unlocking goodies. Battlefield has 4 classes in multiplayer: Assault, Engineer, Support, & Recon. Each class has it's own unlock progression and own special abilities. The game encourages you to be a team player. When playing as a team and playing to the strengths of your class, you earn points faster. All in all, this is one of the best multiplayer shooters out there.

The single player game is short, but enjoyable. It will most likely be finished up in under 10 hours. The story isn't necessarily ground breaking, but it is fun to play through. However, quick time events kind of take away from the otherwise good experience. Not to say they are bad, but they don't seem to fit with what this game is about. They feel like they were an afterthought. The story itself is not as well written as some others on the market, but it works just fine for the game. It doesn't detract at all from the experience, it's just not the most original story out there.

There are some things which I don't like, but they aren't the game itself. They are Origin and Battlelog. Origin is required to play the game, no matter where you bought the game. The program itself is trying to be an alternative to Steam, but it isn't as user friendly, and it isn't as optimized. It will give occasional errors and crashes. For me, I haven't had too many issues, but others have had a great number of issues. It seems hit or miss. Battlelog is the web interface through which you access the game itself. It isn't too bad, but it is trying to turn the game into a social network, which some like and others don't. You track all your player stats through here, and this is also where you access the game and select serverst to play. You have a communication center in here where you can invite friends to join your game, create partys to play together, and use voice coms with your party.

Overall I really enjoy this game.

Plusses:
+Great Gameplay
+Graphics
+Multiplayer
+Physics and effects
+Vehicles
+Sound Quality

Minuses:
-Origin is required
-Can be buggy at times (seems to have been fixed since launch)
-No team voice chat (party only)
-You have to go through battlelog to access the game.

I would give this game a 9 out of 10.

350 of 443 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A worthy BF game, hampered by Origin October 27, 2011

By VA Gamer

Platform for Display:PC|Edition:Standard

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

(+) Graphics and presentation, it looks and sounds amazing. There were many things done to refine animations, and the soldiers and vehicles themselves are approaching an uncanny valley

(+) The game play is terrific. It stays very true to the formula from Bad Company 2, with subtle improvements like full prone, some vehicular control and sight improvements, etc

(+/-) The single campaign is impressive to look at and listen to, but the story itself is mundane and uninspired. There is some pretty amateur writing, in regards to plot, pacing, and dialog. Despite this it's serviceable, and pretty fun to play through. It only took me about 5 hours to complete it

(-) Origin is a terrible and clumsily designed digital distribution and social network, and it's a shame EA is not only forcing it upon consumers but also not publishing a Steam version. It's poorly integrated, violates privacy, and wouldn't even be a quality product if we were having this discussion in 2005

(+/-) BattleLog detracts from the multiplayer process. It's EA's web-based (runs in a browser) interface that replaces the in-game menu and server browser. It makes the simple act of joining a game a hassle. Its use forces the game to exit after each match. I spent a lot of time waiting for BattleLog to refresh, find a server, and essentially re-launch the game. I use Chrome and the extension would occasionally go into overdrive and eat up significant CPU cycles. When the servers are up, BattleLog is ready, and you can actually get in, it's the same quality multiplayer found in Bad Company 2 - just refined. Larger maps and a greater diversity of weapons and customization

If you're interested I'd advise holding off until EA either publishes a Steam version or removes the forced Origin install and BattleLog integration. The other option would be to wait a few years until EA can develop them into a services worthy of live production - right now they're clearly not ready for prime time. And that said, there's still the privacy issues to consider.

(edit #2: I actually went ahead and returned this to my local retailer on 10/31/2011. Apparently I'm far from the first, because the sales person actually apologized to me for buying this)

834 of 1,062 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Wait a Year October 31, 2011

By Jon Molle

Platform for Display:PC| Edition:Standard|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

So you install the game, install punkbuster, and install Origin. Okay, sure, everyone wants to use always-on DRM now, price of admission and all that. Punkbuster is fine, aimbots are way worse than a little anti-cheat software. Then this happens:

Bonus Kübler-Ross sections:

Denial:
1. You get an authentication error and can't start the game for a day or two.
2. You start the game only to go to something that looks suspiciously like a website. It is a website! Awesome, now I don't have to worry about compatibility issues with the menu and server browser requiring giant firewall exceptions.

Anger
3. False alarm, you're not done installing. Go download some always-on DRM. Wait, wasn't that step 0? Yeah, have more. And this stuff will sit enabled in your browser addons list unless you manually disable/enable it every time you want to play. Fine, okay, small price to pay for getting things universal.
4. Wait a minute, this isn't a menu, it's a wannabe facebook page! With capability to link to your facebook page! I guess marketing wanted a more direct line. Or the guy who programmed the menus quit in a huff after being fun of so much for Bad Company 2's PC interface and server browser.
4a. Idle wonder which EA executive thought up the "Gun Club" and loved it enough to save it by forcing users to navigate through it to get to their software.
5. Restart browser, relogin to their website, click single player
6. Servers are down. What?
7. Wait a few hours, servers are up. Try again.
8. Hey, it works! Wait, there are menus in here too! You have to open a menu to a website with a menu to open a menu!
8a. Get about an hour in and the game locks up. Force quite, restart. Locks in the same spot.

Bargaining
9. Fine, I didn't need single player anyway! I just want to shoot virtual soldiers while standing on a flag
10. Login server error.
11. Uncorrupt DNS hosts file, thanks by the way, and try again.
12. Play 5 minutes on a server, round ends, map changes, get kicked out for not having punkbuster installed. It is in fact, installed.

Depression
13. Manually download punkbuster updates, a la recommendation. Fails to work.
14. Delete punkbuster updates, make BF3 re-generate the files. Works! Apparently They updated then rolled back.
15. Play a round. It's getting late (you spent 6 hours installing, after all!), take a break.
16. Unrelated beta version of another program crashes out, go to kill the process.
17. Hey, EA garbage is still running! I thought I closed Origin?

Acceptance
18. Return game, wait for edition that runs inside of Steam. IE, probably going to skip this one over.

Final Note: If you wait long enough, the game with be cheap enough with DLC to still cost less than it does now. Karkand isn't even done.

PS To EA marketing: You do not need every buzzword in every meeting to be forced into a game.