With the recent quote I read online by an EA exec about “Getting One Over ” on their rival Call of Duty with their recent win at BAFTA. It got me to thinking the only ones EA or Activision keeps “Geting One Over” on is us – the players. We keep shelling out hard earned money for the same game time and time again. This is part one of a 2 part series on whether its Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty MW3? Why they both Suck.
I’ve seen all the heated arguments online. Call of Duty Fanboys saying Battlefield sucks. Battlefield fanboys screaming back that Call of Duty sucks. And although you might think at first I am in the Call of Duty camp – you would be dead wrong. This is my article on it doesn’t matter if its Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Why they both Suck.
Both games are hugely popular with rabid fan bases. Both Battlefield’s Electronic Arts and Call of Duty’s Activision toot their own horns blowing smoke up the ass of the player base. I’m writing this to tell you that both are stale old games that offer the same old thing in a new shiny wrapper. In other words – we have all been duped and they are taking it to the bank.
Seriously if you think about it. What really has changed in either series?
The Battlefield Series
This is a war simulator that offers ground and vehicle combat. Battlefield is played on medium to large expansive maps that are sometimes like wastelands where you find your player running FOR-EV-AR. The goal is to take out the opposite team. You have various different types of game modes, but I remember the one being most popular being domination.
The series started back in 2002 with Battlefield 1942. The game has spawned many offshoots of the original game from Battlefield 2, Battlefield Vietnam, Battlefield 2142, and the Bad Company series. EA has milked this cow for almost 10 years with a modicum of success.
It was mainly a PC game until they started porting it to both the Playstation and Xbox 360 consoles back in 2005 with Battlefield 2: Modern Combat. The first ports were terrible. It wasn’t until they released the Bad Company series in 2008 did it start to become popular for the console players.
** Source: Wikipedia – Battlefield Series
Battlefield 3
Then EA decided to go up and try and be the next “Call of Duty Killer”. They hyped and marketed the living crap out of Battlefield 3. With the new Frostbite 2 engine, an overhaul of the entire game, EA/DICE tried to make the best war sim game for the 2011 season to compete against Activision’s upcoming Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3.
They might not have succeeded as the “COD Killer” they set out to. EA and Dice have enjoyed some great sales from all of the marketing they did in anticipation for it. As of this writing there is approximately 8 million dollars in sales (Source – Game Informer 11/2011). And they are winning awards – a TON of them! So they must be doing something right eh?
I played the Beta – but of course my computer couldn’t handle it. It required a video card upgrade and beta drivers from Nvidia to be able to even play it on the PC. This isn’t a complaint – just facts. My computer is only about a year old so although I was a little perturbed I was determined to play it. And it was a lot of fun when I was finally able to get into the game. I hate the Origin system – but the actual web interface is pretty slick when it worked.
I then said screw it and tried it on the Console. I was surprised that it ran pretty decent on my very out-dated Playstation 3 gaming system. It was fun – I was able to get a couple hours in but quickly got burnt out playing the same map.
Then the game was released and I can tell you:
What is So Great About Battlefield 3?
Frostbite 2 Engine/Graphics
This is what makes the game really shine. The graphics truly are amazing. Probably the best graphics I’ve seen to date in a war sim.
Game Sounds
Another thing that makes this game great? The sounds in the game. From the sounds of the guns to the roar of the jets and everything in between. They just got it right.
Game Play
The overall game play experience is a lot of fun. Sure I had to re-adjust from just going willy nilly and try and run n’ gun. I had to actually play a bit more defensively looking for cover and watching my ass. But after that it was great! The Vehicles and aircraft are also a lot of fun – and not too much different than I remember in Battlefield 2.
Infantry Only Game Modes
The fact that they have Infantry Only games takes it in a whole new direction. Now I admit I never played the Bad Company series – so this might be old news. For me it’s refreshing not to have to worry about a helicopter or tank blowing a crater in the ground where I used to stand.
OK, I’m not here to tell you why it’s great the game is though now am I?
Why It Sucks
Same Ol’ Same Ol’
Then I realized I’ve done all of this before. I have already played Battlefield 1942/Desert Combat/Battlefield 2 all the way back in 2002-2004. It’s still the same game. Sure it has flashy new graphics, and they tweaked a few things – but it is still the same game I played back then. It’s been re-hashed for the past 10 years into different versions of itself.
Campaign
They finally put in a Campaign mode in the game – but it felt like an after thought. Or more to highlight the new Frostbite 2 engine more than anything. It was quick and fun – but it was too damned short for the single player.
At least they implemented co-op missions into the game – which were fun for a little while. Personally, I think Call of Duty does a better job – but we will see how they do with the new add-on maps for Modern Warfare 3.
Gaming Performance
If your on a PC, and if you have the latest hardware? You were set. The game ran great! If you had a 2 year old mid-range video card that didn’t support Direct X 11? You were um – lucky to get the game to run with most of the settings turned to “low”.
If you play it on a Console? The game is limited to 30 fps. Period. This means at times the game would end up being laggy with stuttering issues making the whole experience frustrating at times.
Origin
OK, what makes me want to eat my mouse more than anything is having to install this spyware laden, resource hogging, piece of crap software onto my PC to even be able to download and run the game. And I mentioned the web interface from earlier? Although its spiffy looking – its a piece of junk also. I had it crash more times then I was able to get into a lobby to play the game.
And since it takes about 30-45 minutes to complete a match? I’d get one match in an hour on average. To me that is intolerable.
My Final Thoughts on Battlefield
Overall Battlefield is fun, they have drastically improved the game over all and did some innovative things that are about five years too late. In the end… I’ve been there done that and and it Sucks. The disk sits collecting dust probably never to be popped into my PC again.
Stay tuned for Part 2 on why Call of Duty sucks.
Tell me in the Comments below if you agree (or disagree) with me on this. If you can – try and keep it civil!
