Spotlight : Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 Is F*cking Awesome. Period.

Battlefield 3 proves skeptics like Peter wrong, and turns out to be pure, hectic fun

BATTLEFIELD 3 SPOTLIGHT BY PETER FRANKO

Battlefield has been a series that I have turned a blind eye to for the past four years due to other addicting multiplayer games, particularly Halo and Call of Duty. Yet in the early fall of this year, Battlefield's developer, DICE was awesome enough to let gamers try their upcoming banger Battlefield 3's multiplayer a month before. The gaming world took this as them showing great confidence in their game, hypothetically saying to everyone "we know our game is going to fucking awesome. Here give it a shot". I didn't really know what to expect and felt like a "noob" so to speak when I hopped into my first match. But for the first time in my experience with this franchise the gun mechanics were solid, player movement was smooth and there was no lag at all. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. Though an hour in the game didn't really hook me the way other multiplayer games have in the past, maybe it was the fact there was only one map, a lack of player progression, or even the fact that they didn't introduce vehicles yet. I was unsure, so naturally, I stopped playing.

Four weeks later, our story continues as a new trailer is released for the game, and did not disappoint. It showed off skydiving into battle, massive explosions, all sorts of vehicles, and a huge variety of maps to play in. So on the games release date, I bugged my reluctant brother to drive me to GameStop to make my purchase. You can tell a lot about a game by the type of people who play it, so when I arrive on a release date for a game I am always intrigued by the type of people I see there buying it. Gears of War 3: there was a high concentration of minorities, Halo: Reach: An odd mix of 17 year-olds, and late twenties seasoned Halo vets, Dead Island: A bunch of pizza faced social outcasts who have never seen the light of day, Portal 2: Inexplicably  there were lots women in their twenties, and of course last years Black Ops where the store was stuffed with hordes of 10 year olds accompanied by their mothers. But for Battlefield 3 it was downtown businessmen on their lunch-break. I felt like I was finally a big boy, and that maybe I'd finally start growing some armpit hair.

When I got home it took a bit for me to install the game and download it's HD bundle (whatever that meant) and to get into a game. But when I did, I was immediately blown away. The map was absolutely beautiful. Like, really, really beautiful. There was a vast view off into the horizon, showing where the real action was taking place. I could see a forest, what looked to be a base of some sort, a river, and to top it off an awesome mountain range in the back. The lens flare caught my virtual eye as I searched for action, but when it subsided, I could see tanks emerging from the water like sea turtles with mounted cannons. Feeling like an overwhelmed Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan, I rushed behind a rock formation and let them pass [keep in mind that yes, this was all multiplayer, these are real people playing and it's completely unpredictable]. I peek my head over and tag a tank for my team to see, when abruptly a voice comes onto the mic saying "I copy".  I look up to see two friendly fighter jets pass over head and lay bombs all over the tanks, collapsing the trees all around me. Filled with excitement at this so far fantastic experience, I decide to take that moment to dash past the beach to a nearby fuel depot where I found myself my very own Humvee. I get behind the wheel and book it in the direction of our objective, when I looked into my rear view mirror to see three assault vehicles all behind me, ready to blow me to smithereens. And adding to the pressure now on me, the airplane that destroyed the tanks a minute prior does a nosedive into the ground in front of my ride making a pyrotechnic display of sparks, scraps, and fire. I kick in the vehicle's "boost" function as one of their rockets whizzes overhead and crashes into the wall of the base, crumbling the wall and exposing the bombsite. Being the opportunist I am, I see a mound of dirt about 15 feet from the point of impact, put two and two together and launch my vehicle right through the hole. I am immediately greeted by crossfire as the teams fight for the objective. And feeling like a badass, I scramble from my wrecked vehicle as it explodes behind me and join my comrades on the front line.

This was only about two out of the thirty minutes in a game of Battlefield's 'Rush' Mode. The whole match was unbelievably enjoyable, even though we lost in the end. I have not had multiplayer fun like this since Super Smash Bros, and believe me when I say that's noteworthy. I just wanted to share a moment of the insanity that is Battlefield, and I am also now questioning my motives for writing this when I could be playing. Long story short, I was moderately skeptical, and now I look back feeling like an idiot for doubting the game for a second. 'Ol Papa pDRO says go buy the game, you WILL have fun.