This and cod4 Mw are the best multiplayer games ever made for ps3

It’s on. The biggest tag team rivalry in gaming history is about to come to a head. On one side you have the behemoth arcade first person shooter Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and current whipping boys Activision, relative newcomers since it’s reinvention with the Modern Warfare franchise and on the other, Battlefield 3 brought to us by EA, former bad boys and now seemingly a bit more popular. EA had released its much loved Bad Company side project over the years but never have the two been released so close to each other with so much hype; so get ready for a lot of mud flinging and fanboy bashing as these two colossi meet head to head.

First up is the single player mode which has completely ditched the hot-jump options of the previous console version and now bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain other first person shooter. Starting off with an amazing fire fight through a running underground train you are then taken back to an office, with our character Blackburn being grilled by the Hollywood go to guy if you need an FBI or Army General, Glenn Morshower. It’s from here via flashbacks that we learn what leads up to the earlier intro, with the action being very well scripted with lots of what we expect from this sort of game, fast paced escapes, rappelling and plenty of gun fights all in there, but very early on you do start to feel locked in, almost like you are just here for the ride rather than making a difference, with attempts to play away from script failing; case in point, after protecting an extraction of a downed soldier, loads of enemy troops start to rush your building, the game tells you to turn and run, but being a hero I try and drop a few from my vantage point, with them just running through my torrent of bullets, later, I shoot and kill a soldier sniping from a window, seconds later another goon takes their place, shoot them, same happened; this went on for some while, so I left them alone and made a dash for it, only to get shot by them. These were only a few of the occasions this occurred throughout the campaign, ruining the overall experience and jolting you back to reality, shame.

Being a Battlefield game there are loads of vehicles to look at and if your lucky, sit in. The single player is the equivalent of your dad taking you to McDonalds and then making you watch him eat and enjoy a Big Mac. There is no real involvement, you just point and stare at the pretty explosions all around you, with the game taking you on a jeep ride and even in a jet fighter, as the co-pilot! In this particular chapter you are charged with shooting heat seeking missiles and cannons whilst dropping chaff to stop enemy missiles taking you out. The pilot will bank and roll to try and keep them in your crosshairs in a roller-coaster like fashion, but it’s not the adrenaline that makes you heart beat fast but the fear of getting shot down and having to do this all over again, with this soon breaking into boredom as the game won’t move on until all are shot down.

Where the single player left a bitter taste of disappointment the online acts as the sweet sugar to counter it, and wow what a difference. Backed up by the web browser based Battlelog where you can view your stats and arrange games (home computer version), the console versions seems to be more of a ticker news broadcast of what you and your friends have recently unlocked. The multiplayer is an easy to follow gateway to some of the best action in any game, showing that you don’t need silly Hollywood style scripts to make a game.

The Cooperative mode offers a small amount of missions for you to either join with a friend or play with a random player. The missions are mostly reworking’s of a few single player chapters but they manage to open up the areas more, with plenty of vantage points and ammo crates to pick off incoming enemies. You even get a level to pilot a chopper, something you should try, at least with an experienced player. The co-op mode also has a ranking system, unlocking more missions and also weaponry to take on your missions, giving you a better edge on the battlefield. The easier settings are pretty much a walkthrough, however on the more challenging modes you will get ripped apart unless you keep in contact and work out tactics with your co-op buddy, so again, make sure you know the player you are with if you want to get anywhere. As with the single player, the same boxed in feel does creep in again, with co-op mode hosting a few indestructible enemies at certain points if you attempt any truly original tactics, but as before, they can kill you, the cheats.

The real meat of the game is the multiplayer mode and it’s extremely easy to get in to battles nice and quick, with the main menu giving you a huge list of all the available servers you can jump into, something PC gamers have been used to for a long time. There are lists detailing your Ping (internet connection speed) , how many players, what map and what mode; all with a filter allowing you to add and remove requirements to streamline the search engine for your ideal game.

There is a decent selection of game modes available, however a couple of them are more popular than the others. Conquest has two teams battling for supremacy of a map which has a few flags dotted around for you to capture. Each team has an allotted amount of tickets, with the more flags captured, the opposition will lose them, resulting in a win. The flags are so well placed that it forces some amazing fire fights, with sniper points from windows and bottlenecks in alleyways focusing the action for a guaranteed good scrap.

The Rush mode again has two large teams, however this time you have an attacking team and a defending team which flips around after the first game. The map has strategically placed M-COM stations that need to be destroyed. The attacking team have a set amount of tickets, with the defenders charged with picking them all off before they destroy the stations, which will in turn replenish the tickets and open up another part of the map with another set of M-COM stations to attack and defend.

Team Deathmatch also makes a return but is not played as feverishly as the two previous modes and for smaller games there are also Squad Deathmatch and Squad Rush modes.

Once decided on the mode you can choose from your class of four familiar characters, Assault, Support, Engineer and Recon. Anyone who has played a Battlefield game before will understand what each one is capable of as these classes and their basics are mostly the same as before. The Engineer carries rocket launchers for heavy artillery and a blowtorch to repair allied vehicles and Recon are your snipers, with Support being your heavy weapons guys. The largest instant change is for the Assault class, who now are able to drop medi-packs and this change makes sense as they are at the front line most often. The more you play with each class, the more experience you earn, which in turn unlocks more items that you can select pregame. Engineers obtain land mines, a variety of rocket launchers and a handy EOD Bot that can remotely repair vehicles and also disarm M-COM station, Assault class can unlock a defib unit that can revive recently downed allies, Recon units can unlock ground sensors and precision strikes whilst Support can drop claymores, C4 and even set up a mortar.
The maps available are spread through each of the modes and it is here that DICE have truly worked their magic with some jaw dropping designs across the nine maps on disc, with corridors, cover and bolt holes meticulously placed in the grand bazaar, shop fronts to use as cover in the Seine Crossing map, huge highways cutting into a town and finally, a mine level that is something truly remarkable, with huge machinery gathering dust used for cover that leads to a cave system dug into a cliff face.

Depending on the map and server settings there is also a wide assortment of vehicles to utilise to try and turn the battle in your favour. Ground based vehicles vary from a Humvee to a tank, allowing you to drive, man a gun placement or just hitch a ride, with each one having a unique handling to master. Water support also appears, with a variety of boats and gun boats to traverse the maps that host water.

Of course the main draw of the vehicles on offer are the much sought after air based vehicles, with choppers and attack jets ready for you to tear up the skies. These are mighty fiddly to control, so getting on quiet servers to learn the basics is vital unless you want to annoy your team who just warped to your position as you plough into a cliff. Each vehicle has a similar ranking set up as the characters, with experience earning you new items and weapons to try out, like smoke screens, better armour, upgraded weapons and thermal imaging for the ground vehicles and stealth, faster lock-on, guided missiles and a handy extinguisher for the air support.

The gameplay is essentially the same in each mode, shoot the baddies and try to work as a team with a quick to use system to create squads that allow your team mates to warp straight to you and chat using your game mic. The biggest change is the new suppression ability, before you could run headlong into battle, take a few bullets and take out the opposition with a nifty headshot, now though with suppression fire you cause the opponent to lose focus, making it extremely hard to aim until they find cover and refocus. A couple of new and revamped additions worth noting is the ability to upgrade your weapons to allow for stands that offer a sturdy aim and less recoil and torches and laser lights that can dazzle oncoming enemies, making it hard to get a good shot at you but also gives your position away; plus the welcome return of prone, where you can now lay down low on the ground, perfect for those sneaky snipers.

Your progression as a player is measured in a variety of ways, as mentioned earlier, as you play with each class you earn points that unlock extra gadgets and weapons, the same of which can be said of the vehicles. You are also ranked up as a player, with ribbons earned on the field boosting your experience, which in turn unlocks new ranks, dog tags and also camouflage to wear on the field as well as a specialization perk linked to all classes that can allow you to carry extra ammo, faster running or reduction of the suppression effect.

The overall production of Battlefield 3 is stunning, with the game just bursting from your TV screen, really pushing the limits of what is capable on home consoles, with amazing lighting and particles effects that zing around the screen and a solid frame rate that never seems to stutter. The sound also manages to immerse you even deeper, with each gun sounding different from the next and even the environments effecting how they sound, it’s an audiophile’s dream game when using surround sound.

Battlefield 3 has finally arrived and the hype surrounding it is well suited. Being first out of the blocks gives it a huge advantage over MW3, not that it needs it. Yes the single player is pretty much like any other first person shooter but it still manages to entertain for the majority, but in all honesty, you would have forgotten the experience after the first 24 hours of owning the game as the multiplayer element, without a doubt will keep you hooked.