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Battlefield 3 PS3

Format:
PS3

Genre:
Shooting

Style:
Firstperson
Singleplayer
Competitive
Cooperative

Buy/Support:
Support Richard, click to buy via us...

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Other GamePeople columnists have reviewed this from their perspective - huh?:
Multiplayer Gamer (360)

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Battlefield 3 is an ego boost and pick-me-up. The way it makes me feel may be hard to define, but I'm not giving it up lightly -- even when my hectic modern life threatens to cancel it out.

I've made a solemn vow to get good at Battlefield 3 online. I'm not sure where this surge of competitive enthusiasm has come from but I'm starting to really like it.

Battlefield 3 is likened to Call of Duty for good reason -- it's another similar looking war game. I found Modern Warfare 3 good, but a bit too repetitive. Despite this, and against my initial concerns, I've really gotten into the whole Battlefield vibe.

Battlefield 3 differentiates itself from Call of Duty through its level design. Maps have a much greater width and fewer windy corridors, which means skirmishes play out in a more structured and organized fashion. Although this seems a fairly arbitrary and inconsequential matter to the uninitiated, it means Battlefield favours one characteristic in its players more than any other -- patience.

Now, this suits me perfectly: I have patience. I'd like to think it's an attribute that time bestows upon older players such as myself -- and that it's a sign of my dwindling juvenile years. It's not often that my age is beneficial in a gaming environment and this aids Battlefield 3's cause greatly.

Having the time to crouch in the mud and let your opponent make the first mistake far surpasses dashing around like a lunatic firing your pistol like it's going out of fashion. But if I'm honest, the clincher for me is that it turns out I'm really good at it.

Being good may isn't the be all and end all, but finding your name at the top of the leader board five games in a row is a nice little ego booster.

This goes to underline Battlefield ability to make you more thoughtful about your FPS strategy. Throwing yourself into combat without heeding the signs of battle nearly always results in a direct route to the re-spawn point.

While I'll admit that the single player is lacking a healthy dose of structure, the multiplayer offers the usual tokens and armaments to reward your accomplishments and a limited but efficient game selection screen. If you strip back the tricks and trinkets of you're still left with a compelling and well coded piece of software that rewards smart play as opposed to dumb luck.

Being a little older now I find myself re-evaluating this sort of leisure time. But sometimes, just sometimes, I relinquish all negative feelings and indulge like a pig in a bucket of truffles. Battlefield 3 lets me do this; Battlefield 3 is my truffle bucket where I can forget my cares and feel good about life for a while.

Bearing the brunt of an adult existence is not always pleasant, but it is something that I find easier with a vigorous dose of gaming. Battlefield 3 lets me indulge in my passion whilst engaging my brain a bit more than the usual bullish FPS nonsense.

A hard day at work can be easily eradicated by decimating a small army's worth of Battlefield 3 infantry with careful planning, a selection of well placed claymore mines and a suppressed high powered rifle. It's not healthy, but it's better than smoking thirty cigarettes and drinking your bodyweight in cheap wine.

Feeling good about something is an emotion that becomes more complex with time. I love looking forward to playing games, and I love coming away from it feeling invigorated and smug. Sometimes I think that I need to leaves game behind to really grow up and get on with life, but not on days like today.

Whilst it's not for everyone, Battlefield 3 does what it does very well, and as fate would have it I can do what it does better than most, and for that I'm really, really grateful.

Written by Richard Murphy

You can support Richard by buying Battlefield 3



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Richard Murphy writes the Juvenile Gamer column.

"When we grow up we leave behind childish things. That's what keeps me up at night. Surely there's a way to be a gamer in an adult life? These reviews help me are treatise to keep something I dearly love with me without remaining a juvenile."

Here are the games I've been playing recently:

• Unfinished Swan
• Dishonored
• Journey
• Max Payne 3
• Home