Multi-fun is battle's big gun

22 November 2011 - 02:21 By Bruce Gorton
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Battlefield 3 is essentially the video game version of the TV series 24, with less torture and more painful interrogation cliches.

GAME: BATTLEFIELD 3 (PC)

PRICE: R399

RATING: R+18

The basic framing device is your character who is being questioned by the most incompetent CIA members ever. I would like to say they represent good cop and bad cop, but it is so badly done that they resemble bored, lazy cop and psychotic, idiot cop.

The artificial intelligence in the game isn't fun - it is too reliant on quick-time events where you press a random button in single player, along with "Click this button to brutalise someone in hand-to-hand combat".

I often wish these games would skip the fancy cinematics and just kill the guy already.

Having to fight for every stealth kill leaves me deprived of the stealth part.

Fortunately, Battlefield 3 belongs to a well-established series, so it has a multiplayer community.

Single player is unnecessary, but nice to have.

The game is smooth, the guns are varied and work brilliantly, the movement works and the controls are nicely explained . It does first-person shooting well .

The visuals are crisp and the aesthetics work .

As far as sheer mechanics go, the game works.

However, given how weak the single-player campaign is, your experience of how much fun Battlefield 3 is will be largely based on multiplayer adventures.

THE GOOD

Excellent graphics, decent music and a lot of polish keep it reasonably stable and rich. Well-developed multiplayer experience.

THE BAD

If you find you don't like the community in this game, single player won't be good to fall back on.

RATING: 8/10

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