Hands On | Battlefield 3 multiplayer demo

DICE has returned to their famed first person shooter franchise with Battlefield 3. While the studio has tried to craft a single player experience in the last two offshoots of the franchise, the Battlefield series has prided itself on its large scale class based multiplayer. After showing a snippet of singleplayer gameplay at the EA press conference, DICE showed off their playable pre-alpha build of the game’s multiplayer. While the demo was still an early build, the game shows a lot of promise.
The game’s Lead Multiplayer Designer, Lars Gustavsson, explained several key changes to their class systems and introduced some new mechanics. One of the largest changes to the Battlefield formula is the rearrangement of class abilities – one that effectively does away with the Medic class. Instead, the default Assault class is now the class that has the ability of revive fallen soldiers and heal wounded allies. DICE had experimented with class ability consolidations previously, most notably in Battlefield 1943. Battlefield 3 now features 4 main classes: assault, engineer, support, and marksman. As a longtime Battlefield player, I was unsure how the changes would impact the tactical space of a session. After playing the demo, however, I feel that DICE’s changes are forward thinking and make a lot of sense in streamlining the online experience.

Battlefield 2 had the issue of medic’s not being as powerful compared to their fellow allies or their enemies. While they were extremely important in the large scheme of a game, their understated lethality created the culture of Battlefield to avoid the class. Bad Company 2 tried to remedy by giving the medic class the light machine-guns, a move that swung the pendulum the other direction and made the class a bit overpowered. In making the default class able to heal and revive, DICE seems to have found a happy medium.

One new addition to the series that I find particularly exciting is their new suppression mechanic. “You know what I hate,” asked Gustavsson. “I hate when I’m shooting at someone behind cover and some kid just comes out of cover and shoots me dead. I hate that.” The suppression mechanic, as Gustavsson then explained, was designed and added to the core mechanics as a way to add a layer of realism and teamwork. Any class can suppress an opponent as long as they have prolonged fire on a fixed target. Any class can suppress and subsequently experience points, but Gustavsson demonstrated how the support class can suppress. Equipped with a light machine-gun and an attached bi-pod, a player can approach an object or go prone on the ground and the gun will automatically set it’s bi-pod on the surface – providing added stability to the weapon and a prime position to suppress, spot, and kill targets. I practice, I found suppression to be remarkably fluid and easy to do. The animation of setting up a bi-pod was as fluid and believable, something that impressed me time and time again. I was the only player during my session to spot targets, so the mechanic allowed my allies to flank the suppressed targets. While being suppressed, the player’s field of view becomes obscured and heavily vignetted – an effect that I found to be a great aesthetic touch.

I find myself more excited about the changes to the franchise’s mechanics than I am about the game’s highly publicized graphical fidelity. In truth, I didn’t find the visuals to be as stunning as the screenshots and trailers have made it out to be. This could very well be because the build was pre-alpha or because I was too busy shooting dudes in the face to truly take notice, but the visuals did not leave a great impression on me. Sure the graphics were beautiful and the lighting was gorgeous, but the game’s new mechanics and animations were what made me enamored and wanting more.