Road To Battlefield 3 - Beta Impressions Part 1

I got into the PS3 Open Beta on day 2. After a surprisingly light download (Dice says this is actually outdated software), I got right into it. The main menu is plain and straightforward, but the "My Soldier" menu option (grayed out at the moment) seems most intriguing. I tried accepting a friend's game invite, to no avail. I grew impatient and decided to just jump in headfirst. The load time was pretty swift and you can choose whether to be tossed into a squad or not while you wait.

The graphics are stunning immediately. The textures have a natural look to them, the characters move well, and the guns look amazing. The map they chose for the beta is well known to anyone that has kept up with the trailers, so I won't go into detail, but something else that deserves the highlight is the sound. Dice has completely outdone itself with this. A friend of mine tried to describe how awesome the sound was over the phone, but I didn't get the full grasp until I experienced it myself. Every weapon has its own unique sound and everything affects how you hear it, whether its the texture of the wall being shot through or the fact that you're inside or outside.  They've done an exceptional job here.

Another area that caught my attention early on was the difficulty while aiming and shooting guns without scopes and other added accessories. Thank you Dice. While its not impossible to get consecutive kills with the "naked" weapons, having a well earned scope or grip makes a HUGE difference. That alone increases the worth of unlockables by a large margin. There were too many times when I'd unlock all the games in an old fps title and end up going back to early unlocks that performed just as good. Now, Battlefield 3 has created a noticeable difference between scope and no scope, the different kinds of scopes, and the effects of horizontal and vertical shifting while firing on automatic. This game will make a better fps player of us all, emphasizing the benefit of burst fire (something I'd already grown accustom to, but took for granted, back in Modern Warfare days).

These are just a couple things that stand out in the beta so far and next time I'll focus on the teamwork gameplay, matchmaking, and destruction. Peace till then.