Battlefield 3 Preview

By Al Bickham Published 2 March, 2011

Modding warfare.

"You're almost tricking me into a position where I'm telling you about the story!" laughs Patrick Bach, Battlefield 3's senior producer. After witnessing the code in action at DICE's Stockholm HQ, I asked him about how earthquakes in the game affect the storyline, and whether this catastrophe-mechanic is in any way similar way to Spec Ops: The Line's sandstorm-sundered Dubai. But no dice.

There are inarguable business imperatives for not revealing the big secrets of your game - such as the storyline - so far ahead of its launch, especially when you're working in the most competitive genre in entertainment. And right now, trying to wheedle plot arcs out of DICE is like asking George Osborne to comment on corporate tax-dodging. So let's work with what we know: Battlefield 3 is a contemporary US-military shooter set on the Iran/Iraq border. Earthquakes are making a perfect mess of things for the US forces. And it's built using DICE's new proprietary engine, Frostbite 2.

The game is demonstrated on the PC, the dev-team's lead platform, with Bach at the helm, and charts the progress of the player and his squad-mates through the wartorn streets of Iraq. From the moment they step out of their armoured transport and receive a briefing from their commanding officer, the level of detail goes through the roof.

Materials, such as clothing, skin and weapons, are startlingly well-defined. The character animations are very human, whether your buddies are sauntering casually or crawling along on their bellies under enfilading fire. When the combat begins, the sense of bullet impact as it smacks off brickwork is so palpable, it makes you want to duck. Frostbite 2 looks bloody magnificent - on the PC, at least. CryEngine beware.

1

The first flashpoint occurs as the squad enters a car-packed courtyard. Iraqi militants appear on balconies above and spray the area with fire. It's a classic clusterf*** moment, with the surrounded squad diving into cover and peeking out to return fire. But it isn't until one of the militants hefts an RPG and blows a hole in the road that more interesting mechanics begin to break cover.

One of your team is caught in the blast, and curls foetally on the floor. At this point, Bach darts towards him, presses the appropriate action key, grips him under the arms and drags him into an abandoned garage on one side of the plaza.

Out of the line of fire, the soldier is patched up to rejoin the fight, and Bach hints at more such supportive actions: "These actions are as important as shooting; it's a more... real portrait of what actually happens. It's about helping others succeed, and we think that having this as a part of the single-player experience is very important".

One of the things you notice when stepping into a new environment, such as this garage, is the way the audio alters. It's echoey, but still sounds close, and somehow amplified. We're used to games adding reverb effects, or simply damping the sound a little to imply distance, but DICE's sound team goes one better. Actually, they go 84 better. After the demo, audio director Stefan Strandberg explains the process of creating Battlefield 3's soundscape.

"We need to take a scientific approach. And it's important to know that when you record stuff, there is no actual truth to sound. There are different ways of recording it, many different kinds of microphone you can use... you can build your own reality, and that's what we do."

The sound team goes to great lengths to achieve this, and works closely with the Swedish army when they're out on manoeuvres. "On a joint venture with the Medal of Honor team to record weapon sounds, we had 84 microphones set up at different points. We had people five kilometres away up in the mountains, we had a rig down by the weapons... all these were synchronised".

The net result is that sound changes according to your relative position from the weapon, and the materials that constitute the environment around you. Strandberg then ably demonstrates this by fixing the in-engine camera to one spot in a woodland landscape, holding the fire button down and walking the onscreen soldier into the far distance. The rifle reports altered enormously as the distance grew, losing their sense of immediacy and bass-notes, and gaining that flat, echoey clack peculiar to gunfire in woodlands.

Back to the demo. When the courtyard firefight is dealt with, the squad moves on, and in short order our man is ordered down into a network of tunnels beneath a building to defuse a bomb that intelligence has been tipped off about.

2

Somewhere along the line, an earth tremor is felt, and commented on over the radio: like a hint of things to come. Bach drops into a maintenance room, finds the device and begins to defuse it, when an Iraqi guard walks in on him. What follows is a hand-to-hand brawl which borders on brutal. It can't hide its QTE ways, but it's an effective shock tactic dropped into a moment of tension.

When this is done, the team takes to the rooftops, and there's a honeyed quality to the early evening sun as it plays off the sandy stonework; it implies a vivid sense of time and location. Almost immediately, they come under high-calibre sniper fire, and hit the dirt. The squad does a belly-crawl across the rooftop, while chunks of concrete are literally punched out of the low walls around the roof.

DICE is keen to impress the fact that Frostbite 2 handles destructibility on a grand scale, and Bach soon proves the point. Switching from rifle to a one-shot anti-tank missile, he pops his head over the balcony and fires at the sniper's hiding spot in an adjacent tenement block. Windows explode outwards, showering thousands of glass shards and the building crumbles before us convincingly. Somewhere out there, Roland Emmerich dreams on approvingly.

3

The money shot of the demo is the final sequence. It's a running gun battle down a main city highway, while the squad receives close air support from a chopper. Just as Bach clambers into an abandoned technical to mount the machine gun, the threatened earthquake hits in earnest.

A massive shockwave ripples the pavement slabs, and a tower block shivers like a dinosaur and begins, oh so slowly, to fall towards the camera. The chopper is right in its path and I feel a tremendous urge to shout, "Look out behind you!" Just as the pilot realises, it's swatted out of the sky as the building tumbles towards the player.

Fade to black. For now, it's a wrap. And I'm puzzled. Battlefield 3 is visually startling, and a technical marvel, but I still don't know what it's really about. Later, I ask Bach what the hook of the game is. What will make people want to play it?

He simply says, "We're making the best modern-era shooter ever made." Given recent form and the strong technological base they're working from, not to mention my personal fatigue with the latest crop of military-FPS blockbusters, I'm inclined to believe him. I certainly want to, at any rate.

Picture of Al.

About Al Bickham

Read more articles from Al by visiting the Al Bickham archive page.

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Comments (76) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Yodith #1 1 year ago

    The technology sounds incredible but Battlefield has never been about the singleplayer. Can't wait to see how all this adds to the multiplayer experience.

    CoD8 beware.

  • Haloboy #2 1 year ago

    http://www.ea.com/battlefield3/videos/fa...

  • Beano #3 1 year ago

    Another military shooter. Yay.

  • Ultrasoundwave #4 1 year ago

    Looking forward to refined perfection from DICE. If this isnt the best FPS this generation i'll be very surprised.

  • coastal #5 1 year ago

    What is this 'single player' that you speak of?

  • coastal #6 1 year ago

    Oh yeah - give us our commander back dicepots!

  • Big-Swiss #7 1 year ago

    this will be beast

  • StolenGlory #8 1 year ago

    "Another military shooter. Yay."

    Another trolling cunt. Yay.

  • beastmaster #9 1 year ago

    The footage looks incredible. Audio is superb. I especially love the sound of the feet hitting the tarmac when you run,

    I hope it'll be as good on the 360. Tbh though, this game could swing me into buying a PC gaming rig.

  • Jonny5Alive7 #10 1 year ago

    Sounds awesome. I agree with earlier comments though, the reviews of this (and also COD) shouldn't concentrate on the single player because lets face it virtually everyone is buying it for the multiplayer. I really want to get this for the PC but don't want to spend hundreds on upgrades.

  • charming_fox #11 1 year ago

    F*ckin' ELL! That video that Haloboy posted... well, it's a bit lovely innit?

  • frugtkompot #12 1 year ago

    I'm not only expecting one of the best MP's ever - I'm expecting one of the best overall military games ever. Bring it on!

    Lovely preview by the way.

  • Tyronne #13 1 year ago

    I just hope I do not have to get a new pc to play this upon but there has not been a battlefield title I have not lost many hours to and this looks like its going to be yet another time sink for me.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #14 1 year ago

    *cartwheel of joy*

  • Al_Swearengen #15 1 year ago

    Looks amazing. This will finally pull me away from Bad Company 2. No matter what game comes out I just keep going back to it. DICE's brand of multiplayer is perfect for me. COD games are decent enough but for my money they just don't compare with a Battlefield game.

    And should the next iteration of COD (whatever that may be) use the same slightly modded COD4 engine then they will get beat... hard. Much to Respawn's amusement no doubt.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #16 1 year ago

    I literally couldn't care less who wins the sales race. Elton John sold millions of records in the 80's, doesn't mean his music isn't shite.

    Battlefield games are the best, and that's the end of it. It staggers me that more people buy the inferior product over and over again.

  • Trent_Steel #17 1 year ago

    I'm still sinking a lot of hours into Battlefield 1943. It just seems to work for me as it's the only FPS where I can consistently hold my own online but I think I'd now like something a bit more substantial.

    Bit late for Bad Company 2 but this looks like it could be the answer. Don't like the sound of the singleplayer though, looks worryingly similar to the turgid Medal of Honor reboot.

  • HarryPalmer #18 1 year ago

    Cannot wait for the multiplayer.

  • magicpanda #19 1 year ago

    We need realistic PC system specs soon please Dice!

    A new PC is on the horizon for this and Skyrim.

  • smithdown #20 1 year ago

    I'm with Beastmaster, I'd be very tempted to buy an uber-PC for this. Unfortunately I need to eat

  • el_pollo_diablo #21 1 year ago

    I kind of liked the rag tag team of four from the first two.
    Bit worried they're not returning.....

    EDIT:
    I'm an imbecile, obviously. Of course I was thinking of BF:BC (thanks FireMonkey).
    Edited by el_pollo_diablo at 02/03/11 @ 23:05

  • cnlfailure #22 1 year ago

    Providing PC is lead platform all is good with this.

  • coolbritannia #23 1 year ago

    They are clearly going to market the fuck out of this. It looks amazing, and Bad Company 2 has managed to hold it's own giving Battlefield 3 a much bigger fanbase (on consoles at least). Black Ops was a disappointment, they dropped the ball in front of the biggest audience a COD title has ever had. The law of diminishing returns has kicked in there. I'm calling it, COD killer.

  • tankboi #24 1 year ago

    Why are they wasting time on single player??? Leave that to the non-Battlefield games please.

    Also, Dice, hire the Project Reality team! They have made (what still is) my favourite game, using your old dusty BF2 engine.

  • carlitoswagon #25 1 year ago

    2nd child on the way in July. Hope they're sleeping through the night by the time this drops. Daddy will be busy.

  • nuanimal #26 1 year ago

    The co-operative actions if implemented well will make this awesome.

    It's only been since playing Left 4 Dead 2, that I've rarely enjoyed playing a team-based shooter - instead of being a lonewolf, with 15 other players in the same uniform.

    /Adds to Amazon wish list...

  • inutaihanyou #27 1 year ago

    I'm sure battlefield 3 will be a great game but i wonder for what crowd Dice is aiming?

    The COD fans will continue to buy that game regardless of its modded slightly modded 5 year old engine, so are they aiming for something new, or something treaded?

    I hope that my dismal thoughts are just coming from my own head.

  • Ketzstar #28 1 year ago

    Air Jordans for only 30 $ ? Awesome! You look like a trustworthy person. Here, have my credit card stuff.

  • FogHeart #29 1 year ago

    Does. It. Have. Move. Support.

    Same with Brink yesterday

    EG, will you please start asking this fucking question???

  • des #30 1 year ago

    looks white,kinda like mirrors edge

  • Bagpuss #31 1 year ago

    I still dont believe for one minute that it will make its 2011 release date.......Late Q1 2012, early Q2 2012 is my bet....



  • RedSparrows #32 1 year ago

    I won't care a jot about the SP unless it's anything more than a corridor shoot with added destruction.

    Similarly, MP will be far more fun off the bat, I'm quite sure, but I fear it'll still lack in gunplay department - although probably be great at the throwing-XP-to-make-teamwork-happen dept ;)

  • rochyroch #33 1 year ago

    So.. glad the lead platform is PC for this to be a console port would be criminal.

    I really like the Crysis 2 MP Demo it has a good feel to it but it seems to be
    taylored towards consoles, small maps, max 12 people? game lobby & p2p?
    this puts me off buying.

    BF3 is a definite buy for me.

  • coolbritannia #34 1 year ago

    @Rochyroch, yeah the Crysis 2 demo is great, I'm wrestling over whether Homefront is worth a punt as well though. Any thoughts dudes?

  • onyxbox #35 1 year ago

    BFBC 2 is an incredible multiplayer game so I'm really looking forward to this.

  • metalangel #36 1 year ago

    I hope they don't fuck the game up (specifically the multiplayer maps) trying to provide CoD-style "spectacle" for all the mass-market cretins. The battles alone should be enough without silly earthquake effects.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #37 1 year ago

    Homefront looks a tad generic to me.

  • aidey6 #38 1 year ago

    @metalangel; I doubt DICE will mess with this, they've a loyal following, me included, I for one like playing through the SP campaign before delving into the MP goodness!!!

    It is the best MP FPS that i've played. If EA market this well, it will do even better sales wise this year

  • Tryhard #39 1 year ago

    Oh for a top end pc.But I hope the console version isn't too cutdown.I think we need a XB 720 or PS4 to experience what the high end pc gamer will be enjoying on this.

  • PearOfAnguish #40 1 year ago

    I thought the sub head would mean confirmation that there was mod support...bf games won't be the same without mods.

  • FireMonkey #41 1 year ago

    @el_pollo_diablo - "I kind of liked the rag tag team of four from the first two. Bit worried they're not returning....."

    Different game series I'm afraid. That is Battlefield: Bad Company and this is Battlefield. Battlefield 1 & 2 were out on PC ages ago and BadCompany was developed as a game in the same style but mainly based for console audiences as they thought Battlefield would be too much for most console gamers at the time.

    I loved BC but BF was so much more. Will be interesting to see what console players think of a true Battlefield game.

  • arcam #42 1 year ago

    I'm interested to see what they do with the single player.

    I always thought of Bad Company as the single player console game and Battlefield as the multiplayer PC game. Now they're both multiplatform and both SP + MP, I wonder how they're going to differentiate them if they keep making sequels.

    I'd be happy with a Bad Company every year as their 'iterative' title, with a new Battlefield proper every few years with the care and attention it deserves :)

  • ForozM #43 1 year ago

    Sure, it looks pretty. But gameplay? I see nothing new. You can't even open a door yourself. Bet MP will be good though.

  • FireMonkey #44 1 year ago

    @Arcam - I may be wrong, but I remember Battlefield (MP) being a lot more tactical than BC. You had multiple objectives to go after and could do so in any order and taking out the certain objectives would affect what the other team could do.
    For instance you could decide to take out the satellite station and then the enemy would not be able to call in air strikes and things like that.

    I have a feeling that is where the difference will be. BF = Lot's of choice and tactics and BC = Very structured (go here do this then go here and do this)

  • TheEarlOfZinger #45 1 year ago

    Think of it this way, BF:BC has introduced console players to the BASIC premise of battlefield.

    They'll be more savvy when BF3 drops. Thumbs up.

  • orangpelupa #46 1 year ago

    ""We need to take a scientific approach. And it's important to know that when you record stuff, there is no actual truth to sound. There are different ways of recording it, many different kinds of microphone you can use... you can build your own reality, and that's what we do.""

    ookay.... now im confused....

    BF3 sound will be realtime environment effected like those popular in old games (i think its in year 2000). Or BF3 will use the usual pre rendered sounds but with very a lot of samples / assets.

    which one?

  • makariel #47 1 year ago

    Excellent, I was planning on getting a new graphics card anyway! This should be a nice workout for my PC then :D

  • Ranger101 #48 1 year ago

    Any Battlefield vets explain to us BC2 console chumps what we've missed out on in the previous games?

    I've heard stuff like 'Battle commander', and I know Conquest was one of the original modes while Rush was invented for BC1. What other modes of play were there in Battlefield?

  • darleysam #49 1 year ago

    "Just as Bach clambers into an abandoned technical to mount the machine gun, the threatened earthquake hits in earnest."

    Abandoned technical? Type this up on your phone, did you?

  • Tryhard #50 1 year ago

    Interesting audio from Pixel enemy who was at the reveal.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuKo8XLoJ...

  • davidov92 #51 1 year ago

    Either way you look at it, DICE is putting soul into it's games. And that's not really happening with Infinity Ward or Treyarch. They're just focusing on pumping out a game every year, rather than innovating in the genre. Well done DICE.

    Also, could the MMO addicts please stay away from FPS ? I'm quite tired of the "Oh, FPS #926479843" comments. Yes, the FPS genre is bloated. But by posting such comments you only show that you know nothing about the genre, which titles have brought most innovation not just to other FPS, but gaming in general, which titles change the way the world is looking at video games...well the last bit isn't going well thanks to rednecks and FOX News.

  • king26 #52 1 year ago

    No matter how amazing BF3 will be, a majority of my friends will continue to buy CoD 4 reskined!

  • keano #53 1 year ago

    re darleysam:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_(...

  • Lukree #54 1 year ago

    ookay.... now im confused....

    BF3 sound will be realtime environment effected like those popular in old games (i think its in year 2000). Or BF3 will use the usual pre rendered sounds but with very a lot of samples / assets.

    which one?

    Orangpelupa: It's ace that they are researching how sounds behave in different environments and distances. Therefore I don't mind which technique they will use in the end as long as it is imitating reality precisely enough. Suppose they can just tweak realtime effects based on research?

  • TheEarlOfZinger #55 1 year ago

    Ranger101

    None, just conquest.

    Commander could rain down airstrikes and point the team to specific objectives etc. Never interested me.

  • dsmx #56 1 year ago

    Explaing what you missed out on if you didn't play bf1942, bf vietnam or BF2 takes a long time, ranger. I'll do my best to descibe bf2.

    Basically you had a massive map (think heavy metal but bigger with more than double the capturable points and more buildings), within the map you had 64 people who had access to planes, tanks, helicopters and jeeps. You had the commander who could drop supply crates, artillary, UAV and a vehicle drop wherever he wanted. The commander could bring up a map overlay and click wherever he wanted to drop those items he could also zoom right in on the battlefield and see all the troops moving around and spot them manually for his team.

    The squad commands allowed squad leaders to directly request any of those commander abilities on a certain location and they would appear on the commanders overlay and he could chose to accept or deny support requests.

    Communication was voice coms from commander to squad leader and then squad leader to squad members. There was also text chat for squad, team and the whole server.

    If you got on a good team the commander would tell the squads where to attack, defend, lay mines and so on. If everything went right it genuinely felt like a battlefield, writing it down doesn't do it justice.

    There's a hell of a lot more but it's something you have to play to understand.

  • soviet_ #57 1 year ago

    @Tryhard, haha the dude sounds like Donnie Darko

  • orangpelupa #58 1 year ago

    @Lukree

    ^^ my concern is because in MP mode.

    in the SP Gamplay Trailer 1. you can hear a character voice get "reverb" effect due to the area and distance. This will be kind of awesome if in MP our human voice will also get distorsed like this.

    so in MP instead like hearing with clear voice, we can hear the human chatter in "harmony" with environment.
    but yeah thats will bring the voice usability a bit downward....
    Edited by orangpelupa at 02/03/11 @ 15:17

  • elchongo #59 1 year ago

    COD4 & MW2 is ruined by hacked servers, and treyarch don't have a clue.
    IW is liek the rolling stones without the singer & the other guy
    I really want to get exited with this news and play another FPS
    but after playing bad company & killzone & etc I realized that 30FPS is a no go zone for me

    /goes back to M.A.G and not so exited tbh

    also MOH was a joke

  • ronuds #60 1 year ago

    I was all excited to read about this and it's about SP? Who cares! Anyone who's anyone knows BF is about the MP.

    BFSPlol

    :p

  • TheEarlOfZinger #61 1 year ago

    "IW is liek the rolling stones without the singer & the other guy "

    What does this mean?!

  • coolbritannia #62 1 year ago

    IW is like the Rolling Stones without Jagger and Richards? You mean now IW has been effectively stripped of it's assets?

  • Chufty #63 1 year ago

    This is going to be so bloody awesome.

    Good info about the sound, the soundscape was one of the defining features about BFBC2.

  • Horse #64 1 year ago

    No idea why people who enjoyed the single-player of BF2 are getting negged so heavily. I've zero interest in the MP side of things, really enjoyed the SP campaign in BF2, and I'm really looking forward to playing SP BF3.

    Come get me, neggers!

  • elchongo #65 1 year ago

    IW is like the Rolling Stones without Jagger and Richards? You mean now IW has been effectively stripped of it's assets?

    you know the IW leaders that have a catfight with the actvision honcho and they left with half of the staff
    they are working for EA and found a new company respawn
    also seems like they would use the same engine of COD 4.0 ,
    it was great back them, but look this nice videos of B3 add the destructive environment and there is not contest

  • neems #66 1 year ago

    Horse - you really enjoyed the single player campaign in BF2? Odd, my copy didn't have a campaign. By any chance are you referring to Bad Company 2, which is a different game entirely?

  • CaLeDee #67 1 year ago

    Enfilading? Really?

  • watu #68 1 year ago

    Hmmmmm, sounds like a technical marvel, but the story, themes and dramatic devices sound boringly familliar (hand to hand Quicktimey events, oooh yet another chopper is swiped from the sky, yet more masses of enemies ambushing you on a generic middle eastern street). I realsie these companies are competing for the zombie minds that lap this sort of repetetive shit up, but surely there are enough well paid creatives to come up with some point of difference that could be attatched that wouldn't send the zombies fleeing with their money.... I was pumped for more info after the first several reveals but this description and the latest gamplay release has back-tracking on my anticipation levels.

    I want to see what's in store for multiplayer now- hope they can wow me then - because no FPS military shooter can recreate in a single player campaign, the nuances of fighting against real human opponents. I hope they have some epicness in store for multiplayer.

    None of what I'm hearing or seeing about the single player campaign makes me think that it's new and fresh. Earthquakes? Sounds like a gimmick.

    The one thing that peaked my interest was helping out team-mates and it made me wonder if it was an important dynamic. I love the strategy involved in the support classes in multiplayer so a bit of that in single player woudln't go astray.

    This single player imagery looks amazing and the frostbite2 engine sounds awesome, but beauty isn't skin deep......

  • Soton4084 #69 1 year ago

    Looks and sounds brilliant! I'm a big fan of BFBC:2, but it looks like BF3 will be on another level.

  • GibboMayhem #70 1 year ago

    I'm buying a new gaming rig just for this game. BF 1942 (and its expansions) and Joint Ops really got me into FPS gaming back when I used to play at my local lan arena. I'm gonna pick it up for both 360 and PC.

  • king26 #71 1 year ago

    Only played BC2 and loved it, was BF2 that different or that much better?

  • dsmx #72 1 year ago

    BF2 compared to BC2 hmm, well I've put in 200 hours into BC2 and I put in over 700 in into BF2. The thing with BC2 is that it simply doesn't offer the amount of variety that BF2 has, the maps are bigger, there's more vehicles and since there's proper squad management and commands it's more tactical as well along with the you can only spawn on your squad leader.

    Essentially to me BC2 feels like my first battlefield it is fun but it lacks the depth that BF2 and the earlier bf1942 and vietnam offered. With that said going back to bf2 you have to be willing to look past quite a few shortcomings with it as well as some really annoying decisions such as on that utterly awful cone of fire that every gun got (basically whatever gun you fired the bullet would land somewhere within that cone no matter how you fired, so firing on single shot while in the prone position down the sights was not certain you'd hit your target).

    The other thing of course was the mods you got for the old battlefield games something which EA have basically said were not going to allow anymore, I loved the POE mod for vietnam and the POE2 mod for BF2 was a laugh as well but sadly those days have gone.

  • fragglerocks #73 1 year ago

    Wow those graphics are amazing. There must be shed loads of mocap in the game, even the guys sprinting in front of you realist.

  • TheGuvernor #74 1 year ago

    Stop complaining about single player - for Christ's sake!
    How shortsighted can u be?!
    It's a chance for DICE to dominate the fps market & it's new quality content for the gamer.
    We all know the multi will rock - it's DICE.
    The addition of single player is what is going to make me pony up serious cash to upgrade for this behemoth.

  • Mashum #75 1 year ago

    That audio stuff sounds nice. I'm getting a bit fed up with friendly ai now in campaign mode though, can we please be allowed to switch the fuckers off if we want? I don't even care if they magically reappear during cut scenes, it could be a bonus option for completing the game or something.

  • TheBoyChris #76 1 year ago

    Cannot wait for this. All the Battlefields have been great, and I really hope this series reaches the heights of the CoD series.