Battlefield 3 is our Game of Gamescom 2011

By Oli Welsh Published 22 August, 2011

DICE shooter wins Europe-wide award.

DICE's Battlefield 3 has been voted Game of the Show of Gamescom 2011 by nine Eurogamer Network sites.

The military shooter, which was also probably the most popular exhibit on the show floor in Cologne, topped our list of 10 nominees.

Game of the Show

  • Battlefield 3 / Developer: DICE / Publisher: EA

Nominees

  • Batman: Arkham City / Developer: Rocksteady / Publisher: Warner Bros.
  • BioShock Infinite / Developer: Irrational / Publisher: 2K
  • Borderlands 2 / Developer: Gearbox / Publisher: 2K
  • Diablo 3 / Developer & Publisher: Blizzard
  • Dishonored / Developer: Arkane / Publisher: Bethesda
  • The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim / Developer & Publisher: Bethesda
  • FIFA 12 / Developer & Publisher: EA Sports
  • Mass Effect 3 / Developer: BioWare / Publisher: EA
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception / Developer: Naughty Dog / Publisher: Sony

The nominees and winner were chosen via a voting process involving staff from the nine Eurogamer Network sites attending gamescom this year: Eurogamer.net in the UK and our friends in the Benelux countries, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Each site had an equal vote.

Battlefield 3's stunning Caspian Border trailer.

Battlefield 3 has been selected by EA to spearhead its aggressive competition with Activision's dominant shooter series Call of Duty (the latest entry, Modern Warfare 3, just missed making our list of nominees by a whisker). So it's been granted an explosive single-player campaign and a gigantic marketing budget that certainly made it hard to ignore at Gamescom this year.

But those aren't the reasons it tops our awards, nor, we'd wager, why it struck such a chord with the thousands of game fans attending the show in Cologne.

The clues are in the game's title and the spectacular video above. Battlefield 3 is the full-fledged and long-awaited return of true Battlefield - a unique spin on the military shooter that none outside of Swedish developer DICE have been able (and few have even attempted) to replicate since 2005's Battlefield 2.

Thematic spin-offs such as 2142 and the Bad Company games, and slimmed-down online editions like Heroes and 1943, have been worthy bearers of the Battlefield name, but none have quite fulfilled its promise of cutting-edge first-person and vehicular multiplayer combat on the grandest scale.

It took one look at the Caspian Border trailer, showing the PC's 64-player multiplayer mode and sensational graphics, to realise that promise will finally be fulfilled when the game launches on 28th October this year.

It's both slightly frustrating and part of Battlefield 3's high-tech thrill that console gamers won't be able to taste quite the same experience; but all versions look thoroughly comprehensive, with co-op added to DICE's famous multiplayer and its increasingly confident single-player campaigns, which present military and physical realism through a thrilling cinematic filter.

But perhaps the best thing you can say about Battlefield 3 is that it has already swept away our ennui with a military shooter genre that Call of Duty's ubiquity and dominance, however well deserved, had threatened to render stale. Suddenly, playing soldiers seems exciting again.

Congratulations to DICE! We'll bring your surprisingly tasteful award to Stockholm as soon as we can.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (71) Latest comment 9 months ago

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

  • Spielo #1 9 months ago

    Ooh, Battlefield 2!

    EDIT: They've fixed it now. Still, the Eurogamer app is still available in the "Apple Store" at the time of writing :-)
    Edited by Spielo at 22/08/11 @ 10:12

  • Bealsy #2 9 months ago

    Battlefield 2 is groundbreaking stuff...

    edit - seems they've noticed that Battlefield 2 is not in fact, a new game.
    Edited by Bealsy at 22/08/11 @ 10:26

  • rasmus.h.m.nielsen #3 9 months ago

    Battlefield 2? Man, i wish i could get that for my ps3, just until Battlefield 3 is out...! :)

  • jablonski #4 9 months ago

    Well they must have paid a fortune to run that constant ad before your videos for the last millennium, so I think they've earned it.

  • SleepyGlenn #5 9 months ago

    Erm it says Game of Show: Battlefield 2... Oops! Can't wait for the game though.

  • Naeblish #6 9 months ago

    Camaro jokes incoming!

    Deserved though, brilliant looking game.
    Edited by Naeblish at 22/08/11 @ 10:13

  • Skooch #7 9 months ago

    Looks awesome, can't wait. But for me the GOTS is Gears 3, the beta was awesome.

  • Master09 #8 9 months ago

    Not one single nomination for Dark Souls?

    Only big budget AAA titles as usual.

  • Nephirion #9 9 months ago

    I am suprised MW3 wasn't even in the nominations, I guess EA massive advertiisng deal with Eurogamer site paid off ...

  • Bradach #10 9 months ago

    i bought a new PC for this game. Oct cant come soon enough!

  • uknortherner2000 #11 9 months ago

    Wow, a generic shooter tops the list. Great.

  • marmaduke #12 9 months ago

    Pfft. Whatever. It looks very pretty but rather dull Basra-patrolling simulator.

  • roz123 #13 9 months ago

    I didnt really enjoy Bad Company 2 as much as I expected as I loved the old 1942 and Vietnam (the last BFs I played). With all the bile coming out from EA about BF3 being a COD beater amongst other things it has all made me a little disinterested in it. I just now have watched that trailer there and thought, fuck yes I am getting this day one.

  • jablonski #14 9 months ago

    That aerial stuff looks ace.

    But as an xbox owner, I'm getting deja vu on picking up a Spectrum box and marvelling at the Atari ST screens

  • Rack #15 9 months ago

    But Guild Wars 2 was there, not even a nomination?

  • callum9999 #16 9 months ago

    This sounds good. I never really got into all the COD games etc. but Battlefield 2: Modern Combat on PS2 was easily my favourite game back then - possibly even now. I read in the stats that I'd played it for 100 hours online, I doubt I've managed 10 hours on my PS3 in the past 3 years!

  • thebuttonz #17 9 months ago

    Will.
    The.
    PS3 and 360.
    Version
    Have.
    Jets?

    Please someone confirm?

  • KDR_11k #18 9 months ago

    Somehow I can't get excited for BF3, due to the omnipresence of ArmA2 lately I don't have an image of the modern battlefield as "fun".

  • geeza2020 #19 9 months ago

    I really cant wait for this game. I just have a horrible nasty feeling that DICE are going to hit us with some kind of "no jets on consoles" announcement, sometime before launch :( I dont know how battles inolving infantry, tanks, choppers and jets translates to a system that can only support 24 players....

  • king_ghidra #20 9 months ago

    Holy Christ that trailer is incredible.

  • layleeloo #21 9 months ago

    Really? How unoriginal and uninspiring.

  • gribb #22 9 months ago

    Why not give some attention to another game rather than awarding game of the show to a title everyone knows?

    gamescom itself awarded BF3 with game of the show, this is wholly unoriginal...

  • ShiroBen #23 9 months ago

    The "3" is correct but you seem to have suffered a catastrophic failure in your attempt to spell "Mass Effect".

  • Ryze #24 9 months ago

    WooHoo!

  • Lebowski #25 9 months ago

    Seems to be Wall-E at around 1:33 there.

  • revan8 #26 9 months ago

    There are jets , dice confirmed this. Consoles have all the vehicles, just less of them.

  • gruntboy #27 9 months ago

    @Rack - I took a look at Guild Wars 2 (not hands on unfortunately) and, despite the recent editorial about it's more dynamic combat compared to other MMOs, I couldn't see much more than standing still in front of an enemy NPC watching combat text pop up while cooldowns refreshed. On that impression, other titles mentioned here seem worthier, to my disappointment.

    Having said that, Dark Souls' absence from the top ten has me baffled.

  • srpiccoro #28 9 months ago

    Wow really? An FPS? The most original genre of games? I mean, it's pretty and it's probably fun, but come on, there are better games!

  • Brownie-uk7 #29 9 months ago

    @jablonski : haha, oh the disappointment you got if you didn't read the small print "screenshots may vary on formats". That damned Atari ST. We had 128k god damn it. That is a big enough rig to run anything!

  • metalangel #30 9 months ago

    NO KIDDING? I couldn't tell if you liked Battlefield 3 or not, due to the sheer amount of Battlefield 3 news stories, Battlefield 3 banner ads, and Battlefield 3 ads before each video.

    I think they really did buy you guys a Camaro each.

    @jablonski: like djronz, that's tragically true. As a PC owner since the old days I was used to seeing awesome screenshots and then realizing my CGA (and later EGA) card was inferior to the Amiga/Apple IIGS/C64 versions. Heck, Data East even put screenshots of the ARCADE version of Karnov on the back of the NES box!

    @KDR_11k: After ArmA, these fast-paced games are never exciting in the same way again.

  • FireMonkey #31 9 months ago

    "gamescom itself awarded BF3 with game of the show, this is wholly unoriginal..."

    What?!?

    Why should 'Game Of The Show' be original? It's not 'Most Original Game Of The Show' or 'Game Of the Show That No One Else Would Have Listed As Game Of The Show'.

    If they believe this was the best game of the show, then it deserves this award.

  • revan8 #32 9 months ago

    @chiroben. I was looking forward to me3 until they started to tell you the ending of it before release. So bf3 wins for sure for me but most of that list looks awesome

  • FeralGamer #33 9 months ago

    Skyrim is my game of show.

  • des #34 9 months ago

    meh another fps

  • scottofdarwen #35 9 months ago

    Ehhhh !!!! why was Gears 3 not in the nominees ??? bullshit . b best game this year by far

  • Tryhard #36 9 months ago

    Congrats to Dice.Now get those servers warmed up for the hordes that are marching on a Battlefield near you.

  • hollowroom #37 9 months ago

    @ callum9999

    That post just made me check my BF2 stats.

    215 hours from 2006 - 2008.

    I have definitely not played any other game as much as I played this.

  • EvilMonkey70 #38 9 months ago

    I appreciate PC is the lead platform and that Battlefield has always been a PC series( played them all except 2142). I would still like to see some console footage before launch. Putting footage from a high end PC on the Xbox marketplace is misleading and a bit naughty. I have had to inform a few people that it was not 360 footage.

  • kangarootoo #39 9 months ago

    ZZzzzzz

  • revan8 #40 9 months ago

    @evil monkey. They always do that, same with images. Always at higher resolution etc. People should know better, the Caspian border trailer couldn't even close to be reproduced on console. What annoying me is still no xbox footage and the fact Microsoft only showing mw3 at all their conferences etc and on live there are only mw3 features.

  • Kilters #41 9 months ago

    They're going to have to review the console and PC versions separately.

    Really want a new PC for this.

  • Ryze #42 9 months ago

    @Bradach


    You should have bought it closer to Oct. Silly.

  • arcam #43 9 months ago

    It's a perfectly valid point

    It's not perfectly valid. It's a cheap shot and there's no evidence for it whatsoever.

  • actionfitz #44 9 months ago

    DO WANT

  • revan8 #45 9 months ago

    @tjtj it is more of a refinement of everything they learnt from bf2 and all others since. Fine tuning all aspect to hopefully make the best on line game ever. Minimal real innovation but I don't expect that from bf. Save that for other games.

  • SaintDaveUK #46 9 months ago

    tjtj, the new Frostbite 2 engine means there is better destruction than even Bad Company 2. It uses EA Sports fluid animations. It has dozens of hours of unlocks. It has many, many new maps. And to top it off, it looks damn pretty. Either way, it will be a brilliantly fun game.

  • mattk84 #47 9 months ago

    I was pleased to hear that selectable servers are returning for BF3. I am so tired of being put in yank servers all the time.
    Good bye USA hello EU!

  • arcam #48 9 months ago

    @tjtj

    I see your point. At the moment the only improved things it has are better graphics and building destruction (and single-player I guess). As for whether gameplay has improved, I guess we still have to wait and see.

  • riz23 #49 9 months ago

    All great games on that list. Good times ahead! Except I know nothing of "Dishonoured". What's that all about then?

    EDIT: Cheers revan8!
    Edited by riz23 at 22/08/11 @ 13:24

  • revan8 #50 9 months ago

    Riz23 . It is assassin rpg/action game with people from half life 2 n deus ex teams in charge of it. Set alternate future. Looks sweet.

  • irrelevanthuman #51 9 months ago

    @tjtj
    As you know, advertising is part of what makes Eurogamer possible, but there is no evidence I'm aware of that links Eurogamer's game of Gamescon choice with the Battlefield 3 Ads on this site. I need a bit more evidence before I impugn anyones integrity. Nobody here accepts EGs word as gospel, you only have to look at the posts on review scores to see that! I've seen previews for many of the games you list, and they are looking great but the Battlefield 3 stuff is the only footage I've seen that has blown me away, so in this instance my early opinion seems to jibe with EGs.

  • hollowroom #52 9 months ago

    @tjtj

    To be fair, I think quite a few BF2 / 1942 / 2142 players (myself included) would be quite happy with just a BF2 with better physics, graphics and more maps. I personally wasn't looking for anything particularly groundbreaking, just more of the same, slightly improved.

    On the right server, with the right people, BF2 64 player was that good, there wasn't much you could do to improve the gameplay.

    Forgot to mention: the advertising campaigns go right over my head, as I can't see them.
    Edited by hollowroom at 22/08/11 @ 13:35

  • swills #53 9 months ago

    @tjtj
    "Seriously, how about coming up with a fucking counterarguement?"

    Well, Gamescom themselves also awarded BF3 Game of the Show. Do you think EA ALSO bribed them too?

    You might be right. You can tell from that trailer that basically zero effort has gone into BF3, and it looks very mediocre. You can see why EA woiuld need to bribe sites by advertising for their shit game in order to get it awards.

  • arcam #54 9 months ago

    @tjtj

    I can't agree. Even as someone who has played and enjoyed BF1942 and BF2, this was by far the most exciting thing at gamescom. For console players (let's be honest, most of these polls are from their perspective) this is the first proper Battlefield so I would be even more excited for it. It is a worthy winner by anyone's standards.

  • Bradach #55 9 months ago

    @Ryze
    you're probably right but i couldn't wait! I'm passing the time with Witcher 2 and Crysis 2 just fine though!

  • TheEarlOfZinger #56 9 months ago

    xbox360 and ps3 versions will look identical when you're being fired on.

    Unless of course you buy fps to stop and enjoy the scenery, personally I find I get shot to bits (if I do this.)

  • TheEarlOfZinger #57 9 months ago

    A game shouldn't need an award to validate your own enjoyment of it anyway. Who cares who won?!

  • metalangel #58 9 months ago

    I would love to see one of those 'first 15 minutes' videos for BF3. That Caspian trailer... almost a third of it is logo screens. Yes, there's actual gameplay there but only 10 second glimpses before it cuts away of something else, with the audio DICE is so proud of drowned out by music.

    I'd hate to think something is being hidden being bombastic presentation and overzealous editing, and that people are being fooled by it.

    Let us see the menus, let us see choosing a class, spawning, finding and getting into a vehicle, going to an objective. That's a large part of the game too. The trailer is just the equivalent of a porn film of 20 money shots all edited together...

  • TheEarlOfZinger #59 9 months ago

    @beIIy

    It's got a new destruction engine on all platforms - so I think we'll be fine

  • SaintDaveUK #60 9 months ago

    To see actual ingame stuff, search YouTube for "Battlefield 3 Alpha"

  • hollowroom #61 9 months ago

    tjtj

    For me, BFBC is BF "lite". Smaller maps, smaller amount of players. Less vehicles.

    After you've played on a 64 player map that's fully populated by people who are playing properly, you really don't want to go back to anything else.

    Thats not to say I don't enjoy BFBC2, just that it's not the full fat experience.
    Edited by hollowroom at 22/08/11 @ 14:24

  • Rack #62 9 months ago

    @Gruntboy. I think that might be a bit unfair, the combat has various improvements on a hotkey system but isn't enough to set the world on fire on its own. But that would be to forget the advanced quest mechanics, advanced character mechanics, more developed story and more interesting quests, any one of which would be enough to make it the biggest advancement in MMOs in 7 years.

  • arcam #63 9 months ago

    @tjtj

    Small maps, much bigger infantry focus. I have BF:BC2 on PC, and while it is a fun game, playing it doesn't feel much like playing BF2. Admittedly, I haven't played the Vietnam expansion.

  • metalangel #64 9 months ago

    @tjtj: Here is a (fan-made, so ignore the brief clip of CoD4!) trailer for ArmA 2:
    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBtmXMFWajk
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBtmXMFWajk
    [/link]

    This (skip the intro sequence if you want, the game starts at 3:36) is the actual game being played:
    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xTqLCrMumk
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xTqLCrMumk
    [/link]

    As you can see, the actual game is not a Michael Bay movie as the trailer suggests... I know which, as a gamer, tells me more about what the game is actually about and feels like to play.

  • carlitoswagon #65 9 months ago

    @nipsen

    Those pesky chinese servers pools again. No mention of those at Gamescom. It's a conspiracy.

  • icecube_elf #66 9 months ago

    Oh wow, talk about lowest common denominator. You look at film or music awards and they cover a wide breadth of genres catering for all different tastes. Not games and especially not games press, its shooting games or nothing! You do realise that the biggest selling games have nothing to do with guns? And you could probably get a bigger readership if you reported on something other than orks. There used to be a time where I could read an article and it would be about a quirky game like Katamari and the games press would be a great source of what was happening outside of the big block buster’s. It seems those days have gone.

  • MaFlippinHeadHurts #67 9 months ago

    It’s clear that EA are heavily marketing this game and how important it is to them that it takes as much of the CoD market away from Activision. I work in the advertising industry and I’ve noticed that they’ve been advertising this far earlier than your standard two weeks prior to release.

    Anyway, just watched the video and it does look absolutely stunning

  • xuiton #68 9 months ago

    I bought a state of the art PC for FF 14 last summer (big mistake). Now there is finally a decent PC Game I want to play with it,

  • BillMurray #69 9 months ago

    Some grade A trolling going on in here.

  • Architect_z #70 9 months ago

    Dark Souls!

  • AmoebaAssassin #71 9 months ago

    Yup, pretty much expected, but to have Fifa 12 on the list and no Dark Souls, is pure fail.