Battlefield 3 "much closer to reality"

By Robert Purchese Published 9 September, 2011

Bad Company 1/2 were "adventure flicks".

Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2 were "adventure flicks", according to lead designer David Goldfarb.

Battlefield 3, however, goes "much closer to contemporary reality and current events".

"We're depicting a war and everything that suggests," wrote Goldfarb on the Battlefield blog.

"We have tried to get closer to the slang of the modern warrior. We are mixing tension-building passages with the chaos of suddenly erupting firefights. We've sought to keep the game feeling as plausible as possible, because the moment the audience stops believing it could happen, then you're just like every other shooter."

Goldfarb said DICE "loved" making Battlefield: Bad Company 1 and 2. They were "great fun" and "light hearted". "In essence, they were adventure flicks," reckons Goldfarb, "Indiana Jones with an assault rifle."

"But with Battlefield 3, we knew we had to really divorce ourselves from those characters and those themes. We had to go somewhere else and do something different and push a different set of buttons.

"We're telling a war story now," he added, "and that means it needs to feel credible, it needs to feel contemporary, and it needs to connect with things and emotions that we have never really tried or had the means to properly connect to before."

Ensuring the tone was right in Battlefield 3 was Goldfarb's proudest accomplishment.

"Tone is vibe," he wrote. "It's style. It's a feeling. It's why The Dark Knight is awesome and the '60s Batman is not; the difference between Saving Private Ryan and Hogan's Heroes. It's one of those things which, if you do it right, affects everything.

"More than anything else in Battlefield 3's single-player story, this is where we set out to do something different."

In Battlefield 3, the story is told through the recollections of US Marine Henry "Black" Blackburn. You'll also see through the eyes of armed forces from around the world.

"We put [players] in challenging situations. We ask them questions. In Battlefield 3, we ask: What would you really do for your country?

"We've tried to put our people in contexts where they make emotionally valid choices."

Goldfarb believes that that has made Battlefield 3 a "stronger, more emotional and more immersive" experience as as result.

Today's teaser for next week's Battlefield 3 video.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (76) Latest comment 8 months ago

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

  • rojjer #1 9 months ago

    -Boink!-

  • xmifi #2 9 months ago

    All i can say is: F... Cod MW3 ..............BF3 here i come.

  • octo #3 9 months ago

    Excuse me. Sixties Batman is fucking awesome and you have no soul if you think otherwise.

  • linea #4 9 months ago

    60s Batman isn't awesome?

    Watch <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0UJaprpxrk">this and tell me that
    Edited by linea at 09/09/11 @ 16:56

  • CFacto #5 9 months ago

    I'm buying this anyway, but I still wish we could see more Xbox footage. I know it looks good on PC...

  • cianchristopher #6 9 months ago

    A US Marine called Henry?

    Seriously?

    Henry?

  • Ikaros_O #7 9 months ago

    @linea
    I haven't laughed so hard in a loong time XD

  • The_Bloody_Kettle #8 9 months ago

    I agree SpaceDelete.
    If I think back a few years everyone was playing GTA and that was the game that seemed to be foremost in peoples minds when talking about videogames.
    I think that COD is a much better ambassador than that.
    I don't play it myself but I don't look down on others playing it.

    Anyway, buzzing for BF3!

  • Milouse #9 9 months ago

    No Steam, No Play.

  • Red930 #10 9 months ago

    Ahh, yes the Shark Repellent Bat Spray. Classic. :)

  • fletch7100 #11 9 months ago

    @ linea

    loved that Batman video, just for the fact the Bat ladder has a sign on it saying Bat ladder

  • bad09 #12 9 months ago

    Personally I thought Dark Knight was boring as hell...and not a sniff of Shark Repellant spray what would moody Bale use if a Shark attacked him make it laugh to death with his bat voice? Grr gravelly.

    Besides 60's Bats had rythym!

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGd3VPNJbs&feature=related
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGd3VPNJ...[/link]

    and could surf!

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlusgU-MUZ4&feature=related
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlusgU-MU...[/link]

  • SavageEvil #13 9 months ago

    Not sure what you guys are reading, but no one has said anything against any MW or CoD player in this comment section...so who are you talking about space delete? Videos look awesome and remind me of when I first laid my hands on MW, that game was a thing of beauty and it still is, lets hope Dice have a winner here as I will buy this and rent MW3 as I haven't been too pleased with the way CoD games have been heading as of late, too many map packs in too short a time. I'm still trying to understand how people get bored of playing the usual 12-15 standard maps included with the purchased game to warrant shelling out for 5 more maps...boggles my mind.

    I'll still play them both, but looking forward to BF4 just because it looks so much like an overhaul compared to BFBC2. Night and freaking DAY!

  • Bravestinsane #14 9 months ago

    "We're depicting a war and everything that suggests,"

    Yep, because innocent civilians never get killed in wars, and more soldiers die in war than civilians, their houses aren't blown up, and we never see their stories on TV.

    But at least BF3 is realistic

    36/60

  • Deathbysoup #15 9 months ago

    war never looked so beautiful.

  • Geordiemp #16 9 months ago

    I want a game not a war simulation.

    War is choatic by nature, theres friendly fire and hard to make out friend or foe.

    I like playing fun games thanks

  • paulf #17 9 months ago

    realistic respawns?
    Edited by paulf at 09/09/11 @ 17:31

  • Lunastra78 #18 9 months ago

    I'm worried that the BF3 campaign will be more "on-rails" like COD, offering a more cinematic experience but in reality also giving all players the same experience with little choice of how to approach any situation.

    BC2's campaign was nowhere near as good as the first Bad Company in my opinion, mostly because of this lack of choice.
    Edited by Lunastra78 at 09/09/11 @ 17:30

  • BabyJesus #19 9 months ago

    COD reality or reality-reality?

  • Moshbag #20 9 months ago

    "It's why The Dark Knight is awesome and the '60s Batman is not"

    I'll...bash...him...BRUTALLY!

  • Pumpatron #21 9 months ago

    Looks pretty. But I have a feeling this is going to be a heavily scripted and set piece driven game, with little chance to play your own way. :(

  • TagemandBagem #22 9 months ago

    "We have tried to get closer to the slang of the modern warrior." = We watched Gen Kill and took notes, like every other bloody military shooter dev since it came out.

    'Hitman One this is Hitman Two actual, Oscar Mike, November Juliet on route, over'

    We're going to get another awful, insipid, Medal of Honor story campaign.

  • cheeky_BILLY #23 9 months ago

    @Geordimp

    "I want a game not a war simulation. War is choatic by nature, theres friendly fire and hard to make out friend or foe. I like playing fun games thanks"

    then this game is clearly not for you,and I respect that.

    personally, I think if BF3 doe's challenge players to think about how truly evil and horrifying war is then i prefer this approach over the other 'hollywood war' style games.

    obviously , no game in the world is ever going to 'be like real war' and anyone who thinks they do is , quite frankly , mental.

    although i'm a very casual gamer, i like a game to evoke some emotion and challenge my thinking. not everyone is a wam bam button masher.

    if BF3 aims to portray a more mature version of a military FPS then i'm all for it.

  • Bennicus #24 9 months ago

    "blah blah ... contemporary .. blah ... emotional ..."
    They forgot to use "visceral", must be saving that for the next press release.

    Wonder how many emotion points I will get for each headshot?
    Edited by Bennicus at 09/09/11 @ 17:59

  • CaptainQuint #25 9 months ago

    Does this mean it's lost its sense of humour? Does this mean it's going to be just another dull objective-based military exercise?

  • Iain815 #26 9 months ago

    @linea

    *cancels pre-order*

    *orders Batman movie*

  • RedPanda #27 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • DrStrangelove #28 9 months ago

    02/09: Vehicle armour replenishes in Battlefield 3

    09/09: Battlefield 3 "much closer to reality"

    Yea, right.

  • RedPanda #29 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • jablonski #30 9 months ago

    We'll all be back here this time next year for exactly the same arguments.

  • RedPanda #31 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • coojam #32 9 months ago

    Left click mouse to disarm bomb.

    Nice and realistic. Good work.

  • Raiftel #33 9 months ago

    I kind of love 60s Batmans, certainly more than The Dour Knight and Hogan's Heroes > Saving Private Ryan. So I'm starting to feel I might not be this games Target Audience, despite loving Bad Company 2.

  • Brownie-uk7 #34 9 months ago

    haha ... what is he on about? tatexploding shark is one of the most terrifying thing I ever did see!

    wow, this looks good! Never even contemplated going back to PC gaming since these vids starting to leak out.

  • rocapocalyptic #35 9 months ago

    Glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks that 60's Batman comment was way off the mark.

  • Genome #36 9 months ago

    It's why The Dark Knight is awesome and the '60s Batman is not

    This comment and Bachmann's comments from a few days ago solidifies my belief that DICE might have a little "heads-up-rear"-problem going on on the management level.

    (Bachmann said: “There will always be games for children. When I was a child I played games for children, but I’ve been growing with games and now I look at them and I don’t want to play them. I want games for grown-ups. I want games I can play. As long as I’m in the business I will make a games that I personally want to play, and I want a story that I like to see.”)

  • metalangel #37 9 months ago

    Battlefield is to ArmA what nuking a microwave meal is to cooking a Sunday Dinner complete with proper goose fat roasties.

    EDIT: I can't help but notice the whole statement seems aimed at people who've only played Bad Company. It's almost Molyneux-esque, to slag your own previous work off in this way while promising so much more from your yet-unproven and controversial upcoming release.
    Edited by metalangel at 09/09/11 @ 20:30

  • repeater #38 9 months ago

    Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb.

  • billy-beauts #39 9 months ago

    From the comments it seems the rabble is rising and becoming more indignant towards Battlefield 3. That obviously means it's going to be a good game \0/

  • RedSparrows #40 9 months ago

    If CoD said this the comments would be full of lols.

    'Realism' is a word that needs to be divorced from games. This game will never be realistic. It will be an approximation of an impression, cordoned by gameplay rules and ergonomics, ultimately more concerned in getting MP players than anything else.

    It could be good despite all that, of course.

    To be quite honest, games have to change significantly to have the same impact as other media does about war. To truly 'learn' about the horrors of war, do I play a 'serious' FPS (given the 'hardcore' sims are ALL about soldiers in the field, using very technical terminology and 1 shot kills, and the others are po-faced and have you killing 30+ people an hour with an LMG), or do I read Life & Fate or Under Fire? HMMM.

    Still, shouldn't stop them trying, obviously.
    Edited by RedSparrows at 09/09/11 @ 21:55

  • Rodchenko #41 9 months ago

    Good thing. I hated the pop-cultural references and 'funny' puns the protagonists in Bad Company 2's SP campaign constantly spat out while shooting people in the face left and right or blowing up villages. I know it's just a game, but picturing war as 'cool' and 'fun' is just a tad too cynical in my book. Glad, they've grown up.

  • Colin8703 #42 9 months ago

    What would you do for your oil?

    I say that as no one in the west has done anything for their country since the second world war.
    Edited by Colin8703 at 09/09/11 @ 22:51

  • UkHardcore23 #43 9 months ago

    Since when was "replenishing vehicle damage" considered much closer to reality?

  • WAusJackBauer #44 9 months ago

    I heard the campaign for BF3 was inspired by 24, I instantly want to play it more now.

  • curryking3 #45 9 months ago

    "We put [players] in challenging situations. We ask them questions. In Battlefield 3, we ask: What would you really do for your country?

    "We've tried to put our people in contexts where they make emotionally valid choices."

    What? That's not the BF3 I want to play honestly. Is this some kind of stress test for sarcasm or bull poop?

  • orangpelupa #46 9 months ago

    ""We're telling a war story now," he added, "and that means it needs to feel credible,"
    agree with him this is a <strong>game</strong> that closer to reality and he didn't forget that it is a game (thus making war feel incredible)

    but maybe add some drama like CoD1 so we, the gamer, can experience "fake war" that incredible and sorrowful.
    just to remind us that killing is never good, war never good, etc

    not like that russia mission in CoD6... ugh.

  • orangpelupa #47 9 months ago

    ""We put [players] in challenging situations. We ask them questions. In Battlefield 3, we ask: What would you really do for your country? "

    so we will be able to choose the country?
    hmm wondering if my coountry is choosable.. (^_~)

  • scuffpuppies #48 9 months ago

    @Spacedelete : "its funny that everyone is making out dice and EA are the good guys but once their games sell alot they will be just like activision is now. "

    EA did used to be just like Activision, and were hated for it. So much so, that sales of all their titles began to fail mainly due to their simple conection. But, they took stock of themselves, cleaned house, and managed to change their image.

    I doubt very much that EA would allow themselves to fall back into old patterns and loose everything they've gained these past four - five years. Greed is one of mans greatest failings, and Activision is being choked to death by it. It's a shame, because they're a good publisher at heart. It's just that 'heart' is being torn to pieces right now.

  • MattyD #49 9 months ago

    I'm more interested in finding out what kind of hardware I'm going to need to play this on max settings at 1920x1080.

  • DDevil #50 9 months ago

    Jerry Lawler also said "JR! LOOK AT THOSE PUPPIES! WOO HOO!"

    May I suggest a Call of Duty website if you don't like the news on here?

  • Mnia786 #51 9 months ago

    it would have a 16 cert instead of an 18 i take it as that is how old you have to be to join the army...?

  • mowgli #52 9 months ago

    Translation = SP campaign is now even more boring.

  • scuffpuppies #53 9 months ago

    @Kprawny1.
    You make a derogatory statement towards gamers, in the comment section regarding a particular game people are passionate about, on a game website...why the Hell are you here? Why even read the comments left by people, of which you say, "have no life"?
    Which is worse in your educated mind? The person who comments about a game they're interested in? Or the person who comments about the person who commented about something they're interested in?

    It's not us who need to "get a life".

  • evilrobot #54 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 22:12:53 08-05-2012

  • mukki #55 9 months ago

    more emotional?
    is game going to make me cry?

    @linea 60's batman is awesome!

  • wingZero21 #56 9 months ago

    Will be checking this out, COD 1 was a really good game, played modern warfare 2 for 20 minutes and got tired of the Black guy from Resident evil 5 and his clones jumping out of every window and door it was like a circus show, too over the top and fucking stupid for my liking.

    Never bothered with the Trey arch games so cant comment on those but from what I hear I dident miss much...

    wingZero
    Edited by wingZero21 at 10/09/11 @ 17:20

  • azizur #57 9 months ago

    Since the topic of Batman came up, let me just say: fun as the 60s Batman show was (and I used to watch it as a kid), IT JUST WASN'T BATMAN! If you prefer it to the actual comics, which are much darker in tone, then you just don't get Batman.

    Oh and bad09, what are you talking about saying The Dark Knight is boring? Really?

  • balflear_lbp #58 9 months ago

    They'll never reach MGS level, but i hope they do well that they are triying to do

  • Spekingur #59 9 months ago

    I don't understand why people complain about the singe player campaigns in either CoD or Bad Company 2. I enjoyed them quite a bit. Maybe I'm just easy to please?

  • metalangel #60 9 months ago

    @azizur: Batman in the 50s was very strange and sci-fi like (The Batman Family, and Bat-Mite?!) while the 60s show was deliberately campy and bad.

    @Spekingur: It's more that they're something of a sideshow to the main event (the MP) and so haven't had much love lavished on them compared to a proper single player game.

  • ajaxpliskin #61 9 months ago

    We all know this game is going to rock.

  • loop7 #62 9 months ago

    Who gives a Fuck about Battlefield? This is the year of MW3 - the Elite subscription service - starts here.....whoop!

  • bad09 #63 9 months ago

    @azizur

    While I seem to be upsetting the Nolan fans predictably with that comment yeah I found it boring, not the greatest fan of Nolan Bats, it takes itself far too seriously. begins was alright because it showed Wayne becoming Batman but DK was just long winded and boring. Burtons was better.

  • metalangel #64 9 months ago

    @bad09: I hated Begins, it was a full hour before you even see Batman. Burton's was vastly superior in that respect, what a way to start off, with: "Who are you?" "I'M BATMAN!".

    For me, though, Batman TAS is the definitive Batman.

  • dfooster #65 9 months ago

    I want a world war 2 shooter. I'm tired of this modern warfare crap

  • KDR_11k #66 9 months ago

    "We're depicting a war and everything that suggests,"

    Apparently excluding civilians though which are a MAJOR issue in current battles.

    Honestly, if you want realism you play something like ArmA. Those who buy Battlefield still want an action movie-ized version of war.

  • gnrlstuart #67 9 months ago

    this might be the game that kicks the casuals out of thier COD and fifa bubble. can't wait!

  • Sgt_Petter #68 9 months ago

    Not that I know anything about real warfare, but I really hope blowing up a hotel to kill 1 sniper, doesn't have any connections to reality.

  • danidrums #69 9 months ago

    "replenishing vehicle damage" As for the comments about realism here, the man was talking about the mood and story, not about game mechanics or disarming bombs with one click, learn how to read before commenting. kthxsbye

  • RedSparrows #70 9 months ago

    Yes, because BF is so hardcore...

  • Seoh #71 9 months ago

    There should be a realistic mode, akin to hardcore mode in RPG's where if you die thats it game over no restarts, perhaps you even see your funeral as an ending. This could be used to really hammer home the danger that soldiers are in and even make the player feel some of that fear and treat death a little more seriously.

  • persus-9 #72 9 months ago

    @The Bloody Kettle:

    "If I think back a few years everyone was playing GTA and that was the game that seemed to be foremost in peoples minds when talking about videogames.
    I think that COD is a much better ambassador than that."

    So you'd rather people played mindless sensationalist nonsense that glorified and trivialises war than dark satirical comedies about the nature of society?

  • obihobson #73 9 months ago

    Just to clarify will the orginal 60's batman and the new batman both be selectable characters in BF3? Or will i have to pre order 2 copies to get both skins?

  • Yuroko #74 9 months ago

    Batman clip is amazing. Shows Nolan still has a lot of work to do.

  • Nephirion #75 8 months ago

    While I understand that this is a computer game, it is good to see that the storyline appears to be far more realistic than in BFBC/2. I found the way the soldiers would arse about under heavy contact unrealistc in the extreme, I for one wont miss the Dads Army slapstic wise cracking style of the previous SP experiences. I can't claim if this is closer to reality or not as I have never exeprienced war or fired a gun however it does seem to have been influenced more by recent conflicts of Afghanistan.

  • DAN.E.B #76 8 months ago

    "Honestly, if you want realism you play something like ArmA. Those who buy Battlefield still want an action movie-ized version of war."

    No I want to play ArmA but its not on consoles!
    Ghost Reacon has been dumbed down and Operation Flashpoint was crap
    Battlefield is all we have left!