Electronic Arts Battlefield 3 Xbox 360 One Size Multi

First off, the single-player game is far too short and the story isn't very compelling. Neither of those issues mean that the campaign is a write-off. On the contrary, it is a fun campaign, just not one that will keep you coming back for any other reason than to enjoy the spectacular graphics. The graphics are amazing (though the consoles can't touch what this game looks like on the PC)... especially character models and movements. The AI is much more intelligent than any of the CoD campaigns I have played (and I've pretty much played them all). Both enemy and ally AI can shoot and they will both sprint and take cover when appropriate. The campaign was surprisingly difficult for me (the soldier missions), even on the Normal setting. They nailed the sound... I can't really elaborate much on that other than they got it perfect (just like GTA 4 did with the sounds of New York).Controls are very intuitive as well. I've been a career CoD man and this was my first attempt at Battlefield. It took me a while to adjust to the control scheme in a way in which I could be as effective as I am in CoD games, but it didn't take long and, overall, I think I actually prefer the Battlefield control scheme (such as the kneel & prone control being moved to the right thumb stick and being able to perpetually sprint by holding down the left thumb stick).I found the gameplay very impressive. It is very smooth with only the occasional frame-rate issues. Given that this game takes the Xbox to it's graphical limit based on its hardware, that's pretty good. I didn't notice any of the tearing or jaggies (poor anti-aliasing) that are common in my favorite CoD games (like Black Ops) when moving quickly around the maps... very few graphical glitches.However, multi-player is where this game is at and where it excels. There shouldn't be any flame wars between CoD fans and Battlefield fans because the games are entirely different animals. I personally don't like EA and their marketing tactics at all. I think it was a mistake for them to use the "CoD-killer" moniker to start a fan war as a marketing tactic to bring attention to Battlefield 3. I can't bash them too hard though because it worked and, occasionaly, EA does put out a good game that matches the marketing hype... this is one of them.What impressed me most about the gameplay in multi-player is that there doesn't seem to be as many lag issues that I constantly have to deal with in CoD games. Nothing bothers me more than when I'm playing Black Ops multi-player and I slip behind a wall to avoid being shot at only to be seemingly shot through the wall and when I watch the "replay" it appears that I was only imagining that I had taken cover behind the wall even though it was pretty clear to me... apparently, I was standing out in the open motionless, like a dummy, becoming a pin cushion for the guy who shot me. I have played about 5 hours of Battlefield multi-player and haven't once experienced that particular irritating lag issue.The next thing that really impressed me was that old familiar feel of actual teamwork in multi-player that I hadn't experienced since the days of Halo 2 and Star Wars Battlefront. In fact, I think I can legitimately say that B3 is a perfect combination of the multi-player team matches of Halo 2 and Battlefront with a billion improvements.The classes demand teamwork. If you choose a particular class, you aren't choosing a class without responsibilities. You are choosing a class that has an important role in gaining victory for the team, one that has particular functions that benefit the team as a whole... services that you provide the team. You aren't always making a choice of "personal preference" which is really the only choice when it comes to most CoD games. Many a time, I actually chose a class that was outside of my comfort zone because it seemed like a better choice to benefit the team on the particular map or for the particular game type. Not only is the game geared towards this behavior and the teamwork paradigm, it also rewards you greatly for using your class to help the team. Resuscitating your teammate will earn you points, dropping ammo or health will earn you points when your teammates use them, if you lay down cover fire to pin down an enemy while another member of your squad takes him out you earn points, if you repair another teammate's vehicle, you earn points... you get the picture. You can actually earn more points by being a team player than you can by being a lone-wolf head-hunter. In fact, the lone-wolf is most likely bound to meet an untimely end early. Abandon your squad for your own personal glory and you'll wind up dead quickly and so will your squad. You'll lose the team match and your K/D ratio will suffer.There are hundreds of unlockables (fabulous and useful weapons and vehicle upgrades) and that are earned with the points that you accumulate through playing your class appropriately, for playing as a team, and for winning as a team as well. These unlockables are what separate Battlefield 3 from other team focused games of the past (like Battlefront) and will ensure that you will never lose interest in this multi-player game.The vehicles in multi-player are classic as well and, like the classes themselves, promote and reward teamwork. Why go lone wolf with the tank when, by waiting for a squad member to jump in, you can double your firepower? Same with all of the vehicles. Having an adept Engineer with you can keep you in your vehicle for the whole match (if that's what's best for the team, of course).All of that combined with the fantastic graphics and the destructible environments (yes, if you're having a hard time getting to that camper in the building across the square, smoke him out or kill him by shelling the crap out of the building... you'll notice the walls cave in and rubble crumbling to the ground below) make this a multi-player experience that you absolutely should not pass up.CONSUMER WARNING:With the extremely short campaign, I must say that I believe this game is way overpriced. It's simply not worth $60. I would normally suggest that one purchase it used to save some money, but the problem is that EA has joined the ever growing group of game developers and producers who are taking full advantage of online market downloads (in their obvious attempt to purge used sales). If you buy the game new, you will receive a code that gives you access to multi-player, so you'll have no worries. If you buy it used, however, you will have to pay $10 for that code no matter when you buy it used (be it now or two years from now). The game is obviously a multi-player game as the single-player campaign is too short and lackluster to be its selling point, so I find it particularly deceptive and greedy of EA to "sell" the only component that this game is truly worth if you happen upon a used copy. So, unless you want to wait until 2013, the only way to get your money's worth is to buy this game new... buying it used translates into an instant additional $10 no matter when you buy it, so keep that in mind. It is an expensive game and will be for quite a while. If you want the multi-player experience but you're waiting for a price drop, you may as well forget about it. Look to wholesalers like COSTCO to get it $5 cheaper than retailers (or you can sometimes find a deal here on Amazon).******** UPDATE *********I have now logged over 20 hours of multiplayer gameplay and the game still holds my interest as much as it did when I first wrote this review. Also, the price for the game has dropped by $20 on Amazon and at other retailers. In my opinion, that is a good price range for this game brand new (I would say anywhere between $30 - $40, at least until next year - 2012). Another thing I forgot to mention in the review is that EA hosts a web site - battlelog.battlefield.com - where you can track your statistics online, set up platoons/clans (which appears to only combine statistics and enable platoon members to communicate on the site easier... I haven't seen any platoon war offerings yet, but that doesn't mean none exist), view all weapons and their unlockables, progress with each weapon and class, next unlockables and what's needed to obtain them, etc. It's a good site and I find myself drawn to it during the day when I'm not playing the game to help me decide how I'm going to play it later.The only complaint I have is that not enough people use their headsets in the multiplayer game. It doesn't make teamwork impossible because there are several ways you can prompt your team with objectives or by spotting enemies for them using in-game commands. It does hurt, however. Camping is not a bad thing in this game as it's obvious that when a sniper finds a good bird's nest in real life, what does he do? He camps. When soldiers are defending a position, what do they do? They camp. Camping can feel more like a problem where there is a lack of communication, though, and will naturally result in more unnecessary team casualties. Like I said, there are work arounds, but because too many people go without the headsets, you'll suffer more team deaths than you normally would and at times it can become costly. The game is fun regardless, but if you want to avoid this tragedy, hook up with some friends when you play this game and/or add friends that you play with randomly who do use their headsets so that you'll have a solid corp of friends available to play at any time. What I can't understand is that those who play CoD games seem to use their headsets more frequently even when they don't need to (since teamwork is not that important)... but I suppose it's mostly to be able to rub it in when they take someone down.

I actually held back on writing anything about Battlefield 3 until I had some more time with it. While Modern Warfare 3 forced me, out of frustration, to feel the need to set it aside, so far since the first few days it was out, and immediately set my disappointment down in words, I just soaked up Battlefield 3. It's not like Modern Warfare 3 and, for some people, that appears to make it not worth any real examination.Why? Well, Battlefield 3 is not obvious. You aren't locked into a tiny map, particularly looking at Modern Warfare 3 in this case, that's basically a tarted up paintball arena, where you are expected to stack up lag amplified no scope kills 'til your "team" gets to 50. That's pretty straight-forward... a "no-brainer" as they say in creatively bankrupt boardroom meetings the country over. Now, while it used to be lots of fun to do that, the maps in Modern Warfare 3 have certain, ummmmmm, design competency issues when compared to Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2. To put it plainly, the maps suck. So, if the maps suck, and it's no longer fun to rinse and repeat Activision style, what do you do?I didn't start out with Dice's games until Battlefield: Bad Company. While the single player campaign was enjoyable enough, the multiplayer was a bit overwhelming for me at the time. The maps were pretty big and it was total chaos. There were vehicles blowing stuff up all over the place and it was hard to get your bearings. At that time I was probably playing Call of Duty 4, quite a bit, and didn't really care to deal with the learning curve of Bad Company's multiplayer.Then, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 came out and I enjoyed the single player campaign even more. While it was lacking the grandeur of Modern Warfare 2, it had a more intimate feel... You and a group of guys, against everybody, so that really warmed me more to the game. The mechanics felt a little better than before, and I was ready to extend the experience. At this point I really dipped my toe in the multiplayer waters. I probably played Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer more, but not by much. I was starting to get annoyed with some of the consistent lag deaths, where you are a good deal under cover, but still die, seeing you hanging out in the open in the opponent's kill-cam. But, the maps were good, and I still had fun. Now, with Bad Company 2 multiplayer, I started to get the difference. Team Deathmatch wasn't the strength of Bad Company 2. It was the objective based games that felt good. Rush seemed to be the focus, where you sequentially attack or defend stations. It takes a lot of coordination and can be tough to not get frustrated when you're just getting started and figuring out the way you can best play it. But, the Conquest game, where you try to take, and hold, different points on the map, felt like the sweet spot to me. It was easier to ease into the play-style, and still make a noticable impact. Now, I got it. This was a really great multiplayer experience.So, what exactly is great about it? I'll explain as it pertains to Battlefield 3. In Dice's style of console multiplayer, you are placed in a squad of up to 4, on a team of 12. You have 4 distinct classes that impact the game in different ways. Each one has their place and may appeal to different types of players. The Assault Class gives players the ability to heal and revive other players (armed with assault rifles). The Engineer Class gives players the ability to effectively attack armor & aircraft, with rockets & mines, and a repair tool to fix damaged equipment (armed with carbines - theoretically meant for close to mid range combat). The Support Class gives players heavy weapons, the ability to resupply ammo, and plantable explosives (armed with light machine guns). Finally, the Recon Class offers sniper rifles, spotting equipment, and deployable spawn points. Each class' specialties contribute to the success of the squad and greater team. Where Modern Warfare is more focused on individual kill-counts, at least in the mode most people play, Battlefield is focused on the objective, and doing what it takes to hold them the longest. You always get points for kills, but you also get points for healing, reviving, resupplying, repairing, spotting, destroying, disabling, capturing, and defending. There are a lot of different ways to be successful at this game. The points are what really shows your effectiveness. In addition, the players may also commandeer tanks, jets, helicoptes, troop transports, and various types of jeeps and buggies.All of this adds up to a big experience. The maps are large. The approaches are varied. The scale feels epic. Anything can happen in Battlefield 3. It's not just a variation of gun/grenade/knife kills, it's...> Jumping from a roof and dropping a tank busting charge of C4 on the back of a Russian T-90.> Bailing out of your flaming jet to land on an occupied capture point to retake it for your team.> Shooting down a helicopter packed with an opposing team with an unguided RPG.> Luring a tank onto 2 carefully placed land mines.> Sneaking up behind a camping sniper who is griefing your team, several hundred yards into the outer edge of a map.> Collapsing a building onto several players from the other team, crushing them in the wreckage.The list goes on and on. This is what makes Battlefield so much fun... the pure variety. It always feels different, and "wow" moments happen all the time, and you'll think back, often, to cool things that happened in the recent games you played.To top it all off, the sound is remarkable. It's so intense to hear a jet streak by overhead, and the "braaaaap" of the chain gun as it strafes the roadway, or the sound of an RPG as it whistles inches past your head. It's really a huge addition to the immersion that Battlefield provides.Now, there are problems, and addressing them will make the game even better. My biggest problem is with the range of certain weapons and how you'll find players using shotguns and sub machine guns, all short range weapons, very effectively from long range. I don't think it's very realistic when you get outgunned by a shotgun, when you have an assault rifle and nearly a football field of spread between the two of you. I've also seen people with sniper rifles get outgunned by light machine guns, from long distance. Spawn killing can also be a problem, but it's still not as bad as Modern Warfare 3. In the end, by just being a little careful, these problems can be addressed in-game, by taking advantage of the large maps and the many ways to traverse them, but the developers can fix them pretty easily with an update. Oh, yeah. The building destructability isn't as good when compared to Bad Company 2, but it appears the first expansion pack will better feature it.In the end, Battlefield may not be for everyone, because it takes effort to get the most out of it. The player needs to engage with the map, the strategy, the teamwork, and the depth. Modern Warfare 3 is about as obvious as you can get, which worked when the maps were good, and the mechanics/rules of the game weren't totally frustrating, but it doesn't fly this time around. Try out Battlefield. Give it a real chance, and see the multitude of different experiences you can have on most of the maps. It's not perfect, but it feels a lot more fresh than the alternative this time around.Other aspects: Honestly, I've barely touched the single player game, and haven't opened up co-op at all. The single player didn't really compell me, at this point, to keep playing. It doesn't have the same character, or unique feeling, that the Bad Company games have, but it's such a minor element when compared to the multiplayer, where I've already spent way more time than I care to admit. EDIT: After finally finishing the single player campaing, I can make some more comments on it. The campaign has some great visuals, seeming to try to compete with the bombastic set-pieces in Modern Warfare, but I feel more and more like they're completely wasted. The developers design these beautiful levels, with great environments, that the player just rushes through for a few minutes, and that's it... you never see them again. It would be different if the campaign was so compelling that you wanted to experience it multiple times, but the story is so convoluted, particularly with the manner in which the hero catches up with the big-bad in New York, that one and done is all it's worth, save for the possible achievement poaching. Again, the visual effort seems sorely wasted. It should have all been dumped into extra multiplayer maps at this point. Now, if they had a story nearly as fun, and somewhat coherent, like in Bad Company 2, I would say bring the single player on. But, Battlefield 3 should have just let it go with this beautiful, but ultimately empty, shell of a campaign.Overall, I'd give Battlefield 3, combining the good and the bad, where the fun of the multiplayer becomes a driving factor in the score, a 9 out of 10. But, I'm basically ignoring the single player element to arrive at this score because the multiplayer has so much bang for the buck.

I would like to start by saying that I am not a "Fanboy" of any shooter, I have played many different shooters from Halo to Call of Duty to Gears of War. Now let's get started on the review...First this game isn't bad I don't understand why so many are giving it a 1 star, now the game is not prefect, it does have its flaws. Battlefield 3 is EA's blockbuster shooter and is set to compete with Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 3, its a big arms race, and Battlefield 3 is definitely a contender. DICE the studio who developed Battlefield 3 has done a good job they even released betas to ensure the finished game met demands. Now the game has three main areas Campaign, CO-OP, and Multiplayer, I will break down each area but first some specifics...Battlefield 3 Specs:- The game ships on 2 discs-Disc 1: Multiplayer and CO-OP on this disc is also the high resolution textures (the texture is optional and would require 1.5GB for the Installation this is NOT REQUIRED but the game doesn't look as good without it).- Disc 2: CampaignCampaign Review:First I have not actually finished the campaign but so far the campaign for Battlefield 3 is a bit of a let down I expected more. Comparing it to other shooter campaigns like Halo which feels "Epic", Call of Duty which feels "Action Packed", Battlefield's just doesn't compare and feels "Lifeless".Multiplayer Review:This is the main reason to play Battlefield. The Multiplayer experience in Battlefield is amazing, especially the team oriented play. You don't have to be a killing machine to rank up on the game leader board there are many ways to earn "points" such as the obvious like capturing objectives, but you can also earn points by healing your teammates or resupplying them with ammunition. The game is largely team oriented and you can earn points by..- Killing an opponent- Assisting the kill of an opponent- Destroying vehicles- Suppressing an enemy with gun fire- Arming M-com stations- Capturing map-specific areas- Healing your teammates- Reviving your teammates- Spawning in your squad mates- Repairing friendly vehicles- And many more!There are four classes to chose from Assault, Engineer, Support, Recon. Each class offers a unique contribution to the battlefield which can fit many different play styles.Now the ranking up system the levels go from 1-99 and for anyone who has played the beta you do not rank up as quickly there may or may not be a "prestige" rank). You rank up each class individually, and each weapon individually for example if you played as an Assault and with the weapon M4A1 you will only receive experience points for that class and weapon, also if you unlocked a weapon upgrade for the M4A1 it will only be available for that weapon you will have to play the other weapons to unlock the same upgrade.Each class has its own perks...Assault - Can heal throw out a health pack which heals nearby teammates automatically, once you have played enough you can unlock more features such as the defibrillator which revives dead teammates this can be helpful because instead of them spawning at the deployment area they can immediately get right back in the action.Engineer - The engineer is able to use heavy weapons like RPG's. The engineer is also equipped to repair damaged vehicles. An unlock grants the ability to use a robot which can arm the M-COM station in the RUSH playlist. Anti-Tank mines are also an optionSupport - The support resupplies teammates the same way the assault heals teammates. Future unlocks can grant the use of C4 and claymore explosives.Recon - The Recon has the ability to place a "Radio Beacon" which is a mobil spawn point. Unlocks can grant the ability to place the T-UGS which is a motion sensor, MAV which is a airborne camera to spot enemies.You can also choose a specialization for each class such as "Sprint" which allows you to run faster, "Ammo" which gives you more ammo to start, and more. The Specialization is earned by overall rank and you do not need to earn it for each class.There are also vehicles such as Tanks, transport vehicles, helicopters, but this is nothing new to battlefield. What is new is that you can now fly Jets in the battlefield, yes that's right JETS! Each vehicle does have its own upgrades.Multiplayer Tips & Tricks:-This is not Call of Duty, playing it like so will not be wise.-Having friends to talk to and coordinate can make a huge difference. If you don't have friends to play with join a squad to have multiple people to spawn on and talk to. Communication is key.- If your the last man alive on your squad stay alive so that your team can spawn on you rather than everyone spawning at deployment.- If you are using the tactical light upgrade on your weapon be careful not to point it at your teammates. It's not very tactical to blind them.- Don't run in to the enemy base alone, again this is not call of duty and you will die quickly.- Use the spotting feature by pressing the back button (once you crosshairs are over the target). This will put a small but bright red mark over the enemy for all of your team to see.- Remember that you do not need to be a killing machine to advance quickly. concentrating on the objectives and supporting your teammates can also give you a big boost in points.- When you are about to spawn on a teammate make sure to look if they are in a gun fight first as it can be annoying to spawn on your teammate on ly to get immediately killed because they were in trouble.- The tank, helicopter, and jet aren't god weapons they do take some mastering to use correctly.Some Annoying Things:- The party size or squad size is limited to 4 people.-If you quick search some of your friends in your squad may not get matched with you or it may put them on the other team. This can be avoided by using the server browser and looking for a game with the appropriate amount of players. Now once you and all your friends are on the same team and squad the game will keep you together.CO-OP Review:I Haven't completed to many of the CO-OP missions. A lot of cooperation is required with you and your co-op friend to succeed in these missions though. Will update when I have completed the co-op missions.Final Thoughts:This is a great team oriented game and a must buy if you enjoy first person shooters. I rate this game a 90/100 I deducted points for having a mediocre campaign.

At this moment, Battlefield 3 has been experiencing some server issues on the Xbox side. The same thing happened the first week after Bad Company 2 was released and once patched, that game had little network issues anymore. With that I am basing my review on the game itself and not releases-week network issues like everybody else seems to be doing.The single player wasn't really expected. Battlefield has always been multiplayer only, so a single player mission is simply icing on the cake. Sure the SP portion of the game obviously doesn't get the attention the MP does, but it didn't need to. If you bought Battlefield 3 specifically for it's single player campaign, then you just wasted your money. I am not even going to dive into it too much as it is not the main treat in the Battlefield 3 bag.Basically you are a soldier who is being interrogated for some atrocities that have been committed. Your character, Blackburn, tells the story of what happened, and thus the game begins and puts us in his shoes from earlier. Each chapter returns to the interrogation room where you find out more and more what is going on. You then start to play chapters as other characters in the unwinding plot. The graphics in the SP campaign are phenomenal for the Xbox. They really did a great job with lighting and building damage even though they were limited by the hardware. Much of the game takes place at night so you really get a visual treat when explosions go off and firefights are happening. Most of the plot seems ripped right out of a militarists wet dream and there are a lot of unexpected 'quick-time-events' that can kinda throw you off at times. Other than that it was a pretty above average campaign, id give it an 8/10 by itself. All-in-all it was a fun break from the real meat of Battlefield, the multiplayer.Battlefield has the perfect name. The games really do give you this feeling of a grand scale battle going on, even with just 24/max players. The bullets zipping by your head, jets flying about and tanks shooting off mortars all combine to give this ethereal feelings of being a soldier in battle, from your couch. Anybody comparing Battlefield to Call of Duty needs to stop right there. The two franchises are nothing alike. Call of Duty is all about run and gun and lone wolf play, whereas Battlefield relies almost entirely on teamwork and class-specific jobs. If you aren't working with your team, you will die and your team will lose...simple as that.The four classes in BF3 are: Assault/Medic, Engineer, Recon, and Support. Assault could be considered your standard battle class with the added benefit of also being team medic. Healing and reviving enemies is a very important job, especially in the heat of huge battles when you cant afford to lose any more men on your frontlines. Engineer packs some pretty good firepower as it is the class specific to repair vehicles as well as take out enemy vehicles. It also has some good standard weapons for individual fighting. Recon is your sniper class and helps the other classes move to their needed target while not having to worry about an enemy blindsiding them. Finally the Support rounds things out. Think heavy weapons and suppression. Support has the big guns. Each class has specific roles that need to be accomplished. As I said earlier, if you are expecting a prettier Call of Duty then this is the wrong game, teamwork and good use of vehicles makes all the difference.As far as gametypes, you have:*Team Deathmatch: pretty self-explanatory, you try to kill the other team, they try to kill you. No vehicles are available in this mode.*Squad Deathmatch: which groups 4 teams of 4 together for a deathmatch brawl. There are usually only transport vehicles available on these games.*Rush: M-COM stations are set up for each team and you take turns defending or opposing. The defending team must stop you from entering their base and destroying the station.*Squad Rush: Same as Rush, but maps are smaller, only two teams of 4 and no vehicles*Conquest: This is the heart and soul mode of any Battlefield game. At it's very basic, it is a game of capture the flag, but the way it is set up in Battlefield is so much more advanced than any other game using something similar. Two teams try and capture flags at neutral bases scattered throughout the maps. You get massive points for neutralizing and capturing. Depending on the map, all vehicles are available, from helicopters, to tanks, to jets, this is where massive battles happen. Once you have captured number of flags a predetermined 'ticket-system' starts to dwindle on your opposing team. The goal is to hold more flags for a longer period of time as this eats into the enemies tickets. Once the tickets are gone, you lose the match.Teamwork cannot be stressed enough with this game. Having a team full of snipers might sound fun, but you are going to lose the match. Camping is very ineffective unless it is used in aiding another teammate with suppression fire....which you also get points for doing. If you spray your bullets near an enemy it will temporarily fuzz out their screen and semi-blind them, which allows your team to move in. You need Engineers to take out enemy vehicles and fix yours, you need medics to heal and revive, you need Support to hold down suppressive and power firing and you also need Recon/Snipers (just not a whole team filled with either).Above everything and nitpicking on network issues that are bound to be fixed by the time this review even goes up, Battlefield 3 is an amazing taste of real military battle. Never before have I been so engaged into what was going on on-screen; your heart will literally start pounding in some situations.This is NOT Call of Duty, not trying to be. If you have enjoyed all those games, DO NOT get Battlefield 3 and then complain because it's different. This is a game about massive battles that take place on huge maps with a big amount of people. It may be overwhelming to some, hell, it sure as hell was to me on my first few rounds, but once you get down the controls and objectives, it becomes a whole nother experience all it's own. Battlefield 3 has impressed me and I assume will only get better after a few small problems are patched up.

Note: Give Battlefield 3 Multiplayer at least 5-10 hours of your time before you review it please! I have read a lot of bad reviews and would be quite perplexed if it weren't for common sense that, for some ill and evil reason, Battlefield & COD players have decided to hate each other. It's good to have a healthy competition, but the 1 star reviews of Battlefield 3 (BF3) is uncalled for. Anyone with a brain would at least rate this game as decent! Be wary of anyone who gives BF3 or Modern Warfare 3 (MW3) a 1-star review. They may be just trying to give bad ratings... I have played both--and enjoy both.Once I loaded the over 2 gigs of updates and HD resolution graphics on my XBOX 360 20gb Hard drive, I was wowed. Battlefield 3 is the best looking game on XBOX 360--or at least even with that new Crysis game (forgot the name). I'll admit, I was upset that I had to delete a few things and wait an hour or so while playing single player before it was all ready.But once I opted in a Multiplayer Conquest Match i was almost breathless. The graphics, including the textures, special effects, and lighting are the best XBOX 360 has ever performed. The Hard Drive install is worth it--and so are the updates. I must add that the sound is fantastic--get a high quality sound system, whether they be a nice set of headphones or a decent speaker system, and prepare to hear some of the best sound you can hear in a videogame. Bullets whiz & penetrate. Mortars launch in their horrifying whistle-BOOM manner. Tanks pound DOOM & DESTRUCTION (haha) upon the land and its people. There are few games that come so close to a first-person warfare experience as BF3.Dice could have just skipped Bad Company 1 and 2 for Battlefield 3, but I suspect that those two games helped develop BF3 into what it is. It pushes the XBOX 360 to it's limits. Also, Bad Company 2 was actually a very good game. But Battlefield 3 is highly polished and fantastic. Aiming, lighting, aura. Dice got the feel right this time. In fact, Battlefield 3 is so big it will take n00bs far longer to adjust than the Call of Duty videogame series. So if you are used to Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops--or even MW3, give Battlefield 3 some time. Or plan to play it later--you'll regret it. Yes it plays slower than COD, but it explodes off the screen with its large 3D models and pretty landscapes. Let me put it this way: If you are not enjoying BF3 right now, I am having fun and you are not :P So God bless you to get it!When I started playing (I also played the Beta for a few days) I did not like it much until I gave it more time. The key [to fun] here is the improvement of the player's skill accompanied by the weapon, optic, gadget, and vehicle unlocks which, though hidden at first, reveal the customizable and happy-face killer part of the game. Battlefield 3 has a gun and item for everyone. From Glock 17 Gen 4 (!) (my friend just got a Glock Gen 4 which is NICE) or 18, through the MP7 Sub Gun, through Straight-Pull modifications on Bolt Action Sniper rifles, to M243 Machine guns with HUNDREDS of rounds on tap in addition to Ammo drops (I'm talking hella Rain of Fire here with the MG's), Battlefield 3 has a train load of fun waiting for us. Surprise! It's gonna to take teamwork to get there!Where COD is more about a lone run-&-gun experience, BF3 is about teamwork and a more realistic (though arcade-y yet still fun) tactical experience. Once you understand how BF3 plays, you'll see more action because you will understand how to read the maps. You will learn what to do and where to go then--and like I said see action more often.BF3 surprised me--I was thinking from all the bad reviews that it would be mediocre. But it really is that good.The only downside is that, honestly, XBOX 360 & PS3 are OLD. The PC (Personal Computer) version of Battlefield 3 supports up to 64 players, whereas XBOX 360 and PS3 supports only 24 players. But you won't notice this until you play the PC version I am sure. The XBOX 360 version that I have played is scaled wonderfully to the lower player count and is fun fun fun. So you won't know what you are missing until you see the no-pop-in super beautiful PC version running on a high-end Person SuperComputer (PSC lol)--Which is expensive. ...which is why we play the console versions. Hey I got REAL guns to buy!Now if you have given at least 5-10 hours of playtime to battlefield 3 and you realize it is not for you--that's fine. I am sure there are other games that you enjoy. Then modern, mature War FPS's are not your thing. That's fine. I respect that. But to give BF3 less than 3 stars is wrong. Just wrong. Shame on you. You should have played it longer. Or played it period.Note: I have played Modern Warfare 3 and I like it. But not enough to buy it until it goes down to maybe $30. If Infinity Ward releases better maps for MW3 I may buy it, but the map design is BAD (imo not hating here) in MW3 besides 4 maps that I like. The maps are too small and too cluttered in MW3. On Team Deathmatch in MW3, enemies spawn behind you all the time! I am comparing MW3 to Modern Warfare 2, one of my all-time favorite FPS and one of the most polished best handling FPS of all time. *ALSO--I noticed that Team Deathmatch in BF3--that enemies spawn points are EVEN WORSE than MW3, but modes like Conquest are not this way. Also Team Deathmath in BF3 is a great way to unlock items since there is almost always someone to shoot at every second--because the enemy is always near you. I played Team Deathmatch in BF3 to unlock the SV98 Sniper Rifle quickly (tip).Thanks! See you on the Battlefield -D