E3 Preview: I spent about 15 minutes trying each of Battlefield 3’s infantry classes on an ultra dense urban level in central Paris playing the Multiplayer Rush Game mode with other fellow
media peoples and E3 attendees. I would have loved to take video of my entire endeavor to Paris in BF3, but there wasn’t any photography or filming allowed. So here’s a short synopsis instead.
I first equipped myself with the medic class. BF3 has eliminated the assault class, combining it with the medic and giving you the best of both worlds. Running across a Parisian street, bullets whizzing past my head, I tried to dodge incoming enemy fire as I figured out the game’s controls. Everything seemed pretty similar to past Battlefield titles, but one particular nugget of joy put a big smile on my face; a knife button that doesn’t swing it out for only a split second but a knife button that wields a blade and allows you to brandish it, hold it and savor it. I put the knife away and knew I would need to find some poor sap to get it all dripping with blood. For now I needed to get to some shooting.
When I first fired my assault rifle, it felt visceral. The sounds of the gun firing, combined with the recoil and kick of the weapon, combined with the visuals of the muzzle flash and optics swaying with each shot - everything felt solid. Not like the over emphasized sounds of many other shooters, sounds that tend to focus on the heavy bass and loud reverberation, these gun sounds have been honed to give an authentic feel.