Battlefield 3 vs Modern Warfare 3
By Bieber
It's that time of year again when the latest batch of first person
shooters are released, just in time for the festive season. As usual there are
two main contenders, Activision's Modern Warfare 3 and EA's Battlefield 3.
These two titles have had massive advertising campaigns and boast a host of new
and improved features and gameplay but do they deliver? Well lets pit them both
against each other and see if we cannot separate the noob from the vet.
The single player experience of FPS's has been neglected of late in
favour of an enhanced multiplayer experience. Do either of these games break
the trend?
The Modern Warfare 3 campaign mode tries to be an epic action story but
ultimately fails to deliver. The game attempts to build tension through
different mission types and game play styles, but isn't at all engaging and I
found myself not caring about the fate of the characters. Activision tried to
make the player feel like a badass right out of a Schwarzenegger or Stallone
movie, but due the inept enemy AI most of the time the player is left feeling
more like Reb Brown.
The Battlefield 3 campaign mode on the other hand is much more engaging,
I found myself truly caring about the characters from the get go. The in
mission banter between NPC's allows you to get to know the characters, reminiscent
of the scene where Ripley meets Hicks and the rest of the marines in 'Aliens'
for the first time, leading you to actually care about your team when under
fire from the rather intelligent enemies. The gameplay is mixed up from time to
time allowing you to be an airplane gunner or driving a tank, this succeeds
where Modern Warfare 3 failed to deliver.
Modern Warfare 3's online experience is disappointing, feeling more like
an expansion pack for Modern Warfare 2. Some things have changed slightly, such
as the rewards system being split into offensive and defensive rewards, however
this doesn't offer much new over its predecessor. The survival mode is back,
sans-zombies. This time around the player is pitted against waves of
increasingly difficult enemies, similar to Gears of War's Horde mode. While
this is good it isn't anywhere near as ground breaking as the original Zombie Survival
mode.
Battlefield 3's multiplayer experience imposes a bigger emphasis on
working as a team opposed to running off on your own trying to be a hero. While
it does not have a plethora of extra modes the customisation options available
allowing for a more unique experience, keeping players engrossed and wanting to
play more to unlock new content. This feels like a totally new experience
rather than an expansion to previous content.
The graphics of Modern Warfare 3 are not much of a leap forward from its predecessor. The character models and environments still look great but the graphics fail when it comes to the backgrounds. This isn't so much of a problem when fully engaged in the action but once noticed it becomes hard to ignore, disengaging the player from the experience.
The graphics of Battlefield 3 are very detailed and compliment the intended game style very well. However this realistic approach can occasionally have a detrimental effect on game play as sections can sometimes become too dark to see the enemy. Despite this the game looks stunning and you may find yourself staring off into the distance.
In conclusion Battlefield 3 rules supreme over Modern Warfare 3. Whereas
the latter lacks in depth, graphics and innovative ideas, Battlefield 3
delivers in all these areas, only lacking the extra modes. Clearly InfinityFeed
recommends Battlefield 3 over its competitor as it is much greater value for
money, rather than feeling like a glorified expansion pack.
A few weeks ago my gaming group and I sat around the table
for another D&D game. We prepared ourselves for a simple dungeon delve with
the potential for some Dragon slaying. Naturally we were pretty pumped, and
were ready to slaughter anything in the way of the prize; a mighty powerful
scroll that the big bad is after.
