Battlefield Vs. Modern Warfare – The Battle of the Big 3′s

An article published for Castle-Co-Op, a website dedicated to Film, TV, Music and Culture – Published 09-12-2011

7th of November was truly an auspicious day to be visiting my local purveyor of gaming paraphernalia. Bypassing the ever-growing queue of customers anxiously waiting for the midnight release of Call of Duty’s latest sensation, Modern Warfare 3 – I was there to secure my copy of Battlefield 3 to the amusement of myself and the piercing bewilderment, evil glares and unsavoury comments received by  the customers waiting in the line I so deviously cut.

Battlefield 3 (BF3) versus Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (MW3) the latest dichotomy and subject of endless debate in the gaming world, each vying for the title ‘Best Modern First-Person Shooter’ of the year. Regardless of your philosophical stance on the issue, this is MW3’s battle to lose. Based on record breaking sales, overwhelmingly positive reviews in addition to the veritable success the franchise has enjoyed this generation; it’s a question of how Call of Duty (CoD) can retains its title as the king of first person shooters (FPS). Personally though, I remain an advocate of Battlefield 3 with the series having a longer standing pedigree with the genre.

This isn’t the first instance of EA taking on Activision for the throne, where in 2010 the Medal of Honor series reboot was emphatically trounced by Call of Duty: Black-Ops. But with both BF3 and MW3 release date gone and passed, we can somewhat objectively analyse both games to see which fares better as your go to FPS title.  Conversing with fans of either Battlefield or CoD; you’ll know doubt be struck by how stout and adamant they are that their chosen series is vastly superior. I’m not a huge fan of FPS, entering the fray with an open mind and unbiased opinion about the two competing juggernauts. Considering these come under the same banner of FPS, we can instead look at the strengths of each game, seeing what makes them distinguished and unique.

Image Source: Courtesy of EA, DICE, Activision and Infinity Ward
Edited by: Nathan Lai 

Graphics and Engine:

This is generally how games are judged upon first impressions, yet amazingly both standout as near flawless. BF3 opts for a more muted yet strikingly realistic approach with its Frostbite 2 engine. This touted game engine developed by DICE features refined physics based building and environmental destruction, in-game dynamic lighting, character model animation, vehicle control and weapon mechanics. Basically any smoke effect or lens flares looks phenomenal and the harmonious ping of bullets as they pass your head sound amazing, so much so that you can probably distinguish exactly what calibre artillery is sizzling through the air.

MW3 instead retains its IW (Infinity Ward) engine used in Modern Warfare 2 and World at War however it does shamelessly rename its latest reincarnated release as MW3. It was originally a modified engine from Quake 3 and it does lack the destructible environments, soft shadowing, real-time lighting, shadow and physics of BF3’s Frostbite 2 engine. Yet despite these notable omissions, Modern Warfare 3 still looks great but when compared to other releases, the question remains whether or not the graphics are considered dated.

Image Source: http://www.gamestar.de

Single-Player Campaign:

Undeniably not the favoured reason anybody purchases an FPS title, however both titles come out somewhere in the middle on any rating scale. Without giving too much away about the campaign, both BF3 and MW3 really fall short in terms of story and drama with neither proving to be memorable. All I’ll say is if you’ve read any Tom Clancy novel, watched any film or television series involving terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, global threats and the obligatory Russian antagonist, you’ve essentially played through both BF3 and MW3’s campaigns.

Plot aside, both campaigns serve as a training ground for players new to the FPS genre. Each progressing chapter introduces the player to a variety of weaponry, tactics, tips and tricks that can be carried over to the multiplayer aspect of the game. But be warned, each campaign is short, really short – don’t expect to put more than 10 hours into these unless your achievement/trophy hunting.

BF3 was promised to gamers as a complete package with an equally engaging single player campaign and multiplayer experience. With such a high bar set, DICE made a terrible mistake in moving away from its own campaign formula that was quite successful in previous iterations and trying to emulate the tropes of the CoD series. The iconic humour, vehicles and squad interactions have been stripped back to make way for a more shooting heavy campaign with some added quick-time events to vary up the pacing.  At no point does the campaign feel like a Battlefield game because there just isn’t any emotional attachment to any of the protagonists as you encounter some fantastic cinematic moments. The campaign almost feels like a jumble of potentially great ideas woefully executed. Especially when faced with the overly aggressive and intuitive AI enemies that were intended to provide a challenging experience, instead they induce fits of rage with each ‘cheap’ death a player encounters.

The story in MW3 wraps up the trilogy that is the Modern Warfare series. MW3 comes at players with a flurry of activity constantly bombarding your screen with numerous muzzle flashes, smoke trails and explosions coupled with the ubiquitous percussion of artillery. Yet under the pressures of all this commotion, the game retains its ultra-smooth framerate and precision controls. These intense battles provide the story with the elaborate stages for the campaigns often over the top set-pieces and prepare you for the adrenaline pumped ride that seamlessly transitions into the multiplayer portion of the game.

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer is what developer DICE does best and BF3 features a full progressions system of classes and weapons more expansive than their previous Battlefield game: Bad Company 2. The BF3 multiplayer experience is all about the freedom of choice with large maps on an imposing sense of scale, coupled with the combination of classes –Assault (standard soldier class), Engineer (close range vehicle expert), Support (defensive role with a heavy arsenal) and Recon (essentially the sniper) – with your choice of weaponry load-outs and a host of vehicles opens players to a number of tactics and strategies with its reward system that incentivises cooperative teamwork.

The sheer depth, emergence, balanced ecosystem and sense of accomplishment for every action in BF3 create a multiplayer experience that is ahead of any of its competitors. Not just the shooting element of the gameplay, but any action such as repairing or destroying a tank, dropping ammunition and calling out snipers from the air could tip the scales of war, ensuring victory for your team.

The variety in game modes also adds to the incredible level of depth, strategy and options available for players. Team Deathmatch may be stock standard but it does focus on infantry combat. Squad Team Deathmatch divides players into 4 squads with IFC (infantry fighting vehicles) that could turn the tide of any battle. Rush and Squad Rush modes requires the attacking team to destroy M-Com stations to progress further into the map to destroy more stations. While defenders have unlimited spawns, attackers only have a limited amount that creates an all-out objective based war with the inclusion of vehicles such as transports, armoured vehicles, helicopters and fighter jets. Finally Conquest is the go to mode for vehicle warfare that presents players with an arduous choice, to either defend your own flag or go and attack the enemy’s.

Call of Duty has always boasted an addictive multiplayer where persistent levelling and achievement s delivers a satisfying sense of progression that makes you feel like you’re always accomplishing something new. MW3 offers a slew of new challenges and modes such as my favourite mode ‘Kill Confirmed,’ where players only gain credit for a kill when they retrieve the dog tags from felled enemies. This is a great improvement as it does give players to experience a modicum of teamwork.

Also improved is the new ‘Strike Chain System’ offering point-streaks as opposed to kill-streaks so players can spend their well earned points on a pre-customised Assault, Support or Specialist Strike Package perk. Collect 25 points in a single match and you can access the hidden point-streak M.O.A.B (‘massive ordnance air blast’ or the much preferred ‘mother of all bombs’) that immediately incinerates every opposing player on the map.

Another inspired aspect of CoD is the new Call of Duty Elite. This free/subscription service offers players to track pertinent data such as their career stats, competitive kill/death ratios and give the ability to  watch previous matches in theatre mode. All of this presented in a social network-esque format to allow CoD fans to connect with one another with Facebook integration and you can download a convenient app for your preferred mobile device to remain connected all the time.

Advertising/Media/Trailers:

For those who really don’t care about any of the aforementioned technical jargon and comparisons we have media and advertising as the final bastion in which to win over audiences. Whilst game advertising may not consume much airtime on Australian networks, here we can compare the two advertising campaigns in terms of pure entertainment value.

Battlefield 3 opts to present its strongest feature, the visuals and in-game footage for the vignettes in its “99 Problems” trailer featuring Jay-Z. Interweave the stunning visual aspect with a killer soundtrack and a stream of pull quotes from featured reviews and you have your seemingly stock-standard yet dynamic feature video game trailer to appease the masses.

Modern Warfare 3 and Activision knows how to market with such cinematic flair. Juxtaposing the Call of Duty series with Apple and their marketing campaigns, we have a slight abstract performance, showcasing nothing but hype with its trailer featuring Sam Worthington (Avatar, Clash of the Titans) as ‘the Vet’ and Jonah Hill (Superbad, Get Him to the Greek) as ‘the n00b.’

The Verdict:

Overall consumers are free to make their own decision; however we can surmise that the Call of Duty franchise is the current king of FPS this generation. Not just Modern Warfare but its previous instalment Black-Ops still performing admirably with a very strong online community. With its own deserved opulence and the success of Call of Duty Elite, MW3 seems have to have dropped the ball innovatively and really questions whether or not Modern Warfare 3 is deserving of a full number release, when it feels more like Modern Warfare 2.5. The only other criticisms could be that Call of Duty has always followed its own successful blueprint almost to a fault with its annual release schedule that fool its loyal fan-base into buying a new Call of Duty every year.

Battlefield 3 has truly made strides in terms of production value compared to its last instalment Battlefield: Bad Company 2. With its newly revamped Frostbite 2 engine in tow, BF3 really comes out fighting with developers DICE demonstrating why they’re at the top of the industry when it comes to FPS multiplayer. However BF3 isn’t without its flaws with some minor animation glitches and the fact that its console counterparts (PS3, Xbox 3660) has been stripped back from the PC release with a slightly smaller versions of the maps with less vehicles that catered toward 24 players as opposed to the PC’s larger 64 player slug-fest.

With all said and done, it’s ultimately you, the reader, the consumer that will determine which title, MW3 vs BF3 that is the rightful heir to the FPS throne.