Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 (commonly abbreviated to BF3) is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in North America on October 25, 2011 and in Europe on October 28, 2011 for Microsoft Windows,PlayStation 3, Xbox 360^[4] and EA Mobile confirmed a port for the iOS platform. It does not support versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista as the game only supports DirectX 10 and 11.^[5] It is a direct sequel to 2005's Battlefield 2, and the eleventh installment in theBattlefield franchise. The game sold 5 million copies in its first week of release,^[6] and was released to critical acclaim from most game reviewers. The PC download is exclusive to EA'sOrigin platform,^[7] through which PC users also authenticate when connecting to the game. In campaign mode, players take on the personas of various military roles; including a USMCreconnaissance officer, an F-18 systems officer, an M1A2-Abrams tank operator, and aSPETSNAZ operative. The campaign takes place at various locations, including Iran, and follows the story of Sergeant Blackburn and later, Dimitri Mayakovsky.

Gameplay

Screenshot of the single-player campaign mode of Battlefield 3. The player character is armed with a G36C assault rifle.

Battlefield 3 features the combined armsbattles that made the series popular across single-player, co-operative and multiplayer modes. It reintroduces several elements absent from the Bad Company games, including fighter jets, the prone position and 64-player battles on PC.^[8][9] To accommodate the lower player count on consoles, the ground area is limited for Xbox 360 and PS3, though fly space remains the same.^[10]

During an interview with Game Informer Magazine, EA stated that Commander Mode is unlikely to be included,^[11] which was met with some criticism on the EA forum.^[12]

The game features maps set in Paris, Tehran, Sulaymaniyah, New York, Wake Island andOman. The maps cover urban streets, metropolitan downtown areas, and open landscapes suited to vehicle combat.^[13]

Battlefield 3 introduces the "Battlelog"; a free cross-platform social service with built-in text messaging, voice communications, game statistics, and the ability to join games that friends are already playing (though both players need to be on the same platform).

Plot

Set in 2014, SSgt Blackburn leads a five-man squad on a mission to find and safely return a US squad investigating a possible IED, whose last known position was a market controlled by a hostile militia called the PLR. Blackburn and his squad are later sent to Tehran to apprehend a the leader of the PLR, Al-Bashir. While investigating an underground vault in the target's suspected location, Blackburn and his team learn that the PLR acquired Russian portable nuclear devices, and that two of the three devices are missing. Being overrun, and requesting back-up, an M1 Abrams convoy led by Sergeant Miller is deployed to extract Blackburn's team. Miller facilitates Blackburn's helicopter extraction, but is captured when waiting for a Quick Reaction Force. Miller is promptly executed by Solomon and Al-Bashir, with the event being filmed.

Later, Blackburn and his squad manage to capture Al-Bashir, who realizes Solomon betrayed him and reveals his plot to detonate the nukes in Paris and New York, before dying from the wounds he sustained in his capture. Blackburn's team also gets a lead on an arms dealer, Kaffarov, who was working with Solomon; however, while pursuing Kaffarov, the Americans encounter a large Russian force, who are also attempting to apprehend Kaffarov and are hostile towards the Americans. Almost all of Blackburn's squad is killed, while a Spetsnaz team led by Dima assaults Kaffarov's villa. Dima successfully interrogates Kaffarov, and reveals Solomon's plot to Blackburn. Blackburn's commanding officer arrives and to save Dima's life and let him escape, Blackburn shoots his CO. Due to this, Blackburn is captured and interrogated by agents within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and explains all of his previous operations to them in flashbacks. During Blackburn's capture, Dima attempts to stop the attack in Paris, but he is unsuccessful and his team is wounded in the resulting detonation. The CIA agents do not believe Blackburn's story, since Solomon is a CIA informant and there is no concrete proof of his involvement in the terrorist attacks. They instead believe that Russia is responsible for the attacks and that Dima had played Blackburn.

Left with no other option, Blackburn and surviving squad member Montes break out of captivity to stop the attack in New York. Solomon shoots Montes, but Blackburn manages to kill Solomon in the resulting melee, as well as recovering the last nuclear device. In the epilogue, having been diagnosed with radiation poisoning, Dima writes about the efforts of both him and Blackburn to stop Solomon's plot. He then readies his gun when a knock is heard at his door.