Battlefield 3 vs Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

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The biggest heavyweight title challenge since Ali vs Frazier is finally upon us and no punches are being pulled.

In the red corner is the challenger - Battlefield 3 with destructible environments and vast multiplayer. In the blue corner - the champion Modern Warfare3 boasting to be the most successful video game franchise in history.  Ding! Ding! Round 1. In the build up to the release of both games it is fair to say that no expenses have been spared in the advertising stakes, the trailers and branding of both games as if we are waiting the release to a Hollywood blockbuster film - but unlike Homefront both games live up to their top billing.

 

Battlefield 3 is propelled by DICE’s new propriety engine Frostbite 2., so straight away you can’t help but notice how the game has been enhanced in every area; character animations, definition of the character’s movement and weaponry along with the destructible terrain (which has become Battlefield’s ‘signature’) and atmospheric audio totally immerses you into that feeling of being in a full-scale battle.

The multiplayer mode features Conquest, Rush and team Deathmatch with up to 24 players from the beaches of Kharg Island to the hills of Damavand Peak. With four classes (Assault, Recon, Soldier & Engineer) you have the option of healing an injured team-mate, top up the ammunition of a sniper or repair a disabled tank. You will be rewarded by unlocking new weaponry and gadgets to assist you with your wages of war.

The short campaign slightly detracts from the excellent multiplayer and the new Co-Op offers a chance to ‘buddy-up’ whilst completing missions surrounding an extension of the single player campaign. The enemy AI on both these modes can prove frustrating in places and as expected, you lose a lot of the freedom you would otherwise have playing in the multiplayer.

The Battlelog feature keeps track of your stats and unlocks different platforms such as PC or Iphone and allows you to form Platoons and add friends to check their progress. We found the interface clean, crisp and engaging and a worthy tool to have.

Overall, Battlefield 3 as a multiplayer offers immense enjoyment and is a true heavyweight contender.

 

The MW3 campaign story picks off exactly from the end of MW2, involving Price and Soap, with amazing set-pieces against huge back drops and gun play at a frenetic pace. The game offers more of a challenge than the Battlefield 3 campaign and you are given different situations to mix things up. One moment you’re the SAS in London then you’re the Americans descending upon a beach in occupied Europe. Once again the visuals are impressive at a constant 60 frames per second and the sound and narration are great.

Multiplayer offers a barnstorming 16 maps with inevitable additions in forthcoming DLC’s with a huge number of ‘perks’, ‘pointstreaks’ and levelling up to keep you hooked. It is easy to see why some people call the Call of Duty series an ‘arcade’ first person shooter and Battlefield a ‘realistic’ FPS.

As its predecessor, MW3 allows you to create your own customised class of weaponry and strike packages which allows a tactical gamer to tailor their class according to the game mode and map.

In addition to the single and multiplayer campaigns the cop-operative Specs Ops mode returns with a new batch of missions and stages to challenge you. Survival mode is also back where two players try to survive against a number waves of AI enemy that increase in difficulty after each completed wave.

Where Battlefield 3 has Battlelog, MW3 has Call of Duty Elite and keeps a track of stats with the ability to form clans and compare with friends. It also has a premium service where for a monthly fee you have access to video content, storage for screenshots and videos and more being promised further down the line.

Overall MW3 does exactly what it says on the tin and then some - no doubt it will become the biggest seller of 2011 with good reason.

So to the judges score cards, on balance the two games offer pretty much the same in most areas of game play, graphics and audio. Battlefield 3 does possess the variety of vehicles and abuse on multiplayer, MW3 offers a more as a package with a greater number of maps and modes and has a few more layers integrated into the game play selection. The winner on points is …Modern Warfare 3, but if you’re like us you will without a doubt be playing both!

Publishers: EA & Activision

Formats: Both PS3 & Xbox 360

Ratings: BF3 8.5/10 MW3 9.0/10