Battlefield Unlikely To Go Multiplayer Only

[The Wooster]

Battlefield Unlikely To Go Multiplayer Only

Despite the criticism leveled at Battlefield 3's single player, EA maintains it's an important part of the package and they've got no plans to get rid of it.

Battlefield 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-3-Limited-Pc/dp/B002I0HJZO] is currently making its way through the internet review machine, producing the usual eights and nines one would expect. Yet, in nearly every review - and remember, reviews are important [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113806-Battlefield-3-Devs-Are-All-About-The-Review-Scores] - the singleplayer campaign is singled out for criticism. It's not awful, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not particularly good either. Though, to be fair, there is a quick time event where you fight a rat. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gpPM4Pj_bo]

There's a common theory that no one actually plays the single player campaigns in games like Battlefield anyway, and it's certainly apparent that Battlefield 3's multiplayer is the star of the show, so isn't adding a single player campaign in the first place just giving grumpy reviewers an excuse to knock off a precious star or two? Why not get rid of the campaign entirely? Well according to EA exec Frank Gibeau, that ain't happening.

"The single play[sic] experience is important," he said during an investor call. "It's a great way to get fans into the experience, have them train up and get ready for multiplayer. And a lot of fans just enjoy having that single player experience. So I think you have to have both."

"Clearly the multiplayer is the richer opportunity for us because of the services opportunity in keeping customers engaged 365 [days a year]. Fortunately, Battlefield, as a franchise, since the late '90s has been configured around multiplayer and I think that's why you're seeing such popularity around the design."

CEO John Riccitiello then added that single player is vital when it comes to drawing in new players, with the single player campaign, and by extension the rat combat [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gpPM4Pj_bo], acting as a kind of training course for Battlefield initiates. "Remember as well that single player is often how new players ramp into the game. It's a way for new players to get exposed to a franchise," he said.

Personally I think they should replace the single player campaign with a series of knife battles against rodents of increasing size, until eventually you have to fight Ratatoskr [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratatoskr] the Godrodent - who is technically a squirrel, but he can pass for a rat in the evenings - atop the great tree Yggdrasil. In case you can't tell, I really liked the part with the rat. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gpPM4Pj_bo]

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-27-ea-justifies-battlefield-3-single-player]


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[ZeZZZZevy]

I thought the single-player campaign was fine, and hey it helped me get used to playing Battlefield again.

Also: that rat fight was fantastic.

EDIT: I enjoy single player in most all of the games I play, and I always play it before jumping into the multiplayer (and this game was no exception).

 

[Amnestic]

It's a great way to get fans into the experience, have them train up and get ready for multiplayer.

So have a 'training' mission, a few drills for infantry (pushing, capturing, sniping), vehicles, aircraft. It costs less and would probably do a hell of a lot better at teaching the playerbase than the scripted mess of a single player campaign that we saw.

And a lot of fans just enjoy having that single player experience. So I think you have to have both.

Yet, most every post I've seen on these forums have been either people calling the single player terrible or laughing saying that no one buys Battlefield for the single player. I'd like to see his source for a 'lot of fans'.

 

[DolphinWacker64]

Of course they won't get rid of the single player campaign. What else is there to play? Seeing as the servers NEVER work. As of writing, the multiplayer servers are down AGAIN.

This was a common issue when they launched Battlefield 2, you would think that they would have learned their lesson for this game too.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Help them train for multiplayer? If that were the case, then let them practice flanking moves, or how to drive vehicles instead of making them turret sections like the jet fight? How about allowing for tactical flexibility that allows you to move more than two feet before being told to get the fuck back in the scripted event?

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

Train for Multiplayer....?

First DLC will be MP Ratslayer

CTR (Capture the Rat)

 

[Baresark]

It's a strange evolution for BF. It really didn't have any single player before, not till Bad Company 2. Prior to that it had skirmishes and what not, but meh. I would never play BF for the SP, and that is one of the few games I will ever say that for.

 

[fgdfgdgd]

I think our only gripe here is that there isn't training for the helicopters and jets, I was fine with jets the first time but the helicopter is still an ungainly beast.

 

[Rednog]

I want a damn training level for the vehicles, the controls feel so unintuitive to me, especially the helicopter and the jet. Seriously in any other game like GTA or Saints Row I fly just fine, I can weave through buildings or whatever. Throw me in the cockpit of a BF3 jet and I feel like one of those monkeys they launched into space. I bang my keyboard in frustration and I have seemingly little to no control to what my jet does, I spin around like a maniac. Eventually I just get frustrated and am tempted to fling my own poo at the screen as a last ditch effort to stop my jet from spinning into the ground.

 

[Flac00]

To give the soldier credit, that was one bad-ass rat.

 

[Rednog]

I think our only gripe here is that there isn't training for the helicopters and jets, I was fine with jets the first time but the helicopter is still an ungainly beast.

I do think that there should also be a tank one, as I am often a passenger/gunner and most people are driving around obstacles. I don't think many people realize that the tank goes through all the obstacles like a hot knife through butter. Hell today I plowed through a concrete barrier and landed directly on top of a squad of three enemies and I laughed my ass off.

 

[Thatguyky]

Getting rid of single player in any game like Battlefield is a bad idea. All because a single player campaign isn't AMAZING doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. Yes, it is a heavily focused online game like CoD, but some people (like me) still enjoy spending a little while playing campaign.

The "training" it mentioned is helpful too. Throwing new players into a new game with a new engine and controls can seem overwhelming, and single player seems like a good way to get people "trained". Yay, for battlefield not even considering getting rid of single player campaign!

 

[TxMxRonin]

I let my BF3 pre-order go so and from what I've heard about the single player and online server problems I'm not playing it anytime soon. But I'll take this article more seriously when I hear from someone at DICE instead of an EA suit.

Hell, the biggest problem I had with MAG was that there was a goddamn update every other day.

 

[Gmans uncle]

I'm a little worried about developers viewing SP as "training for multiplayer" instead of what it used to be... The game. Multiplayer was a little distraction you played for a day or 2 when you had nothing else to do, I'm a little worried about where this is going...

 

[Woodsey]

If the game cut single-player and was then £5-£10 cheaper, I'd be much quicker to buy it.

I'm a little worried about developers viewing SP as "training for multiplayer" instead of what it used to be... The game. Multiplayer was a little distraction you played for a day or 2 when you had nothing else to do, I'm a little worried about where this is going...

The multiplayer has always been "the game" for Battlefield.

 

[DannyJBeckett]

I WAS hoping Battlefield 3 would be the game that got me back into First-Person Shooters (I'm just plain sick of 'em, ok?), but after seeing all the stuff that been said about it (requiring HD texture pack downloads, servers constantly down, a wet-fart of a single-player campaign, etc.) I'm going to give it a miss. I'm a PS3 guy, and I know the server problems and the Texture pack nonsense are specific to the XBox version, but when a game makes something like HD textures separate from the on-disc content on ANY platform, let alone one as capable as the XBox 360, I'm turned off a game quicker than a puritan at a BDSM club.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Well, their strategy worked. There was no way I was picking up Battlefield 3 if it was only multiplayer. But when I heard it had single player, I went, "Okay. I'll get it it." I'm sad to say it has yet to live up to the hype that the trailers made it seem like--is it just me, or does Black look like he's very sick whenever you see his face? It's so thin--but it's not bad. Just average. Hopefully EA will learn from this and keep trying to improve.

Also, I felt sorry for the poor rat. Really, he couldn't just shove it away with his whole hand? It shouldn't have been that hard.