Battlefield 3, orders are orders

Russian special forces, snipers Russians, Iranians, Iranian dissidents, and in the midst of all this, a U.S. Marine deployed in Iraq: Battlefield 3, the game shooter developed by Dice studio for Electronic Arts , gives the tone quickly: here we are in the registry Hollywood. Explosions galore, helicopters, tanks, epic battles against hordes of enemies, Battlefield 3 seeks to put the player in his eyes ... if it installs the game on the console to take advantage of high-resolution graphics of the new engine used by Dice.

But beyond the spectacle scenes, which put the player in command of a fighter-bomber or in the middle of epic battles, Battlefield 3 suffers from linearity which ruins everything. Impossible for the player to deviate a little bit of the way planned, the slightest deviation, he was ordered to "return to the combat zone," or, worse, he died suddenly, broke through invisible enemies. Building on some form of realism, Battlefield 3 is not particularly difficult, but is ruthless with the player too eager or too conservative, who will die quickly, often and foolishly.

The absolute ruler is also evident with the presence of many "quick time events" during which the player must press buttons indicated on screen to place an automated stage. Repetitive and totally uninteresting, these passages have crept into the entire game, from hand to hand combat to ... rat to stab through a pipe. Added a few bugs and slowdowns, these multiple sequences contribute to ruin a gaming experience also too short.

But achieving Battlefield 3 also has its share of good ideas. The chosen mode of narration - a long interview in which a soldier suspected of treason tells his story - recalls the construction of the film The Usual Suspects Bryan Singer, inviting the player to question the exact role it plays in terror plot in progress. Some levels are quite pleasurable, including undercover mission at night, and French players will find the level of Paris - where they discover that include the Paris Bourse is very well protected - a bit strange. The realistic graphics make the game at this level where the player shoots down police with a vengeance unusual.

Designed primarily for multiplayer, Battlefield 3 up, in its online mode, the constraints of the annoying single player. Rich, open and tactics, exploiting all the capabilities of various vehicles, multiplayer keeps his promises ... and also reinforces the bitter aftertaste left by the single-player campaign, a greater freedom could make it even more catchy.

The attraction of the game online, it seems, was the strongest: in one week, the game has already passed five million copies worldwide, according to figures from Electronic Arts.