Games Platforms and Technologies Game Logging and Reviews

Singleplayer 8/10

Game Sounds

Battlefield 3 has a lot of sounds within it to make it sound the way it does; without them, i'm sure the whole game wouldn't feel the way it does. The sound of the guns and the way the bullets ricochet off different types of material really makes you feel like you're in a real battlezone as they sound so realistic, and fitting to the environment you are in. Same goes with the bombs and grenades, you can clearly tell the difference between the two, even at a far distance and not being able to see.
 As well as the sound of weaponry and explosions, they have also taken in to consideration the sound of the different types of vehicles that are in the game and each one offers a unique sound, which can clearly tell you  which is which, just by hearing the sound of its engine. Not only have they focused on these areas, but they have also gone in to the fine detail of the sound when running, walking and even jumping on different types of surfaces. When running on the grass, you can clearly hear the sound of the dirt beneath your feet and the sound of the concrete when walking on an abandoned road. All of these sounds and more make the game a lot more enjoyable as it lets you immerse yourself in to the game so much more as it sounds so realistic.

Controls

Battlefield 3's controls are a lot similar to other first person shooters out there, so if you are a fan of first person shooters then you will have no problem picking them up straight away, but then again even if you are a complete novice and Battlefield is the first game you will be playing, the controls are regularly easy to understand and not too difficult to remember and operate once in the game.

Missions

Battlefield's missions are a lot of fun and kept me entertained for many an hour. The missions available aren't all kept to the same pace, some parts you'll be in the thick of battle, and then others you may be a sniper ordered to kill your targets from a distance. You'll even be given the opportunity to act out one of the missions in a fighter jet and bomber as you rain down destruction on your enemies from above, this allows you to see the battle from a different perspective. ; With this, you will not get bored easily and will keep you interested in playing through all of the missions. The cutscenes for each mission will get you intrigued on what will happen next, forcing you to go from mission to mission.

Difficulty 7/10

The game offers you three difficulty level at the beginning of the game, easy, normal and hard. This allows those you are either new to first person shooters to have ago and enjoy playing through the game, to those hard core players who want to complete the game on the hardest setting. Despite the difficulty levels, the game is pretty easy to pick up and learn as you will be somewhat directed on where to go, and what your mission is. If you choose to go for a higher difficulty level, this will change how hard it will be for you to get through each section of the missions, it will also mean that help within the game is also a lot less than if you were to pick easy or normal. On the hard setting, the game will become a lot harder to play as you will be killed by few bullets than the other settings. One of the frustrating things about Battlefield is that you are not allowed to change the difficulty of the game mid way in a game, you will have to completely restart the single player in order to change it.

Computer AI

The AI in Battlefield are very well made and react to well to the never ending changes in the battlefield. However, the AI aren't always as well scripted as the others, a lot of the enemy AI know exactly where you are most of the time and will constantly focus their fire on you instead of your surrounding team mates. On the other hand, your team AI will constantly aggro themselves by firing non stop at the enemy, making them more prone to attacking you. The AI can sometimes make the game play somewhat very frustrating as you are being forced to play a certain way or you are constantly being killed by the enemy that don't seem to need reloading.

Environments

Battlefield offers a varied range of different environments which are all unique with different sounds and textures reflecting differently on where you are. For example, when down in the metro station, your gun fire will sound totally different to say being outside, the textures also react differently to different lighting and how you look at them, etc. I can clearly see that they have spent a lot of time trying to perfect how the game will look and I think they have done an excellent job in doing so. The textures are of brilliant quality, and the models that go in the game look very realistic with the way they were made,  and the choice of textures that were used to create them.

Multiplayer

Game Types

Battlefield has a ton of different game modes available to you. There are altogether 5 game modes that you can play: Conquest, Conquest Assault, Team Deathmatch, Squad deathmatch, Rush and Co-op; all of these are available on all 9 maps. Some are mainly infantry based such as squad deathmatch, this only allows infantry based fighting and the map size is somewhat scaled down due to the fact there are less players. Then theres the modes which allows both infantry and vehicle based fighting, such as conquest; this mode has a much larger map and allows you to enter vehicles such as tanks, jeeps, jets and helicopters. I think the varied game types allows for much more enjoyable gameplay as you can pick the type you are most in the mood for.

Ease of entering multiplayer games

Entering multiplayer games is very easy and straightforward to do. All you have to do is select multiplayer, either select quick play or deeper define what type of game mode you want to play and even what map you wish to play on. The loading between each map isn't very long, and the use of splash art when doing so makes it less boring than staring at a pitch black monitor with a loading bar on. Battlefield allow players to host their own servers, however when doing this you do have to pay in order to host your own though.

Customisation of units/characters/weapons

Battlefield 3 allow you to customise your weapons, units and character. When customising your weapons, you can add different sights, attachments such as: suppressors, bipods, flashlights and much more in order to make the weapon perfect for your style of gameplay. You can also customise your vehicles with the same menu in which you can customise your weapons. With vehicles, each one will have different types of customisations that you are allowed to add, for example with jets you can add flares to counteract any missiles that have locked on to you, tanks you can add different types of weaponry and even countermeasures such as a smoke screen that allows you to secretly retreat from battle while hidden from your enemies. Your character isn't fully customizable, however you can change the type of camouflage your character is wearing, this is good as you can choose the one that best suits your environments.

 Graphic quality 9/10

Battlefield 3's has spectacular graphics and along side it's very popular multiplayer, the two combined help push towards its success. I think that even without the immense graphics the game will still be somewhat successful due to the multiplayer it has, however, I do think that the overall success for the game is due to the graphics being very well made in how it makes the game look visually stunning.

Sound quality 8/10

I think that the sound used within the game helps the success of the game as it really makes you feel as if you are in the battlefield with your teammates. The sounds used are of high quality and adapt to each location and environment, making it a lot more immersible.

Overall impression

Overall I think the game was very well made and the choices used to create it were well chosen. The weaknesses for this game is primarily with the AI in the single player as they really let the game down with their buggy scripts and non stop bombardment of silly non stop fire rate at the player; however the strengths do severely outway the weaknesses as this game has so much to offer to player. One of the strengths being the graphics and textures used within the game as they really make it look incredible no matter what environment you are in.

I think that the game is so worth the amount you have to pay for it, primarily down to the multiplayer aspect of the game and all of the different components that make the game what it is.

Graphics Graphics and More Graphics & Game Consoles (90's)

Consider the graphics in the ever popular Minecraft? How important are they to the gameplay and player experience?

With Minecraft, the creators thought more about the creativity and what the players can do to the world rather than adding in the high end graphics. Since the game is about creating things with blocks, adding in amazing looking graphics isn't what they were going for and isn't really needed in this type of game.

What other factors might be driving the success and popularity of this game title?

I think the game is doing well despite the graphics because of how creative you can get with the game. If you want to build it, you can. They have made the whole game completely editable. So they player can make it to how they want.

Would you come to the same conclusion about a title such as FIFA 2013 or F1 2013?

No, because Fifa and F1 want to make you feel like you’re actually there, in the seat of an F2 car driving through the cities or managing your favourite team as you switch from player to player. They focus on making the graphics as real as possible so that you can get the full effect of the game.

90's Games consoles

The first one to be made in the nineties was the Commodore 64 Games Systems

In 1993 the Amiga CD32 was released.

In 1995 the Nintendo Satellaview BS-X.

Then in 1996 the Nintendo 64 was released. A well known platform.

In 1998, the last console to be released in the 90's was the Sega Dreamcast.

http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg90-over.htm

Unit 36 GP+T

Will graphics continue to be the driving force for "Mass Market" sales success in each genre?

Well, this question isn't just a simple yes or no answer as it depends on the genre of that game.
for example,  with the new next gen consoles coming out, the quality of graphics will be increased, this will mean that a lot more people will want to have the most recent technology along side the high end graphics as well.

games such as Minecraft don't necessarily need to have high end graphics as they're more about what you can do to/with the game rather than how it looks. However, on the other hand you have games such as  Battlefield and Forza focus more on their graphics and how it looks. Since they will be dealing with actual places and people. 

Unit 36

Robert Noyce-Inventor of Intel
Alan Turning-Enigma Machine-Analogue computer, Blecthey Park
Analogue vs digital computers