Battlefield 3™ Reviews

[h1] Battlefield 3 – A Timeless Memory [/h1] I first played Battlefield 3 on the Xbox 360 Slim, and to this day (21.07.2025), it remains one of the most impactful gaming experiences of my life. I still vividly remember the beta, Operation Metro on Rush mode, it was absolutely mind-blowing. The gameplay, the atmosphere, the intensity... it all felt so real and so powerful. Back then, I watched every trailer with excitement, celebrating each new glimpse of the game. My friends and I played it for months on end, completely immersed in the experience. We just couldn’t get enough. Those were unforgettable moments, the kind of memories that stay with you forever. Even now, as I’m approaching 30, Battlefield 3 hasn’t left my mind. The soundtrack, especially Solomon’s Theme, still brings me deep, reflective thoughts whenever I hear it. That music alone carries so much emotional weight. I also remember letting my father play the campaign. I wanted him to see how incredible the game was, especially the mission with the jet fighter where you bomb the airport. Visually, it was overwhelming, so stunning and cinematic. At that time, my father was battling cancer, and for a few moments, the game helped him forget his pain. I’m not trying to play the sympathy card, but that moment forged a deep emotional bond between me and the game. It’s sad to see how the gaming industry has changed since then. The passion, the innovation, the soul, it’s not quite the same anymore. But to the developers of Battlefield 3, I want to say: thank you. I wish you all the best and good health. You created something truly remarkable. Battlefield 3 will forever remain installed in my heart.

Origin says I don'y have a product key anymore so I can't play the game I bought. I feel like that's stealing.

It took half an hour to launch the game ... click play button then jumped to browser, click browser then jump to EA app, click EA then jump to browser again. Punk buster is one of the most d#gshit anti cheats out there, it kicks you just because you have modding apps installed in your pc . Not a Single achievement for campaign... and multiplayer servers are dead . Don't buy this crap .

Really good campaign however multiplayer infested with hackers. Only by for the campaign so wait till the games on sale

Battlefield 3 may be showing its age, but it's still the kind of game where your most brilliant tactical maneuver is immediately followed by getting flattened by an empty enemy jeep going 100mph. Nostalgic, of course, if you can actually get it to launch.

The best multiplayer experiences I've ever had were in Battlefield 3. Nearly 14 years later, no other game has brought the same feeling that I had in this game. Nowadays, lobbies are small and generally unpopulated, but if you've got a good sized group of friends, it's still super fun. The version of Punkbuster that comes with the game is outdated, but you can install an up-to-date version manually which will keep you from getting booted randomly for multiplayer matches.

[h1] Possible Fix for Users Experiencing No Game Launch After Selecting Server or Campaign [/h1] After reading reviews, I was a little hesitant to buy the game due to issues launching it via Battlelog and PunkBuster. I quickly discovered why so many users gave it a thumbs down (including myself originally). My main issue was that once inside Battlelog, I couldn't launch the campaign or join any servers. It would say "initializing" or whatever and after a minute or two it would give up trying to launch the game & would go back to the "Play" option like I hadn't hit play in the first place. If you're experiencing the same problem, this fix might help you. There are a few things I changed to get the game working. You may not need to do all of them, but I believe the two biggest factors were: [b] Updating PunkBuster and closing any FPS tracking/monitoring software (in my case, MSI Afterburner). [/b] [h3] How to Update PunkBuster: [/h3] [olist] [*]Go to evenbalance.com [*]Navigate to Downloads [*]click [u]Download the PBSetup utility[/u] [*]Select your OS [*]After installing, open it, select Battlefield 3 (BF3), and update it [/olist] As mentioned above, the next important step is to close any FPS monitoring software, as it doesn't work well with PunkBuster and can cause the game to crash or in my case, not launch at all. Another change I made (which may or may not be necessary) was going into your BF3 game files and locating [b]bf3.exe[/b] & [b]BF3WebHelper.exe[/b] Right-click on each > Properties > Compatibility tab > check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and set it to Windows 8. Lastly, I've seen advice about using only specific browsers. While that might be true for some, I personally use Brave, and it works (+ Edge) as long as you turn off all blocking features (like shields or ad-blockers) for Battlelog to avoid any issues.

[b]Note:[/b] this is not a review of the game as it originally came out, but more of a reflection on the state of the multiplayer in 2025 and beyond. The game itself is one of the better Battlefield entries (and I've put about 1k+ hours into it originally), but I cannot recommend it anymore (at least the multiplayer component) for the following reasons: 1) The game's technical state is questionable. The game is still tied to Battlelog, and it is also tied to the EA app. Launching the game via Steam will launch the EA app and open up the browser window (but not launch the actual game). The Battlelog service itself is quite jank by modern standarts, and you WILL encounter connection issues for no apparent reasons (failure to launch, etc.). The displayed player count for server is completely wrong in most cases, as server owners (?) inflate the count via "fake" players that are not actually playing on the server, but the count does show them. You WILL have to get a separate browser addon just to see the actual server population without going through each server listing manually (I used this one: [url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/better-battlelog-fix-bblog/]FF[/url], [url=https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/better-battlelog-fixbblog/ncopbeadajoekpedjllcakdmbmgnfgph]Chrome[/url]). In order to actually play the game properly, you will also have to update the PunkBuster anti-cheat manually (can be found at https://www.evenbalance.com/pbsetup.php), as the one packaged with the game is severely outdated. Somehow, the game actually runs worse than any other Battlefield entry on my rig. Also, as a side note, the game runs on very poor 10-30Hz tickrate servers, and the hitreg is quite ass, even when compared to other BF games on Frostbite (infamous instant TTD, weird TTK). 2) The game's population is very small, and you will only find the most popular maps/modes to be played. This is an issue if you're going for 100% or just want to play certain DLC maps/modes. Even finding populated servers with regular maps during non-peak hours will be problematic. At most, you will see 3-4 full-ish servers during non-weekend peak hours (this will vary, of course, but expect it to go down in the future). During non-peak hours, you will basically not find any fully populated servers in most cases. 3) The actual experience of playing the game is complete ass. On average, you will encounter: 50% sweats/veteran players that did not stop playing this game since it came out, 30% returning/new players and 20% actual cheaters. The cheating problem is quite obvious, and ranges from extremely obvious to closet cheaters/glitchers/macro abusers, etc. The anti-cheat is completely useless, and most servers do not care about the cheaters. Basically, if you don't want to sweat extra hard, you will not have fun. Though, of course, that is the same for every Battlefield game, but in this case it is extra annoying due to the low game population, so you get people with thousands and tens of thousands of hours team stacking against/for you. And you see the same exact people everywhere. By the time I was finished with my 100%, I barely got to 2.3 KD. 4) The "community", or what's left of it, is extremely toxic. It's best to just turn off the chat if you're playing. Fun fact: certain individuals are so bored, they crash servers for fun. When that happens you lose all your progress, and more importantly, if the server was populated, - it will most likely stay dead for a while (since people don't bother rejoining). So, if we break it down by the type of players that would consider playing this game, should you buy this game for multiplayer specifically? 1) Returning players - sure, it will be fun for a few hours to experience nostalgia, but not much more beyond that. 2) New players - absolutely not. You will not have fun (unless you are extremely casual), and the game is virtually obsoleted by its successor BF4. While that game also has certain issues I've mentioned here (sweats/cheaters), it is still a bit better due to the larger player base. Also, the game is technically superior to BF3 in every way (way more settings, runs way better on modern rigs). So get BF4 instead if you're keen on the multiplayer part. 3) People going for 100% specifically - while all the achievements are TECHICALLY obtainable as of 2025, you will have issues with certain achievements that require specific game modes, which almost never get played (they do, but you would have to hunt the specific time slots, which isn't really feasible). So, if you do not have your old account (or if that account has no relevant achievements), you will have to start from scratch. Most likely, you will need to rent a server and coordinate with a group of other people just to 100% the game. This will hold even more weight as the game gets even older (unless the servers get shut down completely, which they might in a few years). So yes, it's probably best to do it while the servers are still up, and it helps if you have your old account with most (if not all) achievements already complete. If you're looking to buy the game for co-op or the SP campaign, I also cannot recommend it. The SP campaign is never ever good in Battlefield (with the exception of BC2, where it was semi-decent).

I'd first like to say I really enjoyed this game on console, this negative review only applies to the PC version. Have to follow online guides and download various third-party applications just to get the game running in 2025, then you also have to use Chrome or Firefox just to browse the menus. Then once you do all that, you find out some random plugin has IP banned you half a decade ago.

Hi guys if you want play the game without any issues and lunch it like a cake please do not play the game with steam for the first time after installation first you need lunch your ea account then before you login click on login with steam and after that link your ea account to your steam account you bought the game after that login in ea app and you see you have the game in your library and now lunch the game from ea app not steam if you play the game for first time with steam delete steam and ea app and reinstall them then follow my guide and then you can play this masterpiece without any connection or ownership issue and plz dont write negative review for my beloved game . this is my new account i buy the game in discount . i play this game on ea 2439 hour of my life ... I hope my review helps you guys .