My relationship with Battlefield 3 has been rather tumultuous ever since the game’s release in October of last year. More than once before the first big patch I declared that I was done with the game, but BF3 has been changed in so many ways from its original inception that it’s not really the same game anymore. There are a lot of similarities, but DICE continues to tweak it, something that I wish they had been given more time for before launch.
If Battlefield 3 still played like the game it was a few months ago, I wouldn’t have even considered picking up Battlefield Premium and getting early access to all the DLC. Now that the game is much more playable, I’ve been dumping a lot of time into it, and the new expansion, Close Quarters, has been occupying my time ever since it dropped early for Premium members last week.
A common sentiment about the DLC is it’s “better at Modern Warfare than Modern Warfare” and I’d say that this statement is pretty accurate. The maps in Close Quarters bare a strong resemblance to Call of Duty’s multiplayer arenas except that you can tear them apart with your weapons; like all Battlefield 3 maps, it’s great fun to see how much a map can change from the beginning to the end of a match.
The two new game modes included in the DLC are Gun Master (essentially Gun Game from Counter-Strike but played in teams) and Conquest Domination. Gun Master is fun, but once you’ve satisfied the requirement to unlock one of the expansion’s new guns by placing top five in a match, there’s no real reason to come back. Conquest Domination is the stronger mode, with three flags up for grabs in classic Battlefield style. The points capture much faster in Domination than in regular conquest, so it behooves you to move quickly from point to point.
The new guns included with Close Quarters can be used across vanilla BF3 and the expansions, and right now these guns are the best in the game. I’ve even been playing the Recon class more thanks to the new M417’s proficiency in medium-range combat, which is where I prefer to operate. I expect that when the next patch hits all of the new guns will be seriously re-balanced (see “nerfed”) so enjoy them while you can.
As part of Battlefield Premium, Close Quarters is worth the price of entry. It’s a nice change of pace from the regular game modes, and the tight corridors of the maps encourage you to try out weapons that almost never get used in the main game like shotguns and personal defense weapons. Once the subsequent DLCs come out, like Armored Kill this fall, I think Close Quarters will largely be forgotten. Like I said, the expansion is a nice distraction, but without vehicles, it’s not really Battlefield. If you’ve haven’t picked up Premium, I’d say skip out on this one.
Has anyone else played Close Quarters or picked up BF3 Premium? What do you think?
I’m tempted to pick this up now that I have a PC. I’m still not 100% convinced I should buy it though. Any recommendations out there guys?
I just bought Close Quarters the other day but haven’t played yet. I’ll take your word for the maps thpugh Mitch. They seem pretty nice. I’m actually thinking about buying Premium, but still on the fence about it. It seems worth it to buy though