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Battlefield 3 preloads to start tomorrow and a bit of expectations setting

by: Chuck -
More On: Battlefield 3
You know what brightens a brutal work day?  Opening up your inbox and finding a wonderful message like this one, letting you know that the game you've been waiting the last six months for is almost ready to play.


Before we get too excited about the PC version of Battlefield 3 it's time to set some expectations for next week.  The first expectation is that the game is going to be pretty buggy, especially on the multiplayer side.  There hasn't been a Battlefield game released yet that doesn't have it's share of glitches and bugs out of the gate.  Every  fan of the series knows this and also knows it's going to take a month or two to smooth out all the rough edges.  Hell, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 didn't really get to the near perfect stage until earlier this year and that's almost a year after release.  It will still be pretty damn good but the game will have "character" while they figure out what does and doesn't work.

The second big expectation is that the servers will probably be slammed the first week while EA ramps up the capacity to meet all of the needs of the gamers.  We see this with every major multiplayer release and it's Battlefield 3 will probably have issues at launch.

The final expectation is that the single player campaign is probably going to be OK at best.  Seriously, buying a Battlefield game for the single player campaign is like going to a Vegas buffet and filling your plate with veggies before getting to the bacon and sausage.  I'm already hearing some negative chatter about the single player campaign and while I had some high hopes after tolerable outings in Bad Company and Bad Company 2 it's important to realize why we buy the series.

I'm not trying to rain on any parades, just trying to set some expectations for a game that I'm really looking forward to.  I'm hoping I'm wrong on all of these expectations but DICE is pretty consistent in these areas.