Battlefield 3

I have played for over 60 hours of bf 3 and I now think I can give the game an honest review of my experience.

Technical issues:
When I first bought it (Nov 2011) I found that the game crashed an awful lot. I had bought a new graphics card (560 ti) and thought that i would be able to run the game comfortably however I soon realised the lack of memory and poor cpu was one of reasons that it crashed. Since the initial release DICE have brought out patches to fix some of the issues and I've upgraded my system. So now the game runs smoothly, no crashes in multiplayer and the game looks great.
I don't have a problem with origin as i also use steam which is a similar service so I wouldn't worry too much about this, however I'm probably a bit too trusting so the issues others have pointed out may be correct.

Graphics/sound:
Superb, am running it on ultra settings.Detructible environments and special effects give the game a really immersive feel.

Gameplay:
I haven't really played the single player much, looks good though. The multiplayer has always been the focus for the series.

The unique selling part is the variety of vehicles, everything from jets to dune buggies. For the most part they are balanced. Even tanks are vulnerable, so it takes skill to make the most of them. For jets you need to have someone in your team who is also good in jets, same as helis. If you don't have air support then it can get one sided in the more open maps.

When you start off it can be a bit frustrating as you given some truly terrible guns, however if you persevere and make sure you unlock the famas gun from the first assault assignment things will be easier. Also with the engineer class once you get the claymores you can score a lot of kills against vehicles.

For me the maps are good but could be better like in bf2, I have the back to karkand expansion pack which has the best maps from bf2 and they are still the best in my opinion. The rush mode is good however 64 player conquest is where the heart of bf3 is. The game still requires teamwork as you will need to be part of a squad to get anywhere in terms of spawning on your teammates and offering support (med packs, defib, ammo).

The only downside I find are snipers and cheaters. This will be limited if you find the many good servers there are and save them to your favourites. Cheaters will often be kicked and snipers are useless if you're in a tank or behind a wall.

Even with the negatives I would say that bf3 is still the best team shooter you can get.

I didn't manage to get this for Christmas so I thought I'd buy it for myself. Amazon sent this game in typical quick fashion and once I sat down after dinner at about 6:30 I thought I'd get it installed and have a go. I'd seen all the negative comments about Origin etc but chose to ignore them as I've lived with Steam and gotten pretty used to it, how hard can it be? I don't really have a problem with people having my details, facebook does so why nag about it?

Except for one thing.......

A bit of software, designed not to stop piracy as that could be done in a much an easier way, but really to get you logged on to their own store and website in the hope that you buy stuff and increase their webhits. This software STOPS you playing the game you've just purchased and you have perfect reason to get annoyed.

I'll list the procedure of trying to play the game as it happened as it's easier to follow:
6:30 - insert disc, run autoplay, install.
6:32 - accept dozens of terms and agreements, accept to install Origin
6:33 - Origin requires an update before install REQUIRED to play Battlefield 3 it says. - Update begins
6:35 - Update complete, re-accept dozens of terms and agreements
6:37 - Create login account for origin
6:39 - Says you've created the account, then won't let you log in, saying password or username is incorrect
6:41 - Try and register again. It says username is not available now. Try logging in again
6:44 - Still not logging in. Go and watch a recorded program on sky for half hour
7:15 - Now logs on. Now have to set privacy details, tell it not to connect to the entire world and tell them I'm playing a game, accept another 10 T&Cs
7:18 - Now says I need an update for the game (4Gb!!!!!! - My brother in law down the road gets 0.3Mb/s imagine him trying to play this)
7:20 - Begin download, go and play chess with the wife (seriously, I haven't played chess in years and there was nothing on TV, the internet is now maxed out so I thought 'why not'?)
10:35 - Download complete. Installing
10:47 - Insert Disc 2
10:52 - Install Complete. Origin crashes
10:55 - Origin not responding to forced closing. Locks machine (my machine hasn't crashed in approx 6 months - and that was during heavy photoshop use - even then it recovered)
11:00 - Reset machine after giving up waiting
11:05 - Machine reset, launched Origin. Hit 'Play Game!'
11:05 - Origin now launches 'Battlefield Website'
11:07 - Still trying to work out why it's launching a website rather than the game
11:10 - Website tells me I need to download a plugin 'Gamemanager' to my browser to play my game
11:15 - Plugin eventually installs after sitting there like a lemon for 5 minutes. I now feel violated.
11:20 - Game launches but I'm tired and extremely hacked off. I get to the menu screen where it says 'do not power off during autosave icon' - realise that's because it's blatantly a console port and go to shut down my PC in annoyance but instead....
11:30 - Begin writing my frustration on this site at the fact I can't play a game for 5 hours because of pointless updates and logins of software I don't need or want

I can hand on heart say that's what I've been through this evening and I'm royally pi**ed off. I really don't care what the game is actually like. If you can't play the sodding thing why would you even care?

11:50 - Bed

Honestly EA, what are you up to now? Why do you continue to give me reasons to not buy the games you publish? I could put up with the shabby customer support but

Don't get me wrong, the developers at DICE have made a very good game, an amazing game but one the PC version you must install EA's 'Origin' client described by EA 'Origin is where you go to find the best that EA has to offer. The hottest games. Exclusive content. Early access. And more.' That 'And more.' part must mean where they have access to all your personal data. Yes you read that correctly, YOUR personal data, you didn't read the End User License Agreement? Well in-case you hadn't it clearly states:

"You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services" Then goes on to say "EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you."

This is a disgrace! Why do they need access to such information? I don't know about you but i don't want this game that badly. Sorry EA, you just lost yourself a customer, cancelled all my pre-orders published by you because it seems my money on its own is no longer good enough that you have had to sink to selling my personal information.

Sayonara EA!

TL;DR

EA can transmit your personal data and pass it on to third-party services. There's no way to opt out of this 'feature' that 'betters' your gaming experience.