Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 marked the series' return to modern warfare and brought an impressively good-looking world to the PS3, powered by the Frostbite 2 engine, which in 2011 was among the most technically ambitious titles of the generation thanks to advanced lighting, environmental destruction, and character animations. The shorter single-player campaign led the player through several storylines from a conflict in the Middle East, including the Battle of Paris and an operation in Iran, and built on cinematic firefights inspired by the successful Modern Warfare series, but the true center of gravity was the much larger multiplayer with big maps, vehicles, aircraft, and team play based on four military classes.

On the PS3, compared to the PC version, studio DICE had to limit the number of players per match to twenty-four and reduce some graphical details as well as the extent of environmental destructibility, yet the game still looked and sounded excellent on console — the sound of gunfire and explosions was among the most impressive things the console offered that generation. Destruction of buildings and cover changed tactics on the fly and forced players to constantly improvise and seek new hiding spots, which was one of the main differences from the competing Call of Duty series and its fixed environments.

Battlefield 3 received very positive reviews and cemented the series' position as the main rival to Call of Duty in online war action throughout this console generation. Multiplayer maps like Caspian Border and Operation Firestorm became iconic examples of what large-scale battles with tanks, helicopters, and planes could offer players on an ordinary home console. Today the game still stands as proof that even an older-generation console could deliver a grand, chaotic multiplayer experience, even though the servers have long since ceased operating at full capacity and many players have moved on to newer entries.

Why play it: Anyone who wants to experience grand, chaotic battles with tanks and planes, which consoles of that time rarely managed to deliver, will find in Battlefield 3 proof that it was possible, even though full servers are long gone.