Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 was, in 2011, a major technological showcase and at the same time the series' most ambitious attempt yet to take on Call of Duty on its own turf. The campaign takes the player through Iraq, Iran, and Paris, adding cinematic cutscenes, a fighter pilot mission, and a tank battle, but it remains the less interesting part of the package. The real reason people bought the game was the large-scale multiplayer battles with vehicles, aircraft, and helicopters, in which a soldier on the ground has to rely on their squadmates more than on their own aim.

Multiplayer offered four classes with a deep unlock tree, conquest, Rush, and a tight single-objective combat mode, and maps ranging from a cramped Paris metro to open plains full of armor. On the Xbox 360 the game ran with fewer players than on PC and shipped on two discs, with installing the high-resolution texture pack noticeably changing the final look. Even so, the Frostbite 2 engine handled dynamic lighting, partial building destruction, and an impressive soundscape that ranked among the best on console at all: you could tell from the sound of impacts where and what someone was shooting at you with.

Reception was very favorable, mainly thanks to the scale of the battles and the technical execution, while reviewers regularly called the campaign the game's weakest part. Battlefield 3's influence lay mainly in confirming the viability of large combined-arms battlefields at a time when the genre was shrinking into tight arenas. Today, those who return to it on old hardware are mostly looking for that specific feeling of a helicopter landing beside them, the doors opening, and the whole team relocating to the other end of the map. Few games in 2011 could deliver that moment. It's also worth mentioning the two-player co-op missions, which offered snappier, cleaner action than the whole campaign, and the fact that the game required an internet connection to fully unlock progression. Battlefield 3 was, above all, a promise of what consoles could do once more was asked of them than they were built for.