''Just enjoy shooting the s*** out of things'': Battlefield 3's Lead Designer on Close Quarters, Armored Kill, and Crazy Stunts

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Toby McCasker loves a bit of [app=5812]Battlefield 3[/app], and the release of the Close Quarters DLC was a perfect excuse for him to call up the game's Lead Designer, Niklas Fegraeus.

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Read full article by Toby McCasker

[mindsnare]

Been really enjoying CQ. One thing that really gives me the irrits though in such small maps, particularly in Op925, is the sound design. When I'm down in the basement car park, I should not be able to hear the action above me clear as day. It's disorienting as hell.

[Grant625]

spot on mindnsare...

[phx]

I'm not enjoying CQ

I feel they've build some absolutely first class pretty maps, and then slacked off with the actual game part. Conquest domination is basically deathmatch with a couple of flags, and gunmaster is basically deathmatch where you are punished for joining late / not winning.

I can hear the intro videos with all this "fast paced close quarters combat, where death can come from any side" - which is true. Death can certainly come from any side, and fairly often there is sod all you can do about it. Unlike other game modes, you can't react to the enemies new strategy after you respawn, because the entire situation has changed.

I'm sure they could have taken a bit longer and come up with something really cool and fast paced. A game that had pitched battles inside the office complex would be sweet. Even a variant of rush with a single MCOM stage on each floor, with attackers pushing up the building and defenders spawning on the roof would lead to a bit more structure in the battle. Structure is important (and why I enjoy rush more than the flag circlejerk that is conquest).

Its a basic psych thing - games are more fun if you are punished for your mistakes rather than bad luck. As it stands, CQ is a claustrophobic deathmatch, where I get killed much more often (and with about as much chance as avoiding it) as the stubbing-my-toe-on-a-rock bad luck death in the older maps.

Gunmaster would be a lot more fun if people started with better weapons and progressed to more useless. As it stands it seems a bit of a mixed bag (although its forcing me to get better with that bloody magnum).

[Marcus Dunn]

I think CQ is a bit of a mixed bag. First and foremost, the maps they have designed look amazing. Their design feels like real world locations, and graphically – HOT. Some of the lighting and atmospheric fx are simplic stunning. I would play CoD multi from time to time when I felt like a bit of brain switched off action, but man, this makes CoD look like an 80’s game.

I enjoy the Gunmaster mode but I find it often shags you more often than rewards you. So many times you score a kill and are suddenly equipped with a new weapon that handles completely differently and are killed because of it. Also really not sure about that grenade launcher as the second last unlock…..particularly how the grenades don’t explode on impact. That weapon just doesn’t feel like it belongs in the game. If I had to make any changes to gunmaster it would be that you were awarded the next weapon on the next death. It wouldn’t matter if you scored 15 pistol kills in between – I find the sudden weapon swap to be more of a detriment than an advancement reward as such.

And straight DM is not bad, but it’s really not Battlefield. I know they are going for an infantry heavy game style, and I am all for that being a fan of Battlefield infantry since way back when. But when you go back and look at all the famous infantry heavy maps – the Stalingrads, the Berlin’s, the foggy dock map in Bf2142, and a handful in Bf2 which I have gone blank on – they still have that BF awesomness. You still have front lines, you have teamwork.

I would have liked if they had made these maps so that there was that CoD style DM for those who wanted it, but also the classic BF infantry gameplay. I like both Metro and Marketplace when they’re on smaller servers (24 or 32), where the hallway spam fights are kept to a minimum and the battles are spread out more. It’s a shame CQ didn’t work this way without the vehicle element.

If CQ has taught me one thing it's that I am terrabad with the auto shotty.

[DodgyGeezer]

They both must have played a different BC2 Vietnam DLC to me because I thought it was very dull, despite remembering the latter stages of the Vietnam war and loving Apocalypse Now, Platoon etc.

The maps were few, generically jungley and had very little destruction about them. I would loved to have seen a "defend the firebase" or city based fighting from the Tet Offensive or fall of Saigon. They could also have done a Metro style map based in the tight tunnels of a Vietcong underground base.

Out of the 400+ hours of BC2 I have logged, I would doubt I played more than 20 hours of the expansion. The servers soon became very underpopulated so I guess I wasn't the only one.

[Marcus Dunn]

My personal beef with BC2 vietnam was nothign to do with the asthetics but the map design. They were FAR too chokey - with people all being funneled through a narrow pass or area with very limited alternate routes. Meant that it was an absolute spamfest and to me personally, a massive turn off.

[Disco LT]

I have got CQ, but have invested all of 5 minutes into the game before becomming addicted to DayZ.. I had a lot of fun in the one and only map I played but it was very CoDish (much prettier than Mw3 though). I did very well, but then all I did was sprint in a large circle and hip fire at anyone I saw..

[bishopoz]

just want my tanks and air back... don't like cq , maps are too small , only 32pl , gun game is poo , if i wanted to play cs i'd play cs.

[jerichosainte]

Then go and play modes with vehicles....sheesh.

[Disco LT]

just want my tanks and air back... don't like cq , maps are too small , only 32pl , gun game is poo , if i wanted to play cs i'd play cs.

The next expansion should give you some of that.. I DO see where they are coming from, they're trying to make a multiplayer game that takes bits and peices for various modes to lure players from other franchises.

[IvanTSR]

just want my tanks and air back... don't like cq , maps are too small , only 32pl , gun game is poo , if i wanted to play cs i'd play cs.

Too daft to work the filters?

[Tajin]

CQ can be fun on really really small servers (8-12 players).

The biggest issue however is, those small maps really underline how ridiculously fast the player in BF3 moves. Cutting the movementspeed by half would actually be benefitial for CQ – somewhat more tactical.

[korbain]

Then go and play modes with vehicles....sheesh.

lol pretty much.

Still gotta get this, love bf3. haven't played it in a little while though sadly!

[realOne]

CQ is ok for honing in on your infantry skills, as soon as AK DLC is out I doubt ill touch CQ DLC ever again tho. B2K DLC & AK DLC will be enough to tie me over until Aftermath DLC comes out.