Battlefield 3

If you're a PC gamer then you must know about at least one of the Battlefield games. It's a franchise that stretches all the way back to 2002 and that took us all over the world at different times, covering everything from World War 2, Vietnam, the middle east conflicts and even the future.
From the very beginning it distinguished itself from others by presenting open battlefields with different objectives and different ways of achieving them. Large teams would oppose each other not only as foot soldiers with different classes, but also driving tanks, jeeps, ships and several aerial vehicles, even robots and mechs in the futuristic 2142.

Giant mechs, always fun - Battlefield 2142

I've recently read someone rant about how first person shooters have been sort of stuck at that "modern warfare" theme and I have to agree. Since Call of Duty 4, everyone has been coming out with about the same game with different dressings, as is the case of the recently reviewed Homefront and several of the latest titles in the Battlefield franchise since BF2. He then went on to say that BF3 would be the saviour we all were hoping for, which raised an eyebrow on me.
Today a new video with plenty of in game footage was released by EA.

Since the game is not out yet, let's review the video.
The graphics look awesome, and the sound is realistic with what seems to be pretty decent voice acting. So the eye (and ear) candy is there, but what about the gameplay?
It looks scripted, it doesn't look at all like a Battlefield game, but rather like another CoD clone. I guess the freedom and the vehicles are reserved for the multiplayer, which is not shown in the vid, so we'll have to wait and see for that. If it is small environments with free for all deathmatches, everyone chasing after points, killing sprees and achievements, then I'll be seriously disappointed.
As far as the scripted part of the game it looks like the normal assortment of different missions where you're the super soldier who's given all the hard tasks and makes all the difference, complete with slow motion moments, taking out the World's Worst Sniper with a bazooka, being a ninja and manning all the machineguns. Do soldiers really feel everything in slow motion when they have to make a difficult shot?

It's packed full of action and all in all it looks like a great game, another bloody adventure in the middle east, but it doesn't look like the messiah that will bring that much needed breath of fresh air to the world of FPSs.