In an effort to save most of my comments for the full review I plan on writing, I’m going going to do a bullet-point list of the loves and hates that I have of the game so far.

As always, I encourage different points of view, so if you agree or disagree or want to add something to the discussion, jump right in.

Five Things I Love

- First and foremost, I love the graphics – they are unlike anything I’ve seen in any game I have ever played. The Frostbite 2 engine definitely shines in this game.
- The movement of the character in multiplayer and single-player. The realism in the graphics is accompanied well by the fluid movements of the character.
- I think the damage is right where it needs to be, which always seems to be a problem with online multiplayer.
- I like that the maps which incorporate vehicles aren’t overrun by them (yet) and that they are secondary/support methods instead of a crutch for the other team.
- The role abilities (support, medic/assault, etc) are great, but only when people actually use them. I try to use my defibrelator as often as possible and hope everyone else does as well.

Five Things I Hate

- I hate using the knife or trying to use the knife. It really only serves the purpose of stalking up on your enemy and getting the fun animation where you kill him and take his dog tags, which requires you to hold the knife button down. Actually knifing is worthless and is more likely to get you killed than get you a kill.
- The campaign is – so far (four or five missions in) – forgettable at best. I find it to be uninspiring and full of mediocrity. Don’t get me wrong – it looks AMAZING – but I have no attachment to my character, and that’s disappointing.
- Gun hop while using a scoped weapon (mostly on assault rifles) renders the scope damn near useless.
- I hate that there is no option to back out of a match before the next round (at least I haven’t found the option yet – and I’ve hit every single button on my controller in an effort to back out).
- I hate that I have tried to get into team deathmatch multiple times – by myself, even – and have had success with this just once. Yup. Once.

Five Things The Jury’s Still Out On

- The controls are somewhat suspect and leave me wishing the knife action (that I wish worked) was elsewhere on the control, as well as the crouch option.
- The party system is still something to be desired. I’ve been in a squad with friends, only to be moved to the other team.
- The random spawn points might need some tweaking. I’ve been killed multiple times already from spawning right in front of an enemy.
- Progress seems slow though that may be due to getting used to the maps.
- I’m always picky about hit detection and I’m still trying to get a good feel for it in BF3.

Anyway, if you’ve got something to add, let us know!