I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing a series of screencasts that demonstrate some handy tips and techniques to help people be more productive in Photoshop. It’s been a few years since I’ve written any sort article on this topic, and this time around, I figured a screencast would be better suited.

If I recall correctly, the first time I used Photoshop was in multimedia class in grade 10, and I’m pretty certain it was version 3. Needless to say, I’ve been using the app for nearly two decades, yet I still find myself learning new ways to speed up my work flow, and often stumble upon handy little settings to make my life easier. Just last week, Orman Clark mentioned that he had found a way to remove the “copy” from being added to duplicated layers and groups, which served as the motivation to actually getting this screencast out the door.

At last, I can finally get rid of that pesky “copy” being added to copied layers and groups in PS s.zilla.cc/FPKl (CS5+)

— Orman Clark (@ormanclark) March 29, 2012

Most of the ground covered in this screencast is fairly basic, and mostly to do with setting up the user interface. But hopefully I’ve mentioned a thing or two that you weren’t aware of. If you find this screencast useful and/or would like to see me present more of this type of content, be sure to let me know in the comments, or on Twitter.

Spoiler warning: I have made an effort to keep this review spoiler-free, but if you have no knowledge if the events that take place in Mass Effect 3, than you may want to stop right here. If you’re played the previous games and have watched at least one Mass Effect 3 trailer, there’s nothing here that will ruin the story for you.

Mass Effect 3 wastes no time in setting the scene. Within minutes of the opening, The Reapers have reached Earth and everyone is looking to Shepard for defensive tactics. I will definitely be going back for a second play-through, just so I can rip the delegates a new asshole with the renegade dialogue options during this scene. It’s not long before you’re back on the Normandy, and a course of action has been established. Mass Effect 2 was all about team-building. Mass Effect 3 follows a similar formula, but on a much bigger scale. The end goal, is to rally as many allies as possible, in order to meet The Reapers head-on, and try and take back the colonies that have fallen.

Liara and I rekindled our relationship.

Through-out your travels, you revisit many locales, but the scenery is quite different, given The Reaper invasion and all. Who you meet along the way, entirely depends on who survived The Suicide Mission in Mass Effect 2, and even who died in the first game. I was bummed when I met up with the Quarian fleet and remembered that Tali had fallen in the previous game, since I failed to win her support. Kaiden tagged along for the ride, as Ashley took one for the team in the first game. And so on… Some returning characters play a bigger role than others, but it was really cool seeing some familiar faces and catching up on what they’ve been doing since the events of Mass Effect 2.

As with previous games in the series, the decisions you make play a huge role in Mass Effect 3. I don’t think the scale of these decisions could possibly be any bigger. Colonies can fall, entire species wiped out, depending on your actions and who you choose to align yourself with. There were several points in the game, when I had to put my controller down and truly consider the consequences of the decision that lay before me.

The Illusive Man is still a bit of a dick.

I'm pretty sure that dude was a Batarian at one point.

Also similar to previous games, there is no single enemy you are pit against. In fact, just about every threat you’ve faced before is back in some form. This helps to provide some nice variety in the combat scenarios, as the opposing force is constantly changing. You’d think that with everyone facing extinction, that differences could be put aside, but no, assholes will be assholes. The Reapers have stepped it up this time, though. Husks, who we’ve seen in both of the previous games, are now accompanied by other species who have been converted by The Reapers to produce similar atrocities. If you give them a good look, you will likely be able to figure out which species they’re based on.

There has been a pretty big outcry regarding the ending. Personally, I was okay with it for the most part. After I made my decision and watched the credits roll, I jumped on YouTube to watch the other endings. I was surprised to find that they weren’t all that much different, aside from one key factor, but I couldn’t think of a way that I would have preferred to see things play out. It is a very definite end, and I like that about it. All of the endings leave a little to be desired, though. And during the final scenes, there are a few questionable things that don’t quite line-up with the events that just unfolded.

But there are a couple things that rubbed me the wrong way. The first being contributing factors to reaching your main goal in the campaign. There are three possible endings, but I was only presented with two. The third, and best possible outcome, can only be reached by playing the multiplayer mode, as it contributes to your goal. I wasn’t thrilled about this, when I made the discovery. Then I gave multiplayer a shot, and I was down-right angry. It plays completely different from the Mass Effect we know and love, and is just another take on the wave-based co-op action we’ve seen time and time again. Disappointing, to say the least.

The second shady tactic, is the day one DLC titled From Ashes. This absolutely, without a doubt, should have been included on the disc. Anyone who is invested in this series will find this to be crucial material. And to top it off, you get an awesome new squad member.

The Reapers make spectacular set pieces.

When it’s all said and done, Mass Effect 3 concludes the series in a way that left me with a smile on my face, and glad that I’ve invested so much time and energy into this series. The 30 hours it took me to prepare to fight The Reapers was as enjoyable as ever. And the only real faults, are the multiplayer (in its entirety) and the bullshit day one DLC, which is clearly an EA cash grab. Long-time fans of the series will know exactly what they’re getting into. What they take away, will likely vary from person-to-person.

A New Identity

I’ve never really had a logo, or even consistent type that has represented or accompanied my online identity. There have been a few times when I wish I had something other than my face to use, so I decided to whip up a simple logo of sorts that fill this void.

Strip it Down, Throw it Out

Over the years and through the redesigns, my site had grown to a point that any major changes (and even updating certain content) required a fair amount of work. One of my main goals was to toss any content that wasn’t 100% necessary.

I previously had a section called Marketplace, where detailed theme pages lived. This was initially going to be a place where I would sell my own themes first hand, and even partner with some third parties to sell all sorts of digital goodies. It never quite panned out, and instead became a burden. Marketplace is out, Themes is in. And on the new Themes page, I simply link off to ThemeForest.

Similarly, the Work section has been condensed to a single page, not only to ease the content management end of things, but to provide a quicker look at my portfolio for the end user.

Simpler Design, Layout, and Content

This is the first design I’ve sported since 2005 that doesn’t look like someone beat the piss out of it. I still love a good grunge design, but wanted to take things in a bit of a different direction. “Simple” was a word I kept repeating back to myself as I worked on this iteration, and my goal was to apply it to all aspects of the site. My homepage has typically been an overview of my entire site, and a brief look at what I’m doing across the social networks. Most of this content still exists, but it’s been moved to the About page.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the reasons I really wanted to redesign my site, was to optimize it for mobile platforms. While I’ve only tested it on iOS devices, it should look decent on any modern tablet or phone. I didn’t cater to any specific devices or resolutions. Break points were addressed as problems occurred, which should result in a better all around experience.

At the time of writing, I’ve done extensive testing in iOS Simulator and in the browser at different sizes. I haven’t even thought about testing on Windows just yet, and things are likely out of sorts in Internet Explorer. I’ll get around to them at some point, but am in no hurry.

What Do You Think?

I’d love to hear how you’re feeling about this latest version of my site. Especially those who have been around for a while and are familiar with previous iterations. Drop me a line below in the comments, or ping me on Twitter.

I probably didn’t approach this game with the right frame of mind – I wanted to complete the main quest, and care little about everything else. Or at least, that was the plan. When I played Oblivion back in the early days of the Xbox 360, I got stuck at around 16 hours. I had set out to do the same – complete the main quest, but my character wasn’t strong enough to defeat the enemies that lie ahead. Assuming this would likely be the case with Skyrim, I still set out to defeat Alduin. Surprisingly, there were no road blocks that required me to side-track and level up before proceeding. Alduin was slain within 20 hours, and I was done… the main quest, at least. I shelved the game and told my wife that I would stop hogging the living room TV every evening. No more than a few days had passed, when I found my ass back on the couch, and my mind back in Skyrim.

Hadouken!

Another path I had determined early on, was that I was going to fight my way through Skyrim with melee weapons and a bow and arrow. No magic. Magic is for pussies. My dude is a tough-as-nails Nord, and he fights with his hands, or things he can project using his hands. At least, that’s what I thought, until I discovered that I could shoot flames and fireballs from my hands like fucking Ryu! Yeah, my Nord is the Arch-Mage of Winterhold, no big deal.

Another thing I said I would never do, is traverse the world without cause. I would always have an active mission, and that’s what I would be doing. Until I saw a dragon fly over the peak of a mountain on the horizon. I chased that bastard until I was in range to bring him crashing down with my Dragonrend shout, and quickly took him out with my Dragonbone sword, then obsorbed his soul. I stole that sword from The Blades temple, by the way. It deals 20 extra points of damage to dragons. Pretty sweet little weapon! There were some ruins close by, so I checked them out and some dude asked me to go in and bring an enchanted staff back for him. Sounds easy enough. Three hours later, I had the staff, and the dude turned out to be a dick, so I killed him and kept it for myself. What was I doing again? Oh right, just running around doing miscellaneous shit. You know, that thing I said I would never do.

I absolutely love Whiterun.

So far, I’ve invested over 40 hours into Skyrim; 100% more than I had anticipated. And the only thing that’s going to put a stop to it, is Mass Effect 3, which is set to release in less than two weeks from the time of writing. But even then, I have a feeling that I’ll end up back in Skyrim when new releases begin to dwindle.

This is typically how I roll; fire-based magic in left hand, blade in right.

There is really so much I could say, and stories I could tell about my experience with Skyrim. And I could come back and write more after each sitting, but I’m going to keep this relatively short and to the point; The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an absolute masterpiece! It is so expansive that any minor technical issues become obsolete, given that you will likely forget about them due to the sheer amount of time invested. At least, that’s been the case with me. It looks fantastic, plays exactly how I would want it to, the music by Jeremy Soule is some of his best work, and it lets you play however you would like. What more could one ask for? Dragons? Yeah, it has plenty of them too.

Thankfully, Rayman isn't alone.

It’s quite obvious that Ubisoft set out to not only make a fantastic 2D platforming game, but to make it feel like something that could have come out 20+ years ago; save for the beautiful visuals of course. As far as the story is concerned – bad guys have filled Rayman’s world, some little pink dots with ponytales called Electoons have been captured, there are busty Nymphs to save, plenty of monsters to defeat, shiny things to collect, and red jewels to return to an old skeleton dude. There are a few bits of sub-titled dialogue, but none of it really matters, and often doesn’t even make sense. In other words, there is just enough story for the characters to have a purpose, and everything else weighs on the shoulders of how the game plays.

Thankfully, the game play is exceptional! Simple and responsive controls make this game easy to pick up for anyone who is familiar with the genre. There are a number of abilities standard to 2D platformers that are earned as you progress through the worlds. After a new ability is acquired, the levels that immediately follow are focused on familiarizing you with said ability, so you’re given plenty of opportunity to get the hang of the controls before things get really hairy. And that, they do.

There is no shortage of awesome boss fights, such as this.

In true old school fashion, you have at most 2 hit points. Much of the game is comprised of perfectly timed jumps and avoiding treacherous objects and enemies, so as much as you have to be quick with your moves, you also need to be quite careful. Checkpoints are some times few and far between, and a good portion of the levels (and especially boss fights) rely heavily on trial-and-error. This can prove to be quite frustrating at times, but it’s never reached the point of me wanting to stop playing all together.

One way Rayman: Origins is set apart from similar games of old, is that you can play it entirely with 3 other players. 4 player co-op in an often fast and fantastic 2D platformer might not sound like the ideal way to play, and depending on who you’re playing with, it might not be. But I had a surprising amount of fun and shared quite a few laughs while playing co-op with my wife. Deaths are handled in such a way that it doesn’t prove too detrimental to a player who is in the lead and doing well. Thus, it’s not as frustrating as it you might think.

I likely pay more attention to the music behind the game than most, and this is yet another area Rayman: Origins shines. I’ve actually found myself walking around the house whistling tunes that I heard while playing, and I can’t say this is something that happens often. My wife caught me one time and knew exactly what I had stuck in my head. We shared a laugh, then she went and fired up the console.

It’s a bit disappointing that Rayman: Origins was released during the holiday onslaught, as I feel like it’s been buried in the pile and hasn’t received the attention it deserves. Especially considering Rayman’s presence over the past few years. It’s likely not what people are expecting, and I’m positive it has been overlooked by many who would thoroughly enjoy it.

I’ve owned an Xbox 360 for nearly six years, and for five of those years, there has been at least 2 consoles in the house. Initially, the second console served as a back-up for when the main TV in the living room was occupied. I would remove the hard drive and pop it into the second console, then continue playing elsewhere. It was simply easier than unplugging and moving the entire console. Then, as my wife and daughter grew more inclined to play video games, we found ourselves with an actual need for a second console. It was no longer a back-up console; the two were being used at the same time, in different rooms by different people.

My Xbox 360 consoles; 250GB and 4GB (bottom).

This is Where Things Got a Little Messy

Thankfully, at this point USB storage devices were supported, so we weren’t bound to using the archaic first party 64MB memory units. Since I was the one who typically played on the second console, I would keep my profile and active game saves on the USB stick. So, I was portable, but there were still issues.

• The USB stick couldn’t be removed when the console was running; it would prompt you to re-insert it, even it wasn’t being used.
• If a game had DLC, I would need to re-download it on the second console (if it was relatively small, as it only has 4GB internal storage), or bring the entire hard drive to the second console.
• Most importantly; having only my profile mobile, meant that I was the one who got bumped to the basement. I may sound a bit spoiled here, but I invested a lot of money in a pretty decent home theatre setup, and I like to make use of it.
• For a while, we had my eldest daughter’s account on the USB stick as well, as she would often play in the basement when she got home from school while the living room was occupied. But this became a problem when both of us wanted to play at the same time, as both profiles were in the same place. It resulted in having to constantly move profiles from the USB stick back to the internal HDD.

Enter Cloud Storage

It really is our saviour. It’s as simple as enabling an option in the main console settings, then selecting it as your save destination when prompted, just like any other device. You are given 500MB of storage space, which is enough considering it’s only used for game saves. Data can be moved from the server to your HDD, so you can migrate old games that you’re no longer playing without worrying about running out of space, or having to delete the data.

“But hold on a sec, what about profiles?” Ah, I was hoping someone would ask! Also included in the fall ’11 dashboard update, is a change to “gamertag recovery”. Previously, if you wanted to migrate your profile from one console to another, you would use a USB device as previously stated, or you could “recover” your profile by downloading it. This was a fairly painful process, which took upwards of 20 minutes to complete. Now it’s labeled as “download a profile”, and it takes no longer than a couple of minutes.

Multiple Console Bliss

It really is a beautiful thing when you can log into a console, fire up a game, and continue playing right where you left off, without having to dick around with USB devices or the console’s portable hard drive. It works as well as you would expect, or likely better given the manufacturer’s track record.

Over the holidays, my wife suggested that we move our second console to the bedroom, along with the 40″ LCD TV that was collecting dust in the basement. We live in an old house, and it gets very cold down there during the Winter months. We couldn’t have done this at a better time, as Cloud Storage has made owning multiple Xbox 360s a truly enjoyable and painless experience.

A client of mine wanted to ditch their old phpBB forums in return for the fully integrated goodness of bbPress. The first battle, was figuring out how to get all of the users, topics, and replies over to the WP database. After many failed attempts by clunky forum conversion plugins, I found success with bbConverter. Although, as we quickly discovered, it too has its own flaws; we were left with 40k topics and 120k replies, but many had authors mixed up, were in the wrong place, or no longer belonged to a forum. Not to mention, bbConverter didn’t convert any of the bbCode used by phpBB, and didn’t do anything with file attachments. In short, the converted forums were a bloody mess and hardly useable. After a few days of trying to make the best of the situation, we decided to roll back and stick with phpBB.

Now I was faced with the task of cleaning up the database and removing the bbPress content. Surprisingly, there is no “uninstall” for bbPress, so I knew it was going to be a manual task. After digging through the database, I found that topics and replies are custom post types, which means they’re now part of the wp_posts table, where as all bbPress tables were previously independent, and prefixed with bb_. It’s not as simple as dropping a handful of tables and calling it a day. Topics and replies (and likely forums; I deleted them from WP-Admin as there was less than 20) are mixed in with the main posts, and other custom post types the site uses.

After half an hour of Googling, I found a solution on Stack Exchange. The only thing I had to do, was replace “customposttype” with the actual post type names, and change the table prefix (as it’s not the WP default).

Be sure to backup your database before running the following queries.

DELETE a,b,c FROM wp_posts a
LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships b ON (a.ID=b.object_id)
LEFT JOIN wp_postmeta c ON (a.ID=c.post_id)
WHERE a.post_type='topic'

DELETE a,b,c FROM wp_posts a
LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships b ON (a.ID=b.object_id)
LEFT JOIN wp_postmeta c ON (a.ID=c.post_id)
WHERE a.post_type='reply'

Those two queries cleared out the over 160k records found in the _posts table, and the associated data stored in the _postmeta and _term_relationships tables.

The millions who flock to this franchise every November are in it for the multiplayer. There’s no doubt about that. I have dudes on my Xbox friends list who have no achievements in this or the other Modern Warfare games, as there simply are none awarded for multiplayer. I on the other hand, still favour a solid single player campaign over an endless game of “shoot that guy”. I did however, give online multiplayer a go. Mind you, I have my communication preference set to “friends only”, so it was mostly a pleasant experience. More on this later.

When you start the campaign, you’re quickly brought up to speed regarding the events of the first two games. It picks up mere minutes after MW2 left off, with Soap and Price near-death and Makaroz still at large. The battle on American soil rages on, with Russian battleships and submarines filling the New York harbour, and you’re immediately dropped in the middle of the action. The typical campaign formula is in tact, as you fill the boots of soldiers from different factions fighting in different theatres across the globe, simultaneously. By the end, many lives are lost, and a surprising amount of closure is given. I highly doubt we’ll see another game in the Modern Warfare series. How great would a sci-fi Call of Duty game developed by Infinity Ward be? YES PLEASE!

There’s a constant sense of urgency as you play through the campaign, even during some of the slower paced stealth missions with Price by your side. Nearly every chapter contains a highly scripted vehicle or weapon emplacement sequence, that I had a lot of fun with. They were pure chaos, with a ludicrous amount of explosions and near-misses that had me permanently perched on the edge of my couch. Overall, there’s a very clear sense that this war is happening on a grand scale. Where as, many similar games feel like you’re fighting with a handful of allies, against a handful of enemies, and there’s really nothing going on outside of field of vision. This is definitely not the case with MW3. I found myself often hanging back and watching the action unfold around me. There were many memorable moments through-out the campaign, and writing about it now makes me want to revisit the entire single player experience.

Once the credits roll finishes, you’re immediately pointed to Special Ops, which can be played solo or with a friend via split-screen or online co-op. Here, you find the typical timed training mission, along with a slew of other challenges. Some are variations of scenes taken from the campaign, while others are unique to this game mode. There’s a new mode within Special Ops called Survival, which is a wave-based mode, with no zombies. I had fun playing both challenges and Survival, but not enough to entice me to go back to them more than  a couple times.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m not much for this style of multiplayer gaming. It got old years ago, and with only slight improvements since then, it quite simply doesn’t appeal to me any longer. I did however, play some straight-up multiplayer, and I didn’t hate it. It most definitely felt dated, and many of the visuals (specifically player cards that pop-up when you kill someone) made me want to gouge my eyes out, but overall I had fun for the short time I played. By like Special Ops, I’ve felt no urge to go back for more. Similar to how playing Battlefield 3 made me pick up this game, MW3′s multiplayer sparked an urge to play a great online shooter. I’ve since re-purchased Killzone 3 and have been thoroughly enjoying its multiplayer component.

All of this said, I can definitely see the draw in COD’s multiplayer. It’s quick and easy to pick up, yet super deep and expansive in the long run. The amount of unlockables pertaining to player and weapon upgrades is astounding! Clearly, Infinity Ward are aware that people live and breathe their game, and have given us enough to shoot for that you could likely play this game for months on end and not even come close to unlocking everything.

I’m glad I picked up MW3 when I did. I had a much better time with it than I expected, although it definitely feels like it’s time to move on. The game’s engine really needs an overhaul to bring it up to speed with other modern shooters, and something to shake that “been there, done that” feeling that now plagues the Call of Duty franchise.

"Here we go."

The first hour of the Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was unforgettable. Action packed from the get-go, and featuring some absolutely breath-taking scenes which let you know straight away, that you were in for a treat. Uncharted 3 takes a bit longer to get moving, although the first hour does include some pretty sweet battles that are strictly melee. It wasn’t until about three hours in that I finished a scene I instantly wanted to replay, and that certainly wasn’t the last. When it eventually picks up momentum, it rarely slows down.

As usual, Nathan Drake finds himself with a tidbit of information that leads him to all sorts of locations across the globe, while he tries to piece everything together. The four main characters from the previous game all make appearances. Naturally, Drake and Sully spend a good portion of the story working together to traverse ancient temples and solve puzzles. And this time around, we’re given quite a bit of insight into their pasts; how they met, and ended up working together. Early in the game, there are two full chapters where you play as a 15 year-old Drake, which includes an incredible foot-chase, marking one of the most memorable moments in the game.

The gameplay itself, remains virtually untouched. Everything from character movements to the cover system and combat are in line with the previous games. About the only new addition I can recall is the ability to throw-back grenades before they detonate. Although, I did notice that the characters moved quite naturally while walking through buildings and busy streets. They would often quickly skip around corners, or brush their hands along walls, and that sort of thing that you makes it stand out amongst the robotic movements we are accustomed to. Especially young Drake; he seems very distracted and curious as he walks through a bustling Columbia.

The Uncharted games can be fairly difficult, in that you are constantly scrounging for ammo, and enemies can soak up an obscene amount of bullets before dropping. At times, I found myself incredibly frustrated as the difficulty spiked during some of the bigger battles, and couldn’t help be feel like the enemies tactics were a bit on the cheap side. For example, there were numerous times I found myself pinned down by snipers, dudes wielding RPGs, or mounted machine guns. More often than not, grenades would force me out of cover while dudes flanked me on both sides. There was literally no safe place in many situations, and I found myself running around rooms looking for high powered weapons to deal with enemies quickly. Too many times, I felt that I simply lucked out, as opposed to feeling like I actually accomplished something.

This part, was absolutely insane!

As with the previous games, Uncharted 3 is a very decent length; 22 chapters long, to be precise. Completion time will vary, depending on the difficulty and how diligent you are with finding treasures. But definitely don’t expect to blow through the story in an afternoon. I played it while on bed rest after having sinus surgery, and it still took a solid 3 days.

Among Thieves brought competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes to Uncharted, which can naturally be found in Drake’s Deception. In all honesty, I had no desire to give them a go. I had some fun with Uncharted 2′s multiplayer components, but I simply had was not into it this time around. This could have everything to do with me playing Battlefield 3 simultaneously, as its competitive multiplayer had me by the balls. Some games simply don’t need multiplayer, and Uncharted is one of them.

If you’ve played the first two games in the series, you will have a sense of “been there, done that” with Uncharted 3. But rest assured, this is not a bad thing. It doesn’t take any risks, or drive the franchise in exciting new directions. But it delivers an incredibly thrilling action-filled adventure, that won’t soon be forgotten.

Battlefield 3 is very similar to the Bad Company titles, in that it contains a full-fledged single player campaign, but it is massively out-weighed by its multiplayer component. And for fans of the series, this is nothing to complain about. If anything, it just makes me wonder why they even bother with single player campaigns at all. I actually quite enjoyed Bad Company’s story, although it wasn’t good enough to warrant a second play through. Bad Company 2 was weaker in the single player department, and Battlefield 3 is weaker still. While there were some memorable moments, I felt that I was pushing myself to get through it so I could jump into multiplayer. I knew full well that if I started playing online, I wouldn’t get back to single player.

Straight up – the story plays out is very similar to the Call of Duty games. You are put in the shoes of several different operatives representing various factions that are all tied together by a common enemy who is working toward pulling off a catastrophic event that will kill thousands, or possibly even millions of innocent people. Yep, sounds familiar. The story itself is easier to follow than the COD games, full of some decent action sequences, but not nearly as exciting or enjoyable. I felt like for much of the story, I was along for the ride;  typically the last guy to breach a room, riding shotgun in land vehicles, co-pilot in jets, etc. There were many points where I found myself growing tired of waiting for scripted events to play out before being able to proceed. The early chapters are particularly bad for this. Looking back on the campaign now, there were only two chapters that really stood out. One where you’re rolling in a tank and blowing mad amounts of shit up. The other, very close to the end, made me feel like we were back in WWII; sprinting between crumbling rock walls in open farm land, shooting down enemies who are fleeing into the fields.

The amount of dust and water spots on screen at all times drove me crazy.

Visually and technically, Battlefield 3 is pretty remarkable! Everything is incredibly detailed, including character models. Lighting and particle effects (clouds, fog, haze, dust, debris, etc.) actually stood out, they were that good. I feel like this generation of gaming has peaked in terms of graphics capabilities, and most games look pretty fantastic. There aren’t many that really stand out these days, but Battlefield 3 definitely made an impression.

The audio however; sheesh! I was thoroughly looking forward to hearing the tried-and-true Battlefield theme ring out when I first put the game disc in. Only to be disappointed by this heavily degraded electronic noise. The theme is there, if you listen hard enough. Unfortunately, the entire soundtrack suffers the same tragedy. I tend to listen to a game’s soundtrack while I write about it, but here I am listening to the Modern Warfare 3 score (which is really damn good, I might add), and I haven’t even played that game yet.

Battlefield 3′s multiplayer is exactly what I was expecting, and it completely swayed my overall opinion of the game after just a few rounds. If you have spent any time playing the recent Bad Company games online, than you have a good idea of what you’re in for. It’s the same multiplayer Battlefield experience I’ve loved for so many years, but everything has been bumped up a notch or two in terms of refinement. Large scale battles where the tide is ever changing, packed with vehicles, and sheer chaos at every turn. There’s is nothing quite like Battlefield multiplayer, and it’s definitely my cup of tea over the typical run-and-gun variety that so many others seem to favour these days.

The main multiplayer modes are conquest, rush, and team deathmatch. The latter being completely obvious. Conquest is the original Battlefield formula introduced by Battlefield 1942, where teams compete to control points (flags) on the map. Bad Company brought us rush, and like conquest, has been adopted by many other games since. In Rush, one team defends while the other tries to advance. Once an area has been captured, the defending team falls back to a new location, and the attackers proceed forward. It’s extremely intense, and equally satisfying if you’re playing with a group of solid players. Both modes have provided me with hours of enjoyment, and I look forward to sinking many more hours into them with Battlefield 3.

Battlefield 3 comes equipped with a co-op mode, which I admittedly haven’t had a chance to play just yet, and I’m not sure if I will. From what I’ve read, it’s a more scripted experience along the lines of the single player story, with tougher team oriented objectives. Since I didn’t find much enjoyment with the single player end of the game, I don’t have much desire to dive into co-op.

Aside from the weak single player campaign and horrible music, I have a couple other major beefs with this game. EA are always looking for ways to cash in on DLC, and many of their tactics over the years have been shady, to saw the least. It started with charging for unlockable content, but has moved to requiring a unique code to unlock parts of the game. In this case, the multiplayer component in its entirety requires such a code. If you’re purchasing Battlefield 3 used or renting it, you won’t be able to play online unless you purchase the “online pass” for 800 points, which is equivalent to around $10. That’s just dirty.

Then there was the shoddy launch week. With it being 2011 and EA/DICE having so many Battlefield lanuches under their belts, you’d think they’d know how to prepare for a launch by now. Apparently, they’ve learned nothing over the years, and Battlefield 3, like Bad Company 2, Battlefield 1943, Bad Company, etc. before it was virtually unplayable online for the first week or so. This is unacceptable.

Overall, Battlefield 3 is an unbalanced package which leans heavily in favour of its multiplayer component. The fact that the single player campaign is on disc two says a lot. It is most definitely secondary content, and hardly worth the six hours it takes to complete. On the other hand, multiplayer is absolutely top notch, and I wish more people would put down Call of Duty long enough to give it a shot. It has so much more to offer.