Cinematic, memorable campaign
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews
“The campaign just hits differently. It's one of the best Battlefield games ever made”
Steam review · 9.2 h played ↗
Battlefield 3™
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Mostly Positive · 72%Mostly Positive · 72%DICE2020Shooter · FPS · Action
The verdict
A classic, cinematic military shooter whose short campaign still impresses, but launching it via EA app and Battlelog is a mess and multiplayer is nearly dead. Skip unless it's deeply discounted.
Great for
Campaign players and nostalgic fans who buy it on a deep sale and can tolerate launcher tinkering
Main risk
The game may refuse to launch through EA app and Battlelog, leaving you unable to play at all
What players love
Graphics and sound still hold up
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“at max settings and 4K resolution it can still look really good and puts many modern titles to shame”
Steam review · 6.5 h played ↗
Nostalgia and old-school feel
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“After many Years ~ It still the same! Thank You EA to make our childhood gaming experience beautiful!”
Steam review · 6.3 h played ↗
Best Battlefield in the series
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“The actual best battlefield game. Almost everything about this game is perfect, from the visuals and gameplay to maps.”
Steam review · 96.4 h played ↗
Large-scale multiplayer with vehicles and destruction
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“Massive maps, incredible sound design, destructible environments, jets screaming overhead, tanks rolling through the streets”
Steam review · 21.8 h played ↗
Runs well on modern and weak PCs
Mentioned in ~1 in 21 positive reviews
“this game is smooth af in my Ryzen 5 2400G + RX 580 4GB”
Steam review · 7.3 h played ↗
What players complain about
EA app and Battlelog launch chain
Mentioned in ~3 in 5 negative reviews
“Clicked Play on Steam expecting Battlefield 3. Instead, I got the EA app. Clicked Play there? Website. Clicked Play on the website? Back to the EA app.”
Steam review · 1.9 h played ↗
Product key / ownership errors
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“Doesn't launch, EA keeps telling me to purchase the game again”
Steam review · 5.9 h played ↗
PunkBuster kicks and cheaters
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“after a couple of minutes PunkBuster (anti-cheat) kept kicking me out and I never solved it.”
Steam review · translated · 0.3 h played ↗
Dead multiplayer, few servers
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 negative reviews
“Every other server fakes it’s player count, enjoy joining and leaving empty lobbies”
Steam review · 39 h played ↗
Weak, short, scripted campaign
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews
“The campaign is too short. It's too scripted.”
Steam review · 4.6 h played ↗
Sweaty veterans dominate servers
Mentioned in ~1 in 30 negative reviews
“Every single person left playing BF3 is a russian chud who has been playing this game for 16 hours a day since the second it came out.”
Steam review · 4.1 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: UnsupportedController support20 GB
Minimum
OSWindows 7 64-bit
Processor2 GHz Dual Core (Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Althon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsGraphics card (AMD): DirectX 10.1 compatible with 512 MB RAM (ATI Radeon 3000, 4000, 5000 or 6000 series, with ATI Radeon 3870 or higher performance) Graphics card (NVIDIA): DirectX 10.0 compatible with 512 MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 8, 9, 200, 300, 400 or 500 series with NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or higher performance)
Storage20 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 7 64-bit
ProcessorQuad-core CPU
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsGraphics Card: DirectX 11 compatible with 1024 MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or ATI Radeon 6950)
Storage20 GB available space
OSWindows 7 64-bit
Processor2 GHz Dual Core (Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Althon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsGraphics card (AMD): DirectX 10.1 compatible with 512 MB RAM (ATI Radeon 3000, 4000, 5000 or 6000 series, with ATI Radeon 3870 or higher performance) Graphics card (NVIDIA): DirectX 10.0 compatible with 512 MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 8, 9, 200, 300, 400 or 500 series with NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or higher performance)
Storage20 GB available space
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