Battlefield 3: Give Me Your Thoughts

As you may have heard by now, Battlefield 3 has shipped 10 million units. It shouldn't really come as much of a surprise, considering all of the hype and money EA put into the marketing campaign. Will all of these copies be sold? Over time, probably.

I finished the single-player the other night. Nothing to write home about, though not near as bad as some reviewers have said. Yes, the story was a bit of a mess, and the missions were much more linear than Bad Company 1 & 2, but it still felt more satisfying than anything I have played with the Call of Duty series...well, except the first Modern Warfare -- still my favorite FPS to date.

Who really cares about the single-player, though? If you knew anything about BF3 going in, you knew the primary focus is the multiplayer. This is where all of the meat, potatoes, and gravy (cheap idiom, I know) lie.

Only putting a few hours with the multiplayer does not give me much say right now. However, one thing that is very clear: BF3's finished product is MUCH better than what the open beta showed. I have not experienced any of the glitches I stumbled upon in the beta, the animations look better, and the weapons feel more satisfying. Oh, one other thing, the maps are a blast.

One thing I have not experienced is the connection issues that people have been complaining about. Have you been having troubles connecting, or staying connected with matches? Also, let me know in the poll after the jump how you rate the game so far!

Does Hype Ruin Your Experience? (POLL)

One of the playing factors that can make or break a movie, video game, book, etc...HYPE! (Keep in mind, I said "one" of the factors.)

It's great to have, but can be blinding, too (I will refer to the form of entertainment as "thing"):

1. You can build up the hype train too much, then be severely disappointed with the final product
2. You see the "thing" is garnering so much hype, you hate it just to hate it. No matter what the end result, you still refuse to like it -- what a rebel
3. So much of the "thing" is being covered/released that everything feels spoiled once you finally view it/play it/etc.
4. Many people continue to talk about the "thing," so you feel forced onto it -- even though you have no idea/interest in what is going on

After hyping Iron Man 2 to no end, I have learned my lesson. In no way was IM2 a bad movie, I was just expecting it to be SO much better than the first (that was my first mistake), I had too high of expectations.

What do you think? Does hype ruin your experience? I vote yes, but let me know your thoughts after the break.