Battlefield 3

Several of the "must play" games have finally made it out this month.  Leading the pack was Battlefield 3 for the PC.  While not perfect, it has been a lot of fun to play.  Big 64 player maps, lots of vehicles, and a robust stat tracking and upgrade goodies have kept me playing for now.  The new partially destructable buildings are also a lot of fun.

The smallish maps for planes, the tactical "flashlight" that blinds people, mortar spam on some maps, and weapon imbalances are problems that they need to fix.  Not to mention stability problems, game crashes for some, and poor server customization at the moment.  It's still a game in need of some polish, but when it works, it can be a lot of fun.

But do expect some challenges.  I had a heck of a time setting up my CH Fighterstick/Throttle/Rudder Pedals. Yep, I got it to work, after realized that some keys are hard bound in the game.  I also had to get back up to speed with the CH programming software to customize the buttons.  Battlefield 3 does not want to recognize more then one game controller, so you also have to map the different controllers as one device in the CH software.  My CH profile: Battlefield 1.0.map and Battlefield 1.0.cms.

My current headache with the game is that you can no longer start a server with less then 4 people - even if it is "unranked."  That's a big problem for those like me who rented a server for the sole purpose of practicing.  Hopefully this will get fixed after being broken in the latest patch.