Epic, is truly the right word to describe this game. You feel like you are in a war zone. The smoke effects are one of the best I've ever seen in a game and how the sunlight causes you to squint your eyes due to the brightness feels so realistic. Another great detail that I thought was cool was the glare given off from a sniper scope in the bush, allowing me to counter snipe him just in time (this was in MP (Multiplayer) mode). I thought the Facebook style main page (battle log) was great way to manage contacting your friends and checking your stats against your mates (i think in mw3 (Modern Warfare 3) you have to pay for this added feature).
I don't know if this game will dominate MW3 but I have made up my mind just to buy this game alone. Perhaps maybe when Steam has a big ole sale and slashes the price down by half, then I'll purchase MW3 just to finish SP mode (Single player) and have a crack at the MP mode because one thing that I'll miss is the SND mode (Search and Destroy).
But driving a tank with your buddy and crushing your enemies with it, so much fun! I also like the squad base mechanics of the game. You work as a team and you will be ranking up and unlocking all those fantastic goodies in no time (game play tips: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/battlefield-3/1210757p1.html ).
The SP (single player) mode has some great action pace sequences and some great memorable moments where you are left saying WOW! In the MP mode the load times take a bit longer to get into the game but all good things come to those who wait (maybe i need to upgrade my pc). I have noticed at times there are sound effects that are missing from both the SP and MP mode but its nothing major that a patch wouldn't fix. Now I played about 815 hours on MW2 since its release back in Nov '09 (most time ever spent on a FPS game) and if i beat that benchmark in less time, then I sure made a good decision going with BF3. Plus developers of the game listen to the community and have made improvements already to the battle log page. I'm sure there will be more patches to come as the game irons out the problems.
No doubt MW3 will be a great game as well but if you have limited time (or budget) to play 1 game, then let it be Battlefield 3.
