Its multiplayer formula won't surprise fans, but “Battlefield 3” refines an experience that already was among the best in the genre.

Modern first-person shooters have started to resemble big-budget Hollywood blockbusters in recent years, a trend that has received both praise and criticism from gaming audiences. Being shuttled from one explosive set piece moment to another can be thrilling, but when this formula is overused it feels like you’re on an on-rails Disneyland ride.

While the “Battlefield 3” campaign isn’t devoid of this feeling, its multiplayer offers a much more natural (and rewarding) sense of large-scale action. With dozens of players battling across nine massive maps in tanks, jeeps, helicopters, jets, or on foot, multiplayer matches feel like a genuine war rather than a small-scale skirmish.

Whether you’re playing through the tense campaign or spending countless hours in multiplayer, “Battlefield 3” greatly benefits from the stunning Frostbite 2 engine. If your gaming computer is capable of supporting the highest settings, you’re in for an aesthetic treat that tops everything else in the genre. Character animations look smooth and realistic, explosions have significant weight to them, and environments get torn apart in showers of concrete and debris.

The stellar audio design matches the high quality bar of the graphics, featuring realistic sound effects, Hollywood-caliber voice acting, and a great soundtrack. Music doesn’t blare throughout most of the game, but it’s subtle and effective.

Rather than delivering sweeping changes to the series’ multiplayer format, the game’s developer, DICE, chose more subtle tweaks for “Battlefield 3.” As with “Bad Company 2,” players can choose from four classes, but the assault and medic classes are now merged (with the now-open fourth slot dedicated to the gun-toting, ammo-dropping support class).

I loved both classes in “Bad Company 2,” so the ability to throw medkits and revive teammates while utilizing assault weaponry feels ideal. In a move that should please snipers and potentially annoy sniping victims, the ability to go prone returns. It’s as annoying as ever to get picked off by camping recon players, but the kill cam and scope glint should tip observant players off about their location.

Rush, Team Deathmatch and the squad variants are solid modes, but with the return of 64-player matches, Conquest is once again the star of the multiplayer show. In my time on the game’s pre-release servers, I never encountered lag.

The method for jumping into matches is a hassle. Forcing players to exit the game menu to the Battlelog website when they want to switch between modes seems unnecessary.

“Battlefield” fans hoping for the most polished entry in the series won’t be disappointed by this massive sequel. Multiplayer maintains the high level of quality DICE is known for, and the campaign is the best in franchise history. Outside of the annoying Battlelog and a tacked-on, uninspired co-op mode consisting of six short standalone missions, the only downside to “Battlefield 3” is the lack of substantial changes to the multiplayer formula. However, that shouldn’t stop longtime fans and newcomers from enjoying one of the best FPS experiences in gaming.

‘Battlefield 3′

9.5 (out of 10)

PC

Electronic Arts, DICE

ESRB rating: M for Mature

New game releases

The following titles were scheduled for release the week of Oct. 30:

• “Air Conflicts: Secret Wars” (PS3)

• “Batman: Arkham City — Nightwing Bundle Pack” (X360, PC, PS3)

• “Cabela’s Adventure Camp” (PS3, Wii, X360)

• “Cabela’s Survival: Shadows of Katmai” (Wii, PS3, X360)

• “Family Game Night 4: The Game Show” (X360, PS3, Wii)

• “Fate/Extra” (PSP)

• “Gears of War 3: Horde Command Pack” (X360)

• “Generator Rex: Agent of Providence” (DS, 3DS, PS3, X360, Wii)

• “GoldenEye 007: Reloaded” (X360, PS3)

• “Hasbro Family Game Night Fun Pack” (X360, Wii)

• “JASF: Jane’s Advanced Strike Fighters” (PC, PS3)

• “Jimmie Johnson’s Anything With an Engine” (PS3, X360)

• “Monopoly Collection” (Wii)

• “Motion Explosion!” (X360)

• “MotionSports Adrenaline” (PS3, X360)

• “NASCAR Unleashed” (Wii, X360, PS3)

• “NCIS” (X360, Wii, PS3)

• “Otomedius Excellent” (X360)

• “Sonic Generations” (X360, PC, PS3)

• “The Lord of the Rings: War in the North” (PS3, PC, X360)

• “Twister Mania” (X360)

• “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception” (PS3)

• “Voltron: Defender of the Universe” (X360, PS3)

• “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?” (X360)

— Gamespot.com

TOP 10

ACROSS THE BOARD

The editors of Game Informer Magazine rank the top 10 games for November:

1. “Batman: Arkham City” (PS3, X360, PC)

2. “The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword” (Wii)

3. “Battlefield 3” (PS3, X360, PC)

4. “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception” (PS3)

5. “Super Mario 3D Land” (3DS)

6. “NBA 2K12” (PS3, X360)

7. “Saints Row: The Third” (PS3, X360)

8. “Forza Motorsport 4” (X360)

9. “FIFA 12” (PS3, X360)

10. “Rayman: Origins” (PS3, X360, Wii)

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Weekly download

‘Sideway: New York’

For: PlayStation 3 (via PlayStation Network)

From: Playbrains/Fuel Industries/Sony Online Entertainment

ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+

Price: $10

On style alone, “Sideway: New York” is immediately striking. It takes a genre as old as time — the sidescrolling platformer — and applies a graffiti motif that animates flat, cartoony characters in front of fully-rendered environments while a terrific soundtrack (courtesy of Mr. Lif) blares behind it. But style immediately becomes the second most interesting thing about “Sideway” when it completely and seamlessly turns that world on its ear for the first time. In “Sideway,” player and enemy alike exist as flat, living tags on the walls and rooftops, and when you’re that ingrained into your surroundings, they can completely shift perspective without disorienting you.

The process isn’t flawless: Combat and other controls aren’t as responsive as their fluid animation would suggest they are, and you’ll die many cheap deaths en route to finishing the story (and, if you’re up for a stiff challenge, finding every last secret shift and collectable in each level).

— Billy O’Keefe, McClatchy-Tribune News Service