Year: 2011
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST) / Premium Edition
Composer(s): Johan Skugge, Jukka Rintamäki
Number of tracks: 19 / 10

★★★★★

Blast From the Past

I know, I know, the mob will scream at the sight of this review and say: “But Mattis, you can't review Battlefield 3 without having done all the other Battlefields that came before it. You're still missing at least six games that came out prior to the third installment!” And yes, I'm disappointing myself at this point, as I really want to cover the soundtracks of the various series as chronologically as possible. So why break the rules? Because I felt like it.

I just wanted to briefly return to the heyday of the series, to what was probably the best and most formative part for me, and simply listen to the very cool music again. I remember too well the countless hours I spent on maps like Operation Métro or Caspian Border, the nightly firefights in Tehran Highway or the cat-and-mouse game on Epicenter. These graphics, this atmosphere, this gameplay - simply unrivaled top class.

Battlefield 1942 (2002)

Battlefield Vietnam (2004)

Battlefield 2 (2005)

Battlefield 2: Special Forces (2005)

Battlefield2: Euro Force (2006)

Battlefield 3 (2011)

Battlefield 2042 (2021)

And I remember the launch trailer particularly well: The story was irrelevant, the characters uninteresting. But the game scenes that flickered across the screen - at the time, I couldn't comprehend that I would really be able to play it myself. A rolling tank battle in the desert; Black Hawk Downstyle street fighting; and dogfights after take-off from an aircraft carrier in the rain-swept ocean - how awesome was that?

But the real hero of the video was the music: the well-known Battlefield-theme in a techno version, with booming bass, synths that still make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and pure epicness in acoustic form. This build-up, this climax, this pay-off. I've never been so taken by a trailer after that and to this day I still get goosebumps when I hear the theme.

Fortunately this is still possible, as Electronic Arts released an original soundtrack for the game, which is a decent size with 19 tracks. In addition, a supplementary Premium Edition was released in 2013 with ten more tracks, including the themes of the four DLCs Close Quarters (Close Quarters), Armored Kill (Epic Tank), Aftermath (MMT) and End Game (End Game). Meanwhile, the first map expansion Back to Karkand did not get its own track.

As is usual for the Battlefield-series, the third installment once again saw the composer's wheel turning, which is why the music for this part was created by the Swede Johan Skugge and the Finn Jukka Rintamäki. Together they created a soundscape that fits the modern military setting of the game like a rifle scope on a Picatinny rail.

As a result, the score gets the blood pumping in its best moments, while the sounds of Close Quarters or Epic Tank keep us waiting to finally storm the eponymous battlefield. Conversely, quieter tracks such as Solomon’s Theme can also build up enough tension without becoming too repetitive due to their rhythmic synths.

Unfortunately, Battlefield 3 also has an extremely forgettable single-player mode, for which a few of the tracks were composed. Short songs such as The Red Wire, Kaffarov’s Villa and Tremors are regrettably absolute fun-killers due to their suspenseful character and never come close to the quality of Call of Duty background music. Well, these are two different franchises with different strengths and weaknesses, but there could have been more here. Fortunately, this should change somewhat with the successor Battlefield 4.

In fact, for me there was only ever one song in Battlefield 3 that was really, really cool, and that was the Battlefield 3-theme that we heard in the trailer. So you might think that the OST would fall well short of my nostalgia-tinged expectations and constitute a sad misremembering on my part if it weren't for the Premium Edition. Due to the lack of a campaign, it only contains tracks from the multiplayer, which clearly contributes to the fun factor.

In general, the tracks that we hear while staring at the (at that time agonizingly slow) moving loading bars all sound like a best-of of common alarm sirens that ring out howling for battle. What sounds unappealing turns out to be well worth listening to, even if a dose of enthusiasm for techno sounds and powerful bass is definitely conducive to listening pleasure. Although the 13-year-old Battlefield 3 cannot keep up with its direct successors, it still puts the score of Battlefield 2042 released in 2021, in its place and remains the better game in direct comparison in all respects: better gameplay, better map design and also better music.

Battlefield 3

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Battlefield 3	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	5
02	Thunder Run	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	3
03	The Red Wire	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	1
04	Solomon's Theme	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	4
05	Spark	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	2
06	Frostbite	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	2
07	The Death of Vladimir	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	2
08	Fire from the Sky	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	3
09	Kaffarov's Villa	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	1
10	Operation Metro	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	3
11	La Bourse	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	2
12	Tremors	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	1
13	Choked	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	2
14	Black Gold	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	1
15	The Great Destroyer	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	2
16	Hunter's Point	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	2
17	Brawl	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	1
18	Interrogating Blackburn	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	1
19	Battlefield 3 Dark Theme	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	3

Battlefield 3 [Premium Edition]

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Close Quarters	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	4
02	Point Blank	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	4
03	Epic Tank	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	5
04	Sharp Jet	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	4
05	MMT	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	4
06	Post Apocalypse	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	4
07	Frostbite Pillars	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	3
08	Premium Launch	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	3
09	End Game	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	4
10	Signing Off	Johan Skugge; Jukka Rintamäki	3