Battlelog, EA's service for tracking player statistics in Battlefield 3, is a really cool service. It's great to be able to see your progress, compare your score and accuracy against your friends, and look at the player leaderboards for the entire world.
The problem is that Battlelog isn't used solely to track stats; it's also Battlefield 3's server browser and menu. I have an unlocked copy of the game, but when I tried to log in to the service this morning, I was told that Battlelog was currently closed and that I should come back later. That meant that I couldn't play online.
Battlefield 3's singleplayer is also normally launched through Battlelog, with Origin opening the website when you click to play the game. If you switch to offline mode inside Origin, then it launches the singleplayer directly, meaning the singleplayer is still playable when Battlelog is offline. But why should we need to even think about that? When I want to play a singleplayer game, why is whether a website is offline even an issue?
Battlefield 3's singleplayer doesn't require an internet connection, and we're not saying that Battlelog is necessarily a bad thing. It seems cool in lots of ways. But it also seems a bit mad that the game replaces something as simple, easy, and unbreakable as a menu is now something as complicated and flimsy as a website. What do you think?
