Battlefield 3

THE BUZZ: Tired of having to spend the time unlocking weapons, upgrades, and gadgets in Battlefield 3? Now you can just pay money to unlock them all!

EGM’s TAKE: Before I get to my thoughts on all of this, the Ultimate Shortcut Bundle has officially hit today for the Xbox 360, PS3, and Origin versions of Battlefield 3.

Here’s the description of what you’ll get in this bundle:

Get all weapons and gadgets unique to all four classes, all upgrades for both air and ground vehicles, and all co-op weapons in the ultimate shortcut bundle! This massive pack immediately unlocks all 119 weapons, gadgets, and vehicle upgrades from all other available shortcut packs.

These items are normally unlocked by earning experience while playing as the different classes, using the available vehicles, and by completing the co-op campaign.

The cost? $39.99. That’s, umm, where I start to take a bit of issue with this. I mean, first of all, offering people the chance to pay to instantly open unlockables in a game is already a little controversial. It isn’t as bad as paying for additional, for-money-only upgrades or weapons, but it does feel somewhat strange to tell players that they can just pay their way to game experience versus putting that experience in.

If we’re going to have such an option, though, is that the price it should come at? Is that way too high for such a simple feature—or should the price e high to discourage players for going the lazy route?

What do you think? Good idea, terrible idea, or are you mixed on it? Let us know in the comments below.