About the game
Battlefield 3 is a 2011 first-person shooter developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the twelfth installment in the Battlefield series and a sequel to Battlefield 2 (2005). It was released on Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October 2011. The campaign follows two characters, Henry Blackburn, a U.S. Marine, and Dimitri Mayakovsky, a Spetsnaz GRU operative.
The game combines single player, co-op and multiplayer. It brings back fighter jets, the prone position and 64 player battles on PC, which the Bad Company games had dropped. To suit the lower player count on consoles, the ground area is smaller on Xbox 360 and PS3, though the flying space stays the same. Maps take place in Paris, Tehran and other parts of Iran, Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, New York City, Wake Island, Oman, Kuwait City and the Persian Gulf. Multiplayer has four roles, Assault, Support, Engineer and Recon, and modes that include Conquest, Rush, Squad Deathmatch, Squad Rush and Team Deathmatch. The co-op mode is online only, with no split screen.
The campaign starts in March 2014 with Blackburn's squad in Iraqi Kurdistan, then moves to an Iranian coup and an American invasion. The squad learns that an Iranian paramilitary group has Russian suitcase nukes, and the plot follows the hunt for them across Tehran, Paris and New York.
Development began in 2009 after Battlefield 1943. The game uses the Frostbite 2 engine, which can destroy buildings and scenery and handle dense urban areas, and an animation system called ANT that was already used in EA's sports games. The PC version was the lead platform at first, then the focus shifted to consoles midway through. The Xbox 360 version ships on two discs. An open beta ran from 29 September to 10 October 2011.
It was revealed on 3 February 2011 and released in North America on 25 October 2011, in Australia on 27 October and in Europe on 28 October. New console copies came with an online pass for multiplayer. Five DLC packs followed, Back to Karkand, Close Quarters, Armored Kill, Aftermath and End Game. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions were delisted from their stores on 31 July 2024 and the online servers closed on 7 November 2024.
Reviews were mostly positive. Critics praised the multiplayer and the graphics and were less kind to the campaign and co-op modes. EA said it sold 5 million copies in its first week, its fastest selling game up to then, and 15 million by June 2012. It was the fourth best selling game of 2011 in the United States. The sequel, Battlefield 4, followed in 2013.
The text above is adapted from Wikipedia and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
What critics said
Metacritic 84 out of 100 from 57 reviews (Xbox 360). Individual reviews: IGN 9/10, GameSpot 8.5/10, Eurogamer 8/10, Official Xbox Magazine 9/10, Joystiq 4.5/5.
Extra content
Five paid map packs followed the game, and they only mattered for online play. The Xbox 360 version was delisted on 31 July 2024 and the servers closed on 7 November 2024.
- Back to Karkand: Four maps remade from Battlefield 2 (Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Wake Island, Sharqi Peninsula), three new vehicles and ten new weapons. Free with the Limited Edition. 5 achievements.
- Close Quarters: Four infantry maps, ten weapons, HD Destruction and the Conquest Domination mode. 5 achievements.
- Armored Kill: Tanks, ATVs, mobile artillery, vehicle maps and the biggest map in the series. Xbox 360 Premium members first; everyone else from 2012-09-25. 5 achievements.
- Aftermath: New maps and a crossbow with custom scopes and bolts. Xbox 360 Premium members first; everyone else from 2012-12-18. 5 achievements.
- End Game: Final expansion, developed with Visceral Games. Xbox 360 Premium members first; everyone else from 2013-03-26. 5 achievements.
Good to know
- The Xbox 360 version ships on two discs, and the optional high resolution texture pack is on the second one.
- The Xbox 360 list is 63 achievements for 1,600 gamerscore. 38 are in the base game and each of the five DLC packs adds 5. All the DLC ones, the co-op ones and the ranked multiplayer ones need online play, which no longer works.
- New copies carry a single-use online pass for multiplayer. Used copies needed a separately bought pass or a 48 hour trial.
- Back to Karkand came to PS3 a week before Xbox 360, and the later packs reached Premium members first on both consoles.
- Iran banned the sale of the game because of how it shows Iranian locations.
- The Physical Warfare Pack was meant to be a pre-order exclusive. After fans complained, EA made it free to everyone later in 2011.
Made by
Director Tom Keegan, Producer Aleksander Grøndal, Producer Lo Wallmo, Writer David Goldfarb, Writer Adrian Vershinin, Composer Johan Skugge, Composer Jukka Rintamäki.
