Info

As release creeps ever closer the battle between Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 for FPS king this winter is intensifying. What started as game announcement trading blows has spent all summer slowly escalating into the gaming version of trench warfare with one game’s announcements being met with a reply on the same subject from the opposing game. First we saw CoD Elite announced, swiftly counterattacked and arguably outdone by EA’s announcement of the Battlelog. BF3 addressed concerns about the “low” 30 frames a second speed that the game will run in on consoles only to be met with wild guffaws and proud boasts that MW3 will run in 60 fps. As a result it will come as no surprise that MW3’s recent “Spec-Ops” reveal (more on this later) has been counter attacked by BF3 announcing something new. How does co-op BF3 missions sound?

Taking the stage at Gamescom Dice showcased co-op in action as a two man team worked it’s way through an apartment building at night in order to secure a HVT. Using silencers to avoid undue attention, using the enemy tagging system and then coordinating attacks to take out 2 enemies at once and even dealing with cameras. Ok so it’s not exactly a Tom Clancy game in it’s presentation but it works as you can see below. Securing the target the action then moves back out to the streets as he is loaded into an AI controlled Humvee and the two man team then take point to secure the streets ahead. Naturally it isn’t smooth sailing as the streets then erupt into a massive firefight with thermal vision being used to spot, tag and take out the threat. Co-op play may not be original anymore, hell even this style of co-op play may have been seen before, but the whole point is that it’s something different for Battlefield players to get stuck into. Expansive single player, Dice’s glittering history of multiplayer and now co-op missions to boot, it’s all looking like a treat this October.

Naturally the reveals didn’t end there either.

When it comes to multiplayer we’ve only really seen the Paris Metro level that was recently rigorously alpha tested on PC. Well we now have another map teaser to drool over that shows off jet combat at long last. Caspian Border based on the trailer below will quite literally have something for everyone. Wide open plains, tree lined areas with rocky outcrops, a small built up area in what is fair to assume is the centre of the map. Vehicles galore ranging from jeeps through tanks, attack choppers and finally jets. Whatever your preference in terms of FPS tools of destruction it seems like a map that will deliver by the bucket load.

If MW3 can come back with an announcement or reveal to rival the above two I’ll be mightily surprised. Of course I’ll also be mightily surprised if in the short term BF3 outsells MW3. In terms of quality there is no gap and hasn’t been for a while however Battlefield 3 is certainly shaping up as the title that may well break the back of the CoD sales dominance of recent years.