Battlefield 3 - The Next Installment in EA's Battlefield Series

After the success of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Electronic Arts is set to enter the next stage of its campaign in the Battlefield series. Bad Company 2 was created by EA's development studio DICE, to provide an online Battlefield experience on games consoles.

During the transition to games consoles, certain features such as fighter jets and prone positioning were lost. Battlefield 3 promises the return of these features. Those on PC will also be able to enjoy 32 vs 32 player matches.

The Battlefield series is celebrated for its emphasis on vehicular warfare and troop skirmishes, and the game's teaser trailer highlights this with silhouettes of a tank, helicopter and jet plane along with an infantry soldier.

As for weapons, the M4A1 and M249 will make an appearance in Battlefield 3. DICE have promised more intel on weapons in a trailer set for release on 1st March. Patrick Bach, Executive Producer, has stated that Battlefield 3 will offer only four classes of soldier, rather than the seven of Battlefield 2, to provide optimum flexibility of game play.

Rumour suggests we will also see the reappearance of the Team Commander role from Battlefield 2, where one player is tasked with coordinating squad movements, the ordering of supplies and calling in helicopters or air strikes. Hopefully there will be more intel on this in the trailer.

A new map, Bagdad Burning, features urban warfare similar to Strike at Kirkhand. Other locations are to be set in the USA, Middle East, and Europe and feature claustrophobic streets, metropolitan downtowns as well as open, vehicle-friendly landscapes.

All this is to be delivered by the power of Frostbite™ 2, the next instalment of DICE's cutting-edge game engine technology. Frostbite™ 2 delivers enhanced visual quality, a spectacular sense of scale and destruction, dynamic audio and lifelike character animations. As shells whizz by, buildings crumble and explosions knock you to the ground, the battlefield feels more real and interactive than ever before.

As you know, things have been heating up out in EA land for the past three years but it looks like we're definitely going in this time. Enemy units are on the move and we need all soldiers to answer the call. So start fighting soldier, or I'll find someone who can!