DICE designer Niklas Astrand has detailed some of the maps from Battlefield 3. He gave a lot of details about the five maps in the game. He also gives a lot of tips and tricks and shares with us the design philosophies behind them. I had recently previewed the Multiplayer Beta which you can read over here. I felt that they were a mixed bag especially on consoles. The game is definitely meant to be played on a PC, with all the bells and whistles turned on. After all, Frostbite 2 is a spectacular engine capable of superb visuals.
Check out the details of the maps below.
Operation Firestorm
“One of our largest and most vehicle-friendly map, Operation Firestorm is the classic Battlefield gameplay taken to the extremes. Size-wise, and with some puzzle skills, you could actually place three Atacama Deserts — one of the largest maps from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 — within the playable area of Operation Firestorm. This is a wide-open desert map where the burning oil fields in one direction are contrasted by clear blue sky in the other direction. Construction sites dotting the area bring interesting possibilities for infantry to hide in elevated positions, spot vehicles, and take them down by mortar or RPG.”
Operation Metro
“Operation Métro is the map from E3 and the Open Beta, so some of you are familiar with it already. It is a map that perfectly illustrates that we want to take our players on a journey. Especially in Rush, you can see how Operation Métro is almost three maps within one: You start out in a lush park, then move into a bombed-out section of the subway tunnels, to finally emerge in a dense urban environment outside the Paris stock exchange. It’s a map that asks you to constantly adapt your class and load out for the diverse situations you will find yourself in.”
Tehran Highway
“One of the inspirations for this map was a photo of a night time skyline of Tehran which now is basically the same vista that is available in the game. You start up on the hills above the city outskirts and eventually work your way into town. This atmospheric night-time map, where you can see rockets lighting up the sky, has a balanced mix between vehicle and infantry focus. It plays length-wise and starts semi-open with plenty of room for vehicles, but ends on a much more urban and tight note with less focus on vehicles and more on infantry.”
Damavand Peak
“Damavand Peak, internally known as Base Jump, is built on the idea that we want players to be able to base jump, and features our most extreme height differences ever in a Battlefield map. Attackers in Rush and Squad Rush will start high up on a mountain ridge above a mining facility. The only way down into the valley is to somehow make the 500 meter descent. The further the attackers progress in the map, the more vehicle warfare will be present. There is also a large tunnel section dug into the mountain side at the bottom of the map, and the view when you look up at the starting location is spectacular.”
So these are the four maps and how to play on them. DICE will reveal the other five soon. So stay tuned to GB for more information on the game.
Src: BF