Battlefield 3 details leaked; set in modern warfare

Although EA has unsurprisingly refused to comment, Digital Battle has received a tip that is alleged to be a document of planned features for Battlefield 3. The tip is a “three page document” that was “prepared for investors”, and “details basic features of BF3”.

Having been a huge Battlefield fan since the advent of Battlefield 2 in 2005, this is great news. Although I liked Battlefield 2142 a lot and thought it easily surpassed the gameplay of BF2, there’s no doubt in my mind that the world and atmosphere of BF2 was much better. It was kind of disheartening to leave behind the clear blue skies and sandy beaches of BF2 and go to the dreary, cold, frozen world of BF2142.

Fortunately Battlefield 3 is set to take place in the modern day like Battlefield 2, which I’m really looking forward to. Notable things mentioned on the big list o’ features include:

• It’ll run on a developed version of the 360/PS3 Battlefield: Bad Company engine, which has destructible buildings; click the image above for screenshots of it in action
• It’ll have 48 vehicles
• Most maps will be based in the Middle East, including a map called ‘Burning Baghdad’
• There’ll be extensive soldier customisation akin to an RPG
• There’ll be an evolved unlock system which not only includes 22 new weapons, but also camouflage, helmets, etc
• 80 players per server will be entirely possible

A teaser trailer is apparently slated for January 2008, so I guess we’ll see in a few months whether or not this is bogus. It does sound pretty good though, and I’m all for a Battlefield re-interpretation of modern warfare that incorporates the gameplay improvements in BF2142 and more.

Things that might cause some contention are that only NATO and the MEC will feature as playable teams this time around, and that there’re only eight maps. But considering most of the maps are said to be city maps, that this engine supports absolutely huge maps, that the servers could very well be hosting 80 people, and that the maps could be destructible, I reckon it’ll be more than enough. You just have to look at it in context.