Battlefield 3 beta - Attack vs Defense in HD video with VO

News by Patrick Garratt Founder & Publisher (Former)

Published on Sept. 28, 2011

Following on from our first take on the now-live Battlefield 3 beta yesterday, Patrick Garratt reports on attacking and defending gameplay before the test goes fully open tomorrow.

The Battlefield 3 beta is raging, having launched yesterday for those that pre-ordered on Origina or bought Medal of Honor last year before going completely open tomorrow.

There's one map available, a staged effort called Paris Métro. The only mode you can play is Rush. The rules are simple: there are two teams built of American attackers and Russian defenders. How the game plays out for each side is very different, as shown in the videos below.

Defending

Successful defense on Métro can be achieved in a variety of ways. Battlefield 3, as you'll immediately discover, is not Black Ops; if you attempt to play it in the same way, you'll be very dead a lot of the time. Defending is all about finding suitable positions and soaking up the American attack. It's the attacking job to lay charges on two M-Com stations and you need to get onto the point and diffuse any successfully laid explosive in time. Sniping and opportunism are essential aspects to defense in this game, and, as you'll see below, it's possible to exploit the notion that a prone position is "safe," especially if you're using an assault load-out.

To win the level as the defenders, you need to hold off the attack and kill the advancing forces enough to completely deplete them of reinforcement tokens. Take a look at the video. Watch at 720p. There's voiceover on there, too.

Attacking

Attacking as the Americans is more aggressive than defending, fairly obviously. The tactics here are more familiar if you're used to Call of Duty; you push forward as a team, lay-down fire on the enemy and protect your bomb guy when he does his bomb stuff. This normally translates to "kill everyone," but a more considered approach is required if you're going to keep the defenders from securing the M-Com sites. Again, position and sniping play a role, but you will be rewarded with aggression, moreso than the defending side.

As you'll see in the video, you naturally group to complete objectives as the attacking force, while I found defense is a more solitary affair. Take a look.