You know, Dice really pisses me off sometimes. I’ve been trying for months now to kick my Battlefield 3 habit for good, and then they just have to come along and start promoting a new expansion pack. What the hell, Dice?
The new expansion is known as Aftermath, and though I’ve talked about it before, this is the first substantial trailer that they’ve released for it. We know that it’s 4 maps, and they take place in ruined Iranian cities after a massive earthquake. If that hasn’t sold you, that’s just because you haven’t seen the fancy new crossbow yet.
Archery in Iran, Battlefield Style
Why a soldier would ever decide to use a crossbow in battle, I can’t imagine – especially when said soldier has all other manner of high powered, sophisticated weaponry. Having said that, it does look like an interesting weapon, and I have a feeling that it’s going to be rather powerful as well, as bows usually are. Remember my prediction about bows in games? Everyone is jumping on that bandwagon at the moment, and it’s kind of hilarious. I’ll be interested to see what the next fad is… stones perhaps? bricks? If you throw a brick hard enough, I imagine you could hurt a person quite badly.
Now, aside from the bizarre weapon addition, the map (or maps) we’re shown look pretty incredible. They remind me a lot of the World War 2 games I loved for so many years, with their massive crumbling buildings and piles of rubble, but with far better graphics. Dice has stepped the visuals up with every expansion, and it’s clear they intend to do the same with Aftermath. I just hope the maps actually make for interesting gameplay. Though the trailer was interesting, it looked more like a scene from a single player campaign than something actually out of multiplayer. Given that Battlefield 3 is primarily a multiplayer game, well… I find that move just a little bit surprising.
Aftermath Release Date?
Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on who you ask, Aftermath really isn’t that far off. Edit: In fact, it’s out now! It’s arriving for Playstation 3 owners on November 27th, and for PC and Xbox360 people on December 4th. Why they decided to give PS3 gamers a head start, I haven’t a clue, but I’m sure it involves money.
In any case, you’ll need a copy of Battlefield 3 before you can play the expansion. You can either order that directly through Origin for you PC gamers, or grab a console copy online for around $30 USD. Now, if only Origin would completely disappear, I would be a happy man indeed.
It actually doesn’t involve money; EA/DICE promised that the PS3 version of BF3 would have BF1943 on the disc as well, but in the end they didn’t kept the promise. After the usual fan outrage, EA/DICE decided to make up for it by releasing PS3 DLC 1 week early compared to other systems.
That makes sense then. Thanks for the heads up.