Battlefield 3 Premium DLC (Xbox 360) Review
Romtin Erfani / Jul 12th, 2012 No Comments
BF3 Premium
After you download BF3 Premium, you’ve paid for all five of the game’s expansion packs: Back to Karkand, Close Quarters, Armored Kill, Aftermath, and End Game. Karkand and Close Quarters are the only ones playable online right now, but DICE promises Premium members two-weeks early access on each of the others. The maps are already a good savings, and the VIP treatment only sweetens the deal.
The first expansion, Back to Karkand, has been out for a while now and was free for limited edition buyers of BF3. I won’t say much about this expansion since most people have probably played the life out of it by now. It revives fan-favorite stages from Battlefield 2, and each of the four maps is huge and very different from the others. All of the maps revolve around carefully balanced vehicles, as well as environments that have their own character and give both teams a fair fight depending on the gametype. Back to Karkand is a must have, no doubt about it.
Donya Fortress from Close Quarters
Ziba Tower: The smallest, Ziba Tower is a lavish bar at the top of a high-rise building. The map offers a lot of destructibility and places to hold up with your squad. It’s multi-leveled, with compact halls, a couple of good sniping spots, and a U-shaped design centered around a courtyard.
Donya Fortress: My personal favorite. A war-torn fortress covered in ceramic tiles that fly all over the place as bullets fire. Donya Fortress has lots of stairways that are great traps for careless enemies. There’s also a basement underneath that helps for flanking.
Operation 925: This is the biggest one, and probably the most exciting. It’s an office building with different floors and lots of glass and drywall to shoot down and flank enemies through. The coolest place on this map is probably the room filled with cubicles, where you’ll no doubt get into some intense firefights. There’s also a garage downstairs that adds some variety to the dynamic.
Scrapyard: The most straightforward, Scrapyard consists of two old factories linked together by a few ramps and some metal pipes large enough to run across. You’ll be crossing over a lot from one building to another if you’re the impatient type (like me), but there are good vantage points on each rooftop for the more conservative sniper. There’s not a lot of destructibility on this concrete-filled map, but it’s just as exciting as the others.
Operation 925 from CQ
As already mentioned, there are also more run-of-the-mill additions with Premium, including new dogtags, new assignments, and new weapon camos. So far the behind-the-scenes stuff, which DICE promises to continue to upload online (only one video so far), is pretty entertaining and introduces you to the DICE team. There will also be map pack strategy guides free for Premium players to download on the Battlelog soon. All of this is announced on the Calendar, which Xbox 360 users can visit in the Premium menu on BF3′s main screen. Finally, other perks of being a Premium member include priority in queuing up for matches and the ability to reset your gaming stats online (i.e. if you have a cruddy K.D. ratio like me).
Overall
If for nothing more than the map packs, Battlefield 3 Premium is completely worth the buy on the Xbox 360. It’s a solid deal for BF3 fans who plan on playing for at least another year (when the last map pack, End Game, finally releases). There are plenty of gimmicky additions with Premium, but the whole thing generally feels like a consistent service with its calendar of events and all of the content promised (and already being uploaded) on the Battlelog. Bottom line: if your a Battlefield fan looking to add a little life to your BF3 gaming, Premium is definitely worth the buy.
Overall Ratings – Battlefield 3 Premium DLC (Xbox 360)
Gameplay: |
8/10 |
Content: |
9/10 |
Graphics: |
9/10 |
Value: |
9/10 |
OVERALL SCORE: |
88% |
Romtin Erfani
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tags: battlefield 3 , ea , review
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