EA releases trailer for Battlefield 3: Aftermath

After the release of the Armored Kill downloadable content (DLC) for Battlefield 3 in September, Electronic Arts (EA) is looking to kick it up a notch with the next DLC for the game – titled Aftermath. The company has released a new trailer for Aftermath that shows some of the environments that players will see when the DLC is released.

The trailer mentions several new features coming along with Aftermath, including a new Game Mode, new weapon - weapons including a crossbow, urban warfare, new vehicles, new assignments to unlock more weapons, post-earthquake environments, new achievements, and four new maps. Set amongst the shattered districts, streets and surrounding villages of a post-earthquake Tehran, Battlefield 3: Aftermath depicts a continuing struggle for supremacy and survival amongst the devastation.

With operational capacity severely compromised, the opposing forces must adapt and engage in vertical and horizontal urban combat amongst the dust and rubble, with cracks and fissures in the terrain providing unexpected cover and paths to objectives. Additional support comes in the form of heavily modified troop transports and civilian vehicles specially adapted to deliver deadly force to the enemy.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Back to an area plagued by a natural disaster

The last DLC released for Battlefield 3 was Armored Kill. The DLC for the game focuses mainly on vehicular combat on large sprawling maps. Back in July, developers from DICE talked about  creating the biggest map the Battlefield series has ever seen for Armored Kill. DICE Designer Inge Jøran Holberg said, “Reading a number of posts by these players in our forums, I personally agreed that even with maps like Operation Firestorm, Kharg Island and Caspian Border, Battlefield 3 lacked a couple of extra-large maps with huge distances and lots of capture points that they have experienced in some of the maps in earlier Battlefield titles to complete the range”.

Holberg elaborates on the studio’s inspiration for the map. “Since Iran was a major area of operations in Battlefield 3, it felt natural to get inspiration from there as a first step in creating some maps in “Xpack 3”. Seeing the desert scenery from the real Bandar Desert area, I really got inspired, and immediately knew we could create something really exciting out of it”.

In July, Electronic Arts (EA) had confirmed plans for the release dates of the last two pieces of DLC that would be included in the Battlefield 3 Premium Edition. The Aftermath DLC is set to release some time in December this year, and Endgame is set to release in March 2013.

The last DLC released for Battlefield 3 was Close Quarters. It is a themed expansion pack that brings the team play of Battlefield 3 to tight indoor environments. The frantic infantry combat happening within close quarters is amplified by high amounts of environmental damage, thanks to the Frostbite 2 engine.

The first DLC released for Battlefield 3 was Back to Karkand. The DLC brings back four of the most popular maps from Battlefield 2; Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Wake Island and Sharqi Peninsula. Back to Karkand also brought ten new weapons into the game. Also introduced to the game were three new vehicles; the SVTOL fighter jet, desert buggy and an APC.