Battlefield 3 beta begins later this month

By Ryan Fleming September 20, 2011

Prepare yourselves, people. After months (and months and months) of hype, Battlefield 3 inches ever closer to its October release. The game is undeniably beautiful. On PC it is stunning. On consoles it is also stunning, just to a slightly less degree. But good looks don’t make a game fun to play, and that is where the upcoming beta comes in.

Beginning on September 29, EA and DICE will launch an open beta of the online multiplayer that anyone can join. The beta will feature one level of the Rush game mode, which is set in three districts of Paris: The first is a park, the second is an underground metro station and the third is a section of Parisian streets near the stock exchange. The familiar rush mode remains intact, with one team rushing to destroy two locations in order to advance to the next section, and the other team defending.

Although DICE will likely use the collected data to make a few final tweaks, this will likely be more of a demo than a beta. Battlefield 3 is due out less than a month after the beta’s release, so the game must be very near complete if not totally finished. The beta may help add a touch of polish, but for most it will be a chance to see the game in action and determine if it can be the Call of Duty-killer that EA hopes it will be.

Those that pre-ordered the game through Origin or pre-ordered the Limited Edition Medal of Honor on consoles will have access to the beta two days earlier on September 27. The beta will also extend to EA’s online service, Battelog.

So for now check out the beta/demo, then look for Battlefield 3 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 25.

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…

Gaming

MultiVersus enters early access next week ahead of full beta launch this month

A character roster of WB characters.

Warner Bros. Games has announced that the open beta for MultiVersus, its own free-to-play spin on Super Smash Bros., will begin on July 26 (just a day before Bugs Bunny's birthday). The game will also get an early access period starting on July 19.

The announcement of MultiVersus' open beta comes with a new gameplay trailer, giving us a closer look at the multifarious attack techniques each character brings to the battlefield, as well their unlockable skins and variants. Some cosmetics are spot on, like Bugs' What's Opera, Doc? costume, while others are bizarre, like Iron Giant, who will be playable at the start of the early access period, wearing flamingo floaties and swim trunks.

Gaming

Overwatch 2 is getting a second beta this month featuring its new hero

Junker Queen using her dash attack in Overwatch 2.

After announcing a definite release date and the all-new hero Junker Queen, Overwatch 2 is ready for a second beta. According to its official Twitter page, Overwatch 2 is coming back to consoles and PC for an extended beta test on June 28 that will feature a new map and playable character.

Overwatch 2 first beta came and went in April and gained its fair share of praise and criticism. We at Digital Trends saw it as a return to glory, but one without any true new additions. At the time, we noted that it felt more like "Overwatch 1.5."

Gaming

Battlefield 2042 Season 1 is an improvement, but a late one

A specialist holds Battlefield 2042's new crossbow weapon.

Battlefield 2042's launch didn't go quite as planned for EA. While it was poised to be the publisher's next live service hit, it floundered at launch due to an overwhelming number of bugs, a controversial ability-driven specialist system, maps that felt way too big, and more. While Digital Trends' reviewer loved the base game, many players didn't, so EA spent months fixing it. As a result, Season 1: Zero Hour was pushed back all the way to June 9, over six months after the game's launch. Ahead of its release, I got the opportunity to try out some of Season 1's new content a see if Battlefield 2042 has really changed for the better.
This primarily consisted of going hands-on with the new Specialist Ewelina Lis on the new map Exposure. Is Battlefield 2042 in a better state now than it was at launch? Yes. Will it make enough compelling additions and changes to bring you back if you're not a hardcore Battlefield fan? Not really.
Battlefield 2042 | Season 1: Zero Hour Gameplay Trailer Premiere
What's new?
The main additions coming to Battlefield 2042 at the start of Season 1 are a new rocket launcher-wielding specialist named Ewelina Lis, a new map set in the Canadian Rockies called Exposure, new weapons including a crossbow and marksman rifle, and a battle pass containing lots of free and paid unlockables. It's definitely the meatiest batch of content Battlefield 2042 has received since launch, but it doesn't revamp or fix every core problem with the game.

Starting with the battle pass, don't expect any wild crossover or crazy outfits, just a lot of new realistic looks for your specialists, vehicles, and weapons. It is challenge-based, which Halo has shown the downsides of, but thankfully 30 tiers of it are free and the only things unlocked by paying up are cosmetic. That means everyone will be able to try the new specialist Ewelina Lis. She is a helpful Engineer Specialist as she always has a rocket launcher at her disposal to help destroy vehicles.
While I found the new Ghostmaker R10 Crossbow and BSV-M Marksman Rifle to be too slow and not powerful enough to be very useful in a game with such a quick time to kill, Lis may be a useful specialist that will stick around on most squads. She's particularly useful on the brand-new map Exposure.
When previewing the new season, I got to try out both Conquest and Breakthrough on Exposure, a map that supports both 128-player and 64-player matches. As it takes place in and around a base built into the side of a mountain, it has one of the most distinctive and vertical layouts of any new Battlefield 2042 map. The tensest firefights took place in a spot nestled on the side of the mountain, as players could flank from within the mountain on foot or from the skies in new stealth helicopters. While I enjoyed those moments and attacking the base in the helicopter, it still felt a bit too big to traverse on foot outside of that base, a common problem with all of Battlefield 2042's maps.