Battlefield 3’s Multiplayer Modes Explained by DICE

In a post on the official Battlefield Blog, DICE has given fans an in-depth explanation all five of Battlefield 3's multiplayer modes, Conquest, Rush, Squad Rush, Team Deathmatch, and Squad Deathmatch.

The biggest news to come out of the posting is the newly rebalanced Rush mode. While many of the series’ established gametypes will be apparently returning relatively unaltered, Bad Company 2’s headlining attack/defend mode will be getting a few significant overhauls.

In Bad Company 2, attackers could hang back and spam explosives at the M-COM stations, but that’s apparently no longer a viable option. In Battlefield 3, the only way to complete your objective will be to get boots on the ground and plant explosives on the M-COM.

There’s also a pair of changes designed to ensure the match won’t end prematurely. If a charge is planted on an M-COM when the attackers run out of tickets, the defending team will have to disarm it before they can claim victory. Likewise, anyone disarming a bomb when its timer expires will get one last chance to finish up before the M-COM station is destroyed.

In addition, we've now got confirmation that every last one of Battlefield 3's maps will support all five game modes right out of the gate. We knew it was something DICE was shooting for, but after Bad Company 2’s piecemeal, DLC-driven approach to multiplayer maps, it’s nice to hear the news as part on an official statement.

It’s probably also notable that DICE decided to lead off the post with Team Deathmatch, a mode that's been absent from the franchise since 2002's Battlefield 1942. That choice could well be a product of stiff competition between Battlefield and Activision's juggernaut Call of Duty franchise, where Team Deathmatch is by a wide margin the most popular game mode.

For a complete rundown of all the new details, including player caps and vehicle restrictuons, check out the full posting over on EA's Battleblog.

EA and DICE will be bringing Battlefield to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and iOS. The game's worldwide launch kicks off in North America on October 25, with Australian and European releases slated to follow on the 27 and 28.