BF3 Armoured Kill: Initial Review

So, Armoured Kill launched on the PS3 for Premium players on the 4th and I've had a couple days of fairly extensive play to give a brief analysis. There won't be any sort of grading system at the end of this “review”, what really changes an 8 to a 9 or a B to a B+? I'm approaching this review as a player who got sick of the game a couple months back; the lack of teamplay and balance combined with overall fatigue of FPS. Will Armoured Kill get me back in the FPS groove or turn me of BF3 for good?

First up, I'll analysis the four maps from a Conquest point of view. My favourite, by far, is Alborz Mountain. It seems fairly balanced; I've been on rubbish teams with both sides and still managed to pull a victory out the hat. The Gunship is effective but not overally so – a problem I have found in other maps. It doesn't feel too lonely on your travels either. The worst map for loneliness seems to be Death Valley. Perhaps its the night time theme, meaning I can't see everyone engaging in pretty battles, but I found the fighting was centralised around the Battleship flag, with A and E hardly ever being captured. The night time effect is cool but man, that moon is shiny! I've never had a glare problem from the moon before in my everyday life. Armored Shield is good fun although, once again, the fighting is centralised over at B – the flag controlling the Battleship. The map can feel lonely at times, but overall the design is good. Bandar Desert is the worst map overall, in my view. Feels so much like Gulf of Oman, but with the Battleship flag stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Although the fighting does pick up a bit in the city, it just doesn't feel as good as the other maps.

In terms of Rush, Armored Shield stands tall as the most fun map. The inclusion of the river for a boat attack is brilliant – allows for a bit of sneaking in the midst of all this armour focus. The first set of MCOMs is a standout feature, with some real intense close quarters combat. Bandar Desert is the hardest for Attackers to get a foothold, from experience. Seems like its taking it's style from Kharg Island but the MCOMs are a bit closer together. Para-dropping from the Gunship helps, but it is just a massive target and it seems that people just wait for it to re-spawn before attacking again. Not much fun. Death Valley is so-so. It feels like the Gunship has a bit too much power on this map. Death rains from the sky, being a real pest to the defenders – I'll touch more on this later. Finally, Albortz Mountain is fun, although I don't seem to remember much of the Rush mode on this map. Must just not stood out as much as the rest.

Tank Superiority is the new mode added by DICE to Armoured Kill. I didn't know much about this mode pre-release, as I wasn't really paying much attention to Armoured Kill at all. It is a pleasant surprise. For some reason, it reminded me a lot of the Tank missions in Company of Heroes, but a more suited comparison is obviously the Single Player mission involving the Tank Divison. The mode seems to shine on Bandar Desert and Armored Shield. There's plenty of flanking areas, allowing you to get the drop by going behind enemy lines and setting up mines or just blending in with the other tanks for a surprise attack. There are choices in terms of going sniper for SOFLAMs so as to enable troops to use Javs and tanks to use guided shells, or keeping to engineer to repair your tank. I'm not too much of a fan of this map on Death Valley. It seems to me like the Russian team of tanks spawn too far away from the flag, giving the opposing American team too big an advantage. I have yet to see a Russian team win from about 5 attempts, take from that what you will. On Albortz Mountain the mode is passable; not too much fun though like on Bandar Desert or Shield. Bit disappointing that tank shells don't damage the ice.

The addition of the AC-130 gunship is the biggest change in gameplay brought about by the expansion pack. The slow flying, constantly circling aircraft has a major influence in Conquest and Rush – Rush moreso. In Conquest, it's a race to the gunship controlling flag, with most teams opting to attack said flag more then others so as to gain the gunships ability. In the Conquest maps, the AC-130 isn't really overpowered. It does effect the ground battles, but planes, helicopters and the patched Stingers (THANK YOU DICE) really does limit it's powers. On Rush, however, I don't think it's balanced. Having the attackers with the AC-130, aiming at the relatively shortly spaced MCOMs and its defenders is just not a good idea. It works well in Conquest because of the huge arch the plane takes – meaning some flags are protected from constant barrage for a few minutes before the plane gets in range. In Rush for the attackers, the AC-130 is nearly always in range, meaning the defenders are sitting ducks.

The new Tank Destroyers really remind me of 1940s tanks. Boxy and rectangular. Aesthetics aside, they arn't all that interesting. The ATVs shine; they are great fun to zoom about in and are the right mix between vulnerable and speedy. The MRLS is slightly disappointing. Once people work out the projectile distances, they will become valuable I'm sure, but in these early days they are too lightly armoured and difficult to use to make them practical.

The biggest concerns I had coming into this DLC was if the maps would be too big for us console players. The answer in my opinion is they are, but only just. You don't have the feeling of battle that you get on, say, Canals or Metro, but what you do get is spectacular tank battles mixed in with aircraft dogfights and people zooming around on ATVs. The big picture seems more deserted but more spectacular; more like a Battlefield. Which is the point, really, isn't it?

There is still the fustrating hit detection, annoying moments that make you consider chucking your controller and the overall IQ of the people playing the game hasn't really increased to make the game play like it should (I kid you not, some guy got to a MCOM and tried destroying it with his pistol). However, these things existed pre-Armoured Kill and the DLC can't be judged on this. What it does offer are 4 new maps which are graphically beautiful, more hardware to blow things up with and another reason to return to BF3 after the pre-Armoured Kill problems got too much.

There real acid test will be if I'm still playing this a month from now, which is why on the 5th of October I'll attempt to get my thoughts up as to if this DLC has any real staying power or if the shiny DLC clouded my judgement. Overall, I'd say it isn't worth £15 but if you want to get Premium and can see yourself getting another DLC, I'd certainly say this is a fun expansion of what Battlefield should be about. It doesn't fix anything, Rush is annoying with the Gunship and it can feel lonely, but it is still getting me to play the game again and it highlights just how fun it is to destroy tanks.

Initial thoughts: I wouldn't buy this DLC if I didn't have Premium for the price. If you have Premium, download it and give it a go. It is fun, just not £15 fun.