After months of waiting, EA and DICE have finally released the Battlefield 3 beta, much to the delight of hundreds of thousands of trigger happy gamers across the world.
Today’s early access is for gamers that have pre-ordered the game through EA’s Origin Store and those of you who purchased Medal Of Honor Limited Edition – the beta code should be sent to your email once you’ve linked your Origin account.
The game is only a small preview and allows you to hop into a multiplayer game with some friends and play Operation Metro in Rush mode.
Unfortunately Operation Metro does allow any vehicles, so don’t expect to be able to fly planes or drive tanks, but it does give you a decent idea of what the infantry gameplay is like.
You’ll be able to level-up whilst you play, earning new weapons, gadgets and perks – but EA has assured the community that the stats will be reset when the game launches fully next month.
From what we’ve played on the Xbox 360 version so far, it’s the best looking game we’ve ever seen. The lighting and particle effects are truly stunning, as is the motion blur and general game play more than lives up to the high expectations.
Unfortunately the servers are getting hammered at the moment, but when you do finally manage to get into a game you can see why Battlefield 3 has been pre-ordered in its millions.
Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty are heading for a full-on Christmas showdown, but EA and DICE are confident that even though they’re are the underdog, they can still be number 1 at Christmas.
They point to the way that they eventually overtook Pro Evolution Soccer with their FIFA Football series and the EA believe that the same scenario will happen with their Battlefield series.
Battlefield 3 is quite a bit different to Call Of Duty; it’s grittier, slower-paced, and more tactical – but importantly it’s a more accurate representation of what it would be like to be a soldier.
Those of you who haven’t got a beta code need not fret, as the beta will be going public to any player on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC this Thursday.
For the first time ever the in BF series it see’s the inclusion of a co-op multiplayer, which has never been done before. All we know now is October 28th can’t come soon enough.
Did you get your beta code? Have you played the beta? Send us your thoughts via tweet to the Official Gadget Helpline Twitter or drop us a comment on our Official Facebook page!