Battlefield 3 co-op detailed in depth by DICE

Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Tommy Rydling, product manager at DICE, revealed how the studio is hoping to combine the narrative from the single player side of the game with the open-ended action of the multiplayer. This, he believes, is the ‘perfect blend’ for co-op in Battlefield 3.

“Teamwork is practically never forced upon you, but working together will make things much easier and – more importantly – lead to victory.

“The missions in the co-op campaign are for the most part asymmetric. This means that one mission can have you piloting a helicopter while your friend is the gunner, for example. Other situations have one player disarming a bomb and the other one defending him.

“Or (as you could see in our press conference playthrough at gamescom) you can do tandem kills to avoid detection. There are also other mechanics requiring teamwork, such as spotting enemies to make large firefights easier, or the essential concept of reviving one another to avoid ending up at the game over screen.

“The co-op missions in Battlefield 3 all take place in the same world as the single player campaign, and follow a unique series of events that lead up to an explosive finish. Players in co-op will take the role of soldiers that are not tied to any one particular branch of the Armed Forces. This is an intentional design decision to allow for a vast variety in gameplay in the different co-op missions.”

Rydling went on to explain the ‘Extract Hamid El Zakir’ level – the level that gamers were able to get their hands on at gamescom – in more depth. As well as stressing the importance of the new ‘Man Down’ mechanic, which lets one player revive another in the heat of battle, he explained how co-op would present a ‘tough challenge’ across all its missions.

“Difficulty is high.” Rydling admitted. “We are definitely going for a tough challenge in all missions. Also, since competitive players will likely try each mission several times, all of the co-op missions contain randomized elements to keep every playthrough fresh.

“Clearing the co-op missions not only gives you scores and bragging rights – it also has benefits for your multiplayer career. There are a number of weapons that you can unlock in co-op and take with you to the regular multiplayer modes. These unlocks are based on your combined scores accumulated throughout the co-op campaign.”

In other Battlefield 3 news, it was revealed today how the game won’t permit civilian causalities.

Battlefield 3 is due for release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on October 28.