Nobody, least of all EA, ever thought that Battlefield 3 would outsell Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. But in the end all the trash talking and blanket advertising did its job and Battlefield levelled up from cult to mainstream hit. But unlike Call Of Duty, or most other key EA franchises, it's not yet a yearly updated series. But nowadays there's more than one way to keep a game's name in the public consciousness…

If you bought the Limited Edition of Battlefield 3 then this whole download is entirely free. If you didn't though it costs a decidedly not free £10.20 (£11.99 on the PlayStation 3 and PC, in an unusual and unexplained price deviation). But deciding whether the contents of Back To Karkand are worth it is made all the more difficult because most of it is based on existing maps and assets from Battlefield 2.


This immediately makes Back To Karkand seem like a rip-off but it's nowhere near as simple as that. The four maps - Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Wake Island, and Sharqi Peninsula - are all excellent, both when they were originally created and in their newly update form. On top of this you have 10 new weapons, 4 new(-ish) vehicles, and an extra game mode. Which is quite a lot of content, even if very little of it is brand new.


Headliner Strike at Karkand is the star attraction here and a very good argument can be made for it being one of the best first person shooter maps of all time. All four maps have seen minor redesigns but generally speaking the layout is the same as before. Most of the changes then are in terms of taking advantage of the enhanced graphics and destruction effects afforded by Battlefield 3 and the Frostbite 2 engine.


These elements aren't just there because they look good but to make the maps that much more dynamic and unpredictable. Gulf of Oman in particular has had a lot more buildings added to it, so as they get destroyed during a match the whole layout and structure of the map begins to buckle and twist in tune with the buildings themselves.


The only disappointment, at least to Battlefield 2 veterans, is Wake Island. It's noticeably shrunken in size and now only has three control points instead of five. Whether this is only on the console versions or not we're not sure, we haven’t played the PC edition, but it's the only misstep across the four maps and if anything highlights how well the other three have been handled.


Three of the four 'new' vehicles are also from Battlefield 2 and predictably they're just minor variants on existing models. The F-35B fighter can hover but it's very slow and requires a practised hand to make any use of. The BTR-90 APC is virtually identical to the existing models, but the nippy little DPV buggy and its grenade launcher is a lot of fun - if completely unarmoured.


The only actually new vehicle is the Skip Loader, which is exactly what it sounds like: a little mechanical digger with no weapons whatsoever. Although it can run people over and one of the five new Achievements does at least reward such an act.


As you might now be imagining the 10 new weapons are a similar mix of the revamped and the slightly pointless. The more the merrier of course, but you'll have to unlock each of them by completing a specific 'assignment'. This is a peculiar new concept that's likely to annoy many more impatient players, but it's only things like reviving 10 players and we quite enjoyed the little meta game it creates.


And so finally there's Conquest Assault, which - and we bet you can guess what we're about to say now - is also a minor variation on what already exists. It works largely the same as Conquest mode, except one team starts with all the flags and no rally point, while the other team has a home base. We always enjoy this kind of asynchronous set-up in our multiplayer games and although it requires a lot of teamwork to get anywhere with we enjoyed it a great deal.


So of course the big question is this: is Back To Karkand worth it? In real terms probably not, but compared to the appalling value for money that most other downloadable content represents it's not half bad. But of course it's impossible to be definitive about such a thing as it not only depends on whether you've played Battlefield 2 before, but also whether you want to do so again with better graphics…


In Short: An odd mixture of the classic and the inessential, but there's no arguing over the quality of at least three of the maps in this relatively content rich download.


Pros: The four maps are all classics and the first three at least have been adapted for Battlefield 3 very well. Conquest Assault is great and the weapon assignments are fun.


Cons: Hardly any of the content is genuinely new and the extra weapons, and in particular vehicles, make very little difference. Wake Island has strangely shrunk in scope.


Score: 7/10

Formats: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PlayStation 3 and PC

Price: 1200 Microsoft Points/£10.20

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: Digital Illusions CE (DICE)

Release Date: 13th December 2011

Age Rating: 16

Posted: Dec 17, 2011 5:43 pm

Source: http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/884929-battlefield-3-back-to-karkand-review-back-in-action