The Case

Previous DLCs went through deserved Nostalgia, action packed small environments and vehicle combat on a massive scale. Now, Aftermath throws us into areas damaged by a massive earthquake, which has stopped many things, but not fighting.

The Trial

Aftermath focuses on post-earthquake fighting, giving a common theme and some additional effects to the new maps. All maps start in a mostly destroyed state, giving infantry a lot of cover as well as reducing the room for vehicle manoeuvring. When it comes to additional flair, sometimes small quakes shake your aim, but it doesn’t bring much to gameplay. The DLC also makes some visual changes. After fan complaints about blue filter, here we got a yellow one instead, bringing BF3 closest ever to other “brown-only” games.

Aftermath comes with a new weapon and vehicles. The lone new weapon, the crossbow, is an addition that will annoy you when you’re hit by it, but not that useful overall. It’s similar to bolt-action sniper rifles in damage, but the reloading is too long and aiming is difficult. Specialised bolts with explosive or sensor head may be useful in some specific circumstances; however the overall effectiveness is still limited. New light infantry vehicles can provide a lot of firepower, but are also very vulnerable. They are mostly suited for hit-and-run tactics on less cluttered maps. You will also notice change in appearance – damaged clothes, bloody faces and bandages.

Scavenger, a new infantry-only gamemode, practically a combination of Conquest Domination and Gun Master, and played on maps of reduced size. The difference from Conquest Domination is the lack of choice in your loadout. You can choose your side-arm and your perk but no class abilities or a primary weapon. Primary weapons can be regularly found in specific places of the map with 1-2 magazines in them. You can’t pick them from dead soldiers, but there is a single supply point on each map which replenishes your grenades and gives full ammo very quickly. The changes in Scavenger make gameplay very fast. You can’t camp very long with the short ammo supply and need to constantly pick up new guns. The mastery of pistols is very important, as you usually won’t be able to pick up a primary weapon immediately after spawning, and primary ammo runs out quickly during a shootout.

Now let’s look at the maps and gameplay possibilities they offer. Epicenter is set in the most damaged area – no road is fully intact and there are giant cracks along the main roads. There are a few light vehicles available, but the lack of space for driving and abundance of cover for infantry makes them inefficient against a decent team. There are also some tunnels inside buildings, with destructible doors at some ends, providing additional routes.

Markaz Monolith is set around a large semi-destroyed skyscraper in the middle of an urban area. Several available floors inside the building make it a formidable stronghold for the team controlling it. Scout helicopters are available on this map, allowing drops onto the roofs of several buildings, except the tallest one due to the low flying ceiling. Good pilots may also participate in combat inside the skyscraper. The outskirts of the map are more open with mostly intact roads, making favourable conditions for tank combat.

Azadi Palace is an interesting map, split in two parts – an urban area and a partially destroyed palace with its grounds. It also starts with many barriers blocking the roads, which can be destroyed by vehicles or explosives. The layout provides many approaches to each point as well as routes that allow vehicles to drive inside the palace, leading to some unexpected situations. All those factors lead to a very dynamic flow, with control points constantly switching hands.

Talah Market is the smallest map of the pack. Oriented mostly at infantry combat, but still providing few light vehicles for perimeter control. Its size makes the gameplay sometimes similar to the maps from Close Quarters, just with slightly different game modes.

The Verdict

Aftermath brings some refreshment to BF3, with its medium sized maps that are full of different routes. However the changes aren’t that great overall, so if you don’t have Premium it’s hard to recommend purchasing Aftermath separately.

Case Review