Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Details Are Out

Online Multiplayer is a huge draw for First-Person Shooter games, and for most players it is the only reason to play.

Battlefield 3 will include tons of new tweaks and additions from previous Battlefield games. Developers have slowed down the level progression from Battlefield 2: Bad Company, since players blazed through the ranks in that game.

EA doesn't add any new game modes to the Battlefield franchise. Modes include: Conquest, Conquest Large, Rush, Squad Rush, Team Deathmatch, and Squad Deathmatch.

Rush is a popular game type with a defending team trying to prevent the offensive team from blowing up their M-Com station. After the offensive team plants a bomb and detonates a station the map expands revealing new targets.

Conquest is a king-of-the-hill type game where Large Conquest is a PC exclusive 64-player mode. 32 players are allowed to face off in other game types on the PC version where console games only hold 24 players.

Squads work a bit differently than in Bad Company. They consist of 4 players with a squad leader. Teams are only allowed to spawn on the leader, where the leader can spawn on anyone. The leader also gets the ability to call artillery strikes.

Going prone is a feature that will make its way back into the Battlefield franchise. However, the action takes much longer to go prone than in other games. Snipers will use it to great effect since rifle sway has been added to the game. Snipers will have to hold their breath and go prone to increase the accuracy of their rifles. But if snipers stay in the prone position for too long their scopes will start to produce a glint that will make them visible targets.

Another interesting new feature is the suppressive fire system that was added. If an enemy is entranced in a position, teams can fire around the enemy's position to blur and shake their camera, making it that much harder to fire back. Also when characters are under suppressive fire their health regeneration is stopped.

Regeneration health is also greatly slowed in this version compared to past installments. It takes 20 seconds for players' health to start regenerating and the time it takes for them to get back to 100 percent health is also greatly increased. That will make med packs all the more important.

The developers have also switch around the classes eliminating the medic class. There are four classes: the Assault, the Engineer, the Support and the Recon. The medic was a point powerhouse in Battlefield 2: Bad Company with the light machine guns (LMG) that had tons of ammo and defibrillators that revived teammates. Players get points for killing enemies, blowing up tanks and reviving teammates. Medics always seemed to be at the front of the pack when it came to the end of the match.

So EA switch around the Assault and Medics abilities. The new Support class now can equip LMGs and dispense ammo for nearby teammates (which used to be the assault's job). They were also given new bipods that let them steady their guns for better accuracy. Support characters also get motion-triggered anti-infantry mines, remote-detonated C4 explosives, mortars.

The Assault class gets the medic kits that replenish players' health and the defibrillator. But they can trade in their medical equipment for the ability to lob different types of grenades.

The Recon and Engineers stay mostly the same in with a few new gadgets. Recons get a Radio Beacon that lets squad members to spawn at that point. The Engineer also gets an EOD Bot that can remotely set a bomb at enemies' M-COMS or defuse them.

Also expect a new social networking site called Battlelog to be launched when the game releases Oct. 25. It's kind of like Facebook, but it tracks how many people you've killed.