Battlefield 3: Aftershock sets its sights on iOS

Part of me wonders why EA even bothered showing off Battlefield 3: Aftershock at a recent event in San Francisco, a planned universal app for iOS devices. It's in a pre-alpha state, with just three different maps and placeholder graphics, and some very rough gameplay on offer during my time with it.

But the potential places Battlefield 3: Aftershock could go have me genuinely excited for what might be.

Battlefield 3: Aftershock

Right now, there really isn't a game plan for Battlefield 3 on iOS. Full multiplayer support over WiFi and local wireless have made it into EA's admittedly vague hopes for the game, and the publisher is also toying with a dual currency scheme -- grind currency (your time) and premium currency (your money). Ideally, in-game currency would unlock different kits and weapons.

Players will have persistent gear and levels, much like Battlefield 3 proper -- but most of the menus I saw had placeholder art and descriptions, so it's hard to be sure of what will be in the final product.

It's fairly certain that Battlefield 3: Aftershock will have separate single-player and multiplayer components, kind of like what was on offer in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on iOS. There will be a campaign mode that plays like Horde in Gears of War (e.g. waves of enemies come and you shoot them), but the multiplayer scope this time is a bit bigger. Battlefield 3: Aftershock will have a competitive multiplayer experience that aims to be on-par with its console brethren, but it wasn't available for me to check out, sadly.

The only downside of my demo were the placeholder graphics. Understandably, most of the work so far has gone into the game engine and back-end, all of which has been built from scratch for Battlefield 3: Aftershock. Of the three maps I saw, most of the environment was rendered, but there weren't any animations for the enemy soldiers or much visual polish overall.

Battlefield 3: Aftershock is still a long ways off, and its look is sure to change drastically on its way to the iTunes app store, but what little I saw showed overall promise. It wouldn't be the first game on iOS to offer competitive multiplayer in this fashion nor a single-player campaign, but with the right resources, EA can certainly make it one of the better, more fun-to-play time sinks out there.

I suggest starting with a good look at Modern Combat 3.

Reader Comments (10)

They should make a Tegra Zone version for Android.

Those two currency methods is even greater proof of how the app side of the gaming industry works... if that is pre-alpha pictures it looks fine.

Just imagine, all of the generic qualities from the console/PC version, but with almost non of the graphical fidelity. But it's portable!!

@ncbuifsda9

Why?

Being the iPhone Fps with the best graphics is like having a chococlate covered turd. It may be good on the outside but it's still shit on the inside.

@880Cloud088 And there are better fps's on PSP or DS?

@880Cloud088 IOS definitely has better FPS games than PSP or DS.

Those are the placeholder graphics? My god.. it's so pretty. There's something just off with most iOS games, maybe it's the lighting or something but.. it's just way too colourful and vivid.

Hopefully this game has passable controls and a decent engine, that's pretty much all you can hope for.

@Dcmac

"it's just way too colorful and vivid"

And you'd prefer dull gray and brown graphics?

And asking for good FPS controls on a touchscreen device is not even worth it, IMO. I played Dead Space on the iPod Touch, and the controls were mediocre at best.

@tendoboy1984 Have to disagree - as far as portable FPS games go, touchscreen controls are the best out there, if you use the "mouse look" style control options. The lack of digital button input is not terribly detrimental to FPS games as well, compared to some other genres. Of course, the Vita may well beat out touch screens, but for now, they're the best option.