Armored Kill, the latest DLC map pack for Battlefield 3 is as far away from the previous DLC map pack, Close Quarters as you can get. Large sprawling maps designed for tank combat along with a number of new vehicles, means you won’t want to be spending much time on foot. Don’t fret however if you’re more of a grunt than a tanker, as armed with some C4 or an launcher you can be just as deadly, it’s just that you’ll want to nab a quad bike to get around on.
The maps are large and well designed, but even for vehicle combat these maps can feel a little too big from time to time. The worst map for being too big is also one of my favourite maps, Alborz Mountain. Alborz Mountain is so big that it has two distinct climates, the snowy topped mountain passes and the lush greenery of the lakeside forest. The problem is, when playing conquest on this map the first time, is that I didn’t see anyone for the first half of the game. I went racing back and forth between flags capturing and recapturing them time and time again.
It wasn’t until later in the game when my team had the upper hand that I actually got to shoot anything, as we camped on the lake front and waited for the opposing team to come across to frozen expanse towards our guns.
The map plays a lot better however in the new Tank Superiority mode – a kind of a king of the hill game where there is only one control point, and it’s located in the middle of the frozen lake.
The other maps are a lot less lonely, though they each have their own predominate battle areas, and if you just move between two of the lesser protected flags, you can avoid a lot of contact, if that’s your thing.
Armored Kill is of course, really all about tanks killing tanks in all out warfare, and when you find an evenly balance game, it’s a blast. Teamwork is still an essential part of the game, as a lone tanker will only last so long, no matter how good he is.
The biggest problem is that the tanks don’t spawn quickly enough and you can find yourself with no vehicle, or at least no armoured vehicle for a while, and if you’re not set up to take on tanks without a mobile armoured shell to protect you, you will find yourself having the very un-fun pastime of waiting for a tank to spawn.
And then there’s the AC-130. You don’t get to fly this beauty, but you can man the guns, depending on what flags your team holds. It’s not terribly hard to shoot down, but it does mean that at least some of your team need to be equipped with anti air launchers, or the AC-130 will own you.
A few minor complaints don’t get in the way of Armored Kill being the most fun and addictive of the DLC map packs so far.
