The console version of Battlefield 3 will ship with more compact multiplayer maps than its PC counterpart. Although it won’t be a drastic change in size, according to DICE Executive Producer Patrick Bach.
During an interview with Gamezone.de (which has been translated by CVG), Bach talked about some of the changes that were made to the console version’s multiplayer component. He stressed that some compromises had to be made in order to make it the best possible experience for console gamers. One of those would be the twenty-four player limit that was mentioned a while back.
One of the other necessary alterations was the creation of more “compact” maps. They will be smaller than those found on the PC, though Bach aimed to assure console gamers by saying that, “it’s not that we have cut them in half”, but altered them “slightly to keep the action up”.
They must be big enough this time around, considering that jets have been confirmed for the XBOX 360 and PS3 version of the shooter.
For a reference point, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was mentioned, as Bach noted that the maps in that game “weren’t really small on console”, which is true.
Being a long-time console gamer, I’ve already decided to go with the XBOX 360 version of the game, despite the alterations that were made. Considering how big maps were in console versions of previous Battlefield games, I’m not very worried after hearing this news.