We are now just a single day away from the release of the new Battlefield 3 Close Quarters DLC. I have tried to remain hopeful and postpone spreading the bad news, but I can wait no longer.

Battlefield has a few great advantages over other more conventional shooters like those in the Call of Duty franchise. These advantages take the form of huge sandbox maps, vehicles, and more tactical gameplay centered around a loose class system. The release of DLC devoted entirely to close quarters combat (CQC or CQB), effectively neglects these advantages and attempts to provide gameplay that cannot rival other titles who are entirely dedicated towards it.

Plus, who likes it when this happens to them?

No one plays Battlefield for room to room combat. That’s not what the game is and I don’t think it will be successful if it focuses on CQC. The gunplay, weapon handling, and firing mechanics in games such as Modern Warfare 3 far exceed what Battlefield 3 is capable of and, more importantly, capable of impressing people with in this area. The simple fact is, when you take away vehicles and huge maps, you also take away the major components and benefits to each of the games classes, leaving you with a FPS that is no more than decent.

With an already overwhelming amount of people using either the viciously powerful Assault class or just shooting rockets down hallways with Engineer all game, it is my hope that the new DLC won’t further these trends. Had it been me in the conference room, I would have voted for more vehicles, more stuff to blow up, and more space to do it in.