If you’re anticipating the release of Battlefield 3 you’ll be happy to know a massive number of unlockables will dwarf Bad Company 2. Also, we’ve got screen shots of the SpecAct Kit pre-order bonus.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 had plenty of unlockable guns, attachments, gadgets, and vehicle bonuses to unlock, but a common complaint among players was that they could all be earned by the time players reached level 22-25. With level 50 being the cap, it left a major gap where nothing was earned for achieving the next rank up. Luckily plenty of pins to earn gave players a goal in the mean time, but Dice has recognized the issue, promising “years worth of unlocks and rewards.” According to a post on their blog, Battlefield 3 will have “10 times the hardware unlocks spread over weapons, weapons attachments, gadgets, and a huge unlock tree for vehicles alone.”
That’s just referring to the hardware unlocks alone, but medals, ribbons, and service stars can also be earned by dedicated or skillful players. Ribbons replace the pins from Bad Company 2, which are earned for specific actions in a round, such as an Assault Rifle Ribbon (7 assault rifle kills in a round), Nemesis Ribbon (2 nemesis kills), MVP Ribbon (be the best player in a round), Ace Squad Ribbon (be part of the best squad in a round), Medical Efficiency Ribbon (5 revives in a round), or the Air Warfare Ribbon (6 air kills in a round). Each of these are shown in the pictures below. Medals on the other hand are much harder to earn, and typically involve earning a certain ribbon X number of times, or playing for a certain number of hours. The three medals shown below are the Maintenance Medal (obtain the Maintenance Ribbon 50 times), Marksman Medal (obtain the Marksman Ribbon 50 times), and the U.S. Army Service Medal (spend 100 hours in the U.S. Marine Corps).
Beyond that, a new Service Star system is being introduced. Each player will have a kill card which when displayed immediately shows off stars earned, and thus your proficiency with different equipment. Apparently even earning the first of these service stars will be a major milestone, and as a result they will act as a way of showing off achievements beyond reaching the maximum rank of Colonel. Up to 100 Service Stars can be earned, and 100 stars for weapons, kits, and vehicles. Earning them all will be a very daunting task.
Also displayed above are pictures of the SpecAct Kits found on the Battlefield Blog that are currently available as a pre-order bonus at BestBuy. There are four versions for both the US and the Russians, but this time around the kits only change the look of the soldier’s outfit, and not the weapons like they previously did in Bad Company 2. While the kits are merely aesthetics, don’t underestimate the power of camouflage in battle. Battlefield 3 is currently slated to release on October 25th in North America, October 27th in Australia, and October 28th in Europe.
