Battlefield 3 “Thunder Run” Trailer Analysis
By David Bucur | June 11, 2011 | Features | 3 comments | Share
Hello and welcome to another Battlefield 3 gameplay analysis. Today we will be looking at the “Thunder Run” tank gameplay, as played by Executive Producer Patrick Bach at EA’s press conference at E3 2011.
It is believed that this is the very first mission in Battlefield 3’s singleplayer campaign, allowing you to step into the shoes, or should we say “assault boots”, of Corporal Jonathan “Jono” Miller, 1st Marines Tank Battalion, during a large-scale assault on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran in the Kavir Desert on October 31st 2014 at 0900 hours.
Here is the video analysis by GamerSpawn.
“Dinosaurs are a big selling point to games these days, I agree.”
The video starts with Miller contemplating a toy dinosaur sent to him by his son. Although DICE say it is nothing more than a coincidence, the dinosaur is believed to be a reference to 4chan’s /v/ board’s collective rant from 2009, when a representative from Activision asked the board what Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was lacking, due to the game’s low popularity in the PC-community. As 4chan’s Anonymous or “anons” are known for trolling, they didn’t give a serious answer, and said that it’s the lack of dinosaurs that makes Modern Warfare 2 a bad game. While it’s not exactly a critical aspect of gameplay, it is still worth mentioning.
No, this is not real-life footage, it’s just Battlefield 3.
He finally puts away the toy and focuses on the oncoming battle at the insistence of his crewmate. Meanwhile two F/A-18 jets fly overhead, towards Tehran. As he’s looking around, we see the true scale of the armored assault that is about to hit the capital city. The armored units in question appear to be M1A2 TUSK Abrams tanks as well as a few AAV7 Amphibious Assault vehicles, best seen around the 1 minute 20 seconds mark, after the two Marine Corps AH-1Z Viper helicopters fly by.
Note that the Abrams tanks are not equipped with the optional remote weapon station for the commander’s MG. Instead they just have one .50 caliber machine gun, with a see-through shield.
Around the 1 minute 32 seconds mark, we see 122mm rockets fired by BM-21 Grad launch vehicles from a PLR outpost.
Stay in the center of the tank’s sights for a split second and win a free one-way trip to Heaven.
As soon as “Anvil Actual” sends reports of PLR armor, Miller takes control of the tank, and we get a better look at the tank’s HUD, or heads-up display. On top we have a compass showing the tanks are facing 315 degrees, meaning they are assaulting from South-East towards the North-West. This is geographically correct, as the Kavir Desert is South-East from Tehran. In the top-left corner the main cannon’s elevation is shown in degrees. In the top-right we see a digital speedometer, displaying the tank’s speed in kilometers per hour. Mid left we see the status of the tank’s weapon systems and its two six-barreled smoke grenade launchers. At the bottom we are displayed the status of the M256 120mm smoothbore main gun, RDY indicating it is ready to fire and WAIT indicating it is not ready to fire. We also see an indicator, allowing the operator to better see where the tank’s turret is currently facing, in comparison with the tank’s hull. Last but not least, in the middle we have the Abrams’ unique aiming reticle, as one would expect.
The PLR would hit it…with 122mm rocket artillery.
When magnification is activated by clicking the right mouse button there’s an indicator on the right hand side, showing the current magnification; in our case, 3x magnification. There’s also a warning light that appears when the tank is taking damage. The indicator reading 60 Hz (Hertz) shows the screen refresh rate, but in-game it serves no functional purpose whatsoever.
The battle group then engages enemy armor that is closing in. The enemy tanks’ silhouettes aren’t very clear, and it makes identification harder, but around the 3 minute 47 seconds mark Miller fires at a tank and then someone, possibly Miller himself, says “Boom, T-72 engaged and destroyed” on the radio, giving us conclusive proof that the enemy tanks are T-72s, easy pickings for an M1 Abrams. It is unknown if they will also make an appearance in Battlefield 3’s multiplayer.
Don’t even bother hiding, Miller can see you.
The player can switch to thermal imaging by pressing “C” on the keyboard. It is unknown as of now if thermal imaging will be present in multiplayer. It wouldn’t be a surprise to have all of this included in the multiplayer, as Battlefield 2’s tanks had everything from smoke canisters, to coaxial machine guns, whereas in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 the player had to choose a “vehicle specialization” allowing them to use one item, and one item only, like the coaxial machine gun, the smoke launchers or magnification.
“Find the bad guy and I’ll get you ice cream for dinner.”
After the enemy armor has been destroyed the group continues the advance towards Tehran, until they are met by a barrage of artillery and are ordered to halt. Meanwhile an unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV operator has eyes on the enemy outpost hosting the BM-21s. He patches live feed over to Miller, who takes control of the drone and laser-designates targets for friendly A-10 Warthogs. However, they cause minimum damage, and according to chatter are at bingo fuel, meaning they have just enough fuel to make it safe back to base, and have to egress, leaving the armored units to handle the rest. Thanks to thermal imaging, we can clearly see five BM-21s, four BMP-2s, several infantry units and trucks as well as two SAM sites.
World of pain currently being loaded, sir…
After that we see Frostbite 2’s ANT animation system hard at work, gifting the loader lifelike movement as he loads the 120mm gun, preparing for the charge on the PLR rocket batteries. Notice how he has “Don’t panic!” written on his helmet.
Stop. Drop. Roll.
As soon as the armored unit starts the charge the player is prompted to press the “Shift” key to go full throttle. Again, it is unknown if this feature will be available in multiplayer straight-forward, or if it will require a vehicle specialization as in Bad Company 2. Soon after the advance started Anvil 3-2 is hit, and bursts into flame and two crew members on fire quickly jump out of the tank and roll on the ground in an effort to put their uniforms out.
During the charge we can see that the tank’s top speed is approximately 50 kilometers per hour off-road, as it is in real life. As the units move into the outpost, the player switches to his 7.62mm M240 coaxial machine gun by pressing “2” on the keyboard. The 120mm gun can be selected by pressing “1”. The text “LOCK” can also be seen on the left side of the HUD, possibly indicating a missile lock.
After Miller kills several infantry units he engages a BMP-2. BMP stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty, literally “Infantry Fighting Vehicle”. When you look at the BMP-2’s rear doors in real life and notice how thick they are you might think “Oh, wow, thick armor to protect the infantry inside.” Wrong. One critical flaw of this IFV is the fact that its rear-doors hold fuel-tanks. So a single hit to the back can blow up the whole thing. If BMP-2’s will be present in BF3’s multiplayer, don’t expect them to blow up from a single hit to the back, though. In multiplayer, balance has priority over authenticity.
After the BMP is destroyed, Marines raid the compound, moving in through a breach in the earthen wall, also known as a berm.
Is it New Year already?
Miller then fires off a round into a BM-21, causing it to explode in a spectacular fashion, initiating a chain reaction causing secondary damage, destroying the other launchers. An impressive display of fireworks by the Frostbite 2 game engine.
WARNING! This image contains more action than the human brain can process.
After that, the tanks move out of the encampment, and as soon as Miller can see over the ridge he is shocked by the image of Tehran’s outskirts in flames, while B1 Lancer supersonic strategic bombers fly above and enemy armor are hit by air-burst ordnance. Just like Miller, it’s impossible not to be shocked by such a landscape, a landscape which no other game can offer.
The Marine Corps called. They say they want their combat footage back.
Alright, good article overall, but I couldn't help but comment about two things:
First of all, if you listen closely to the chatter in the tank, they say "firing sabot" when they were engaging the T-72s, indicating that they use APFSDS (armor-piercing, fan stabilized, detaching sabot) rounds on tanks. Then, when they were charging the enemy outpost, the loader in Miller's tank said, "Loading HEAT," as he loads the fresh round in the chamber.
Secondly, the ARMA series of games already offer such large landscapes and high view distances. However, I do agree that no other game can offer so many things on screen with explosions, air burst bombing run by what appears to be the B1 Lancer, and fires.
@TheOz91 - Arma is a simulator not a game like battlefield.
M- Money
W- Wasted
3- 3rd Time!
Haha BF3 IS GONNA PWN DAT SHITTY cod!