Battlefield 3 will feature the maximalist combined arms battles that made the series popular across single-player, co-operative and multiplayer modes. It will reintroduce several elements absent from the Bad Company games, including fighter jets, the prone position and 64-player battles on PC. To accommodate the lower player count on consoles, the ground area will be limited for Xbox 360 and PS3, though fly space will remain the same


During an interview with GameInformer Magazine, EA stated that Commander Mode is unlikely to be included which was met with some criticism on the EA forum.
The game will feature maps set in Paris, Tehran, Sarajevo, Sulaymaniyah, New York, Wake Island and Oman. As a whole, combat will take place in urban streets, metropolitan downtown areas, and open landscapes suited to vehicle combat.
Battlefield 3 will introduce the Battlelog, a free cross-platform social service with built-in text and voice communicator, game statistics and ability to join the game that friend is already playing (both players need to be on the same platform).

Campaign

The campaign is set near the Iraq-Iran border, where the US Marine Corps is fighting the People's Liberation and Resistance (PLR).
Players will be able to use vehicles during the campaign, but their use will be limited.

Cooperative

A demo featuring the new co-op mode featured at Gamescom 2011. DICE GM Karl Magnus has confirmed that a split screen option will not be available in co-op mode. Battlefield 3's new Battlelog social network, DICE noted, would be tied to all co-op matches, allowing players to try to beat friends' scores and to track their performance.

Multiplayer 

 

Battlefield 3 features the return of class-based game play, with four classes: Assault, Support, Engineer and Recon. Similar to "Battlefield 2142", the Assault class will be able to equip defibrillators and medkits. The mechanics of the light machine gun (LMG) have been changed to utilize the new engine. Bipods can be deployed anywhere when in the prone position or near suitable scenery, and provide a significant boost to accuracy and recoil reduction. Suppressive fire is an in-game mechanic which blurs the vision of those under fire from an LMG, and also reduces their accuracy. The Engineer will receive a flashlight that can be used to blind other players. The Recon will be able to put a radio beacon anywhere on the map and all squad members will be able to spawn on the location of the radio beacon.
Several game modes have been announced, including Conquest, Conquest 64 (PC only), Rush, Squad Deathmatch, Squad Rush and a new mode to the series, Team Deathmatch.
Server browser has been confirmed for console versions.