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Yesterday we flew through Talah Market to explore one of the four brand new urban maps coming to Battlefield 3 in the latest DLC pack Aftermath. Talah Market, like the other three maps, is set in post-natural-disaster Iran where an 8.1 magnitude earthquake has made ruins out of several urban centers and the remaining soldiers are left to scavenge for whatever weapons and makeshift vehicles are available.

This is the theme of Aftermath which just released yesterday for premium members playing BF3 on the PS3. To celebrate the long-awaited fourth expansion to Battelfield 3's multiplayer component, EA and DICE have released the Battlefield 3: Aftermath launch trailer, another video which sells itself on in-game visuals and gameplay footage.

The first BF3: Aftermath trailer entirely missed the point of what makes the game and its marketing unique: gameplay. All of the Battlefield 3 trailers to date have looked and played wonderfully, and all made use of in-game footage, footage that cannot be crafted in other shooters due to its unique use of vehicles and the Frostbite 2 engine. Instead, that first trailer for the DLC used the Frostbite 2 engine and assets, but instead showcased a pre-rendered cut scene of soldiers battling it out in the "shattered districts, streets and cities of post-earthquake Iran."

Fortunately with the launch trailer (up top), they've gone back to what works best and the video makes use of captured in-game footage of what it's actually like to play the Aftermath DLC maps.

The major highlights for the trailer are the new vehicles, the destructible environments and of course, the use of the new crossbow weapon and its multiple bolt types, which of course include explosives. There's also a lot of intense and risky use of helicopters weaving in between (and sometimes inside) structures and a quick demonstration of the new Scavenger game mode.

Battlefield 3: Aftermath is included as part of Battlefield 3 Premium. It can be purchased separately as well.

  • PlayStation 3 (Battlefield 3 Premium members): November 27
  • Xbox 360 and PC (Battlefield 3 Premium members): December 4
  • PlayStation 3: December 11
  • Xbox 360 and PC: December 18

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Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.