Though the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises bare some resemblance to each other — what with being modern military shooters and all — DICE feels that their property is completely different from Activision’s. Yes, both series have capitalized on the recent rise in popularity of that type of FPS, but what DICE is trying to do with Battlefield, they feel, is unique.

According to Battlefield 3’s producer Patrick Liu, DICE has always been about “raising the bar” -- creating an experience that is unlike anything that is been seen before. One of the key ways that DICE achieves that goal is through Battlefield’s variety.

Typically, in Battlefield players can experience everything from high altitude dogfights to tight quarters skirmishes, it’s all dependent on context for a particular mission. But, taking it even further, Battlefield gave players an experience that can be shared between friends.

"I think we wanted to have a lot of variety, and different flavors within the game, so we could appeal to different kinds of gamers, and the co-op was one of those things that we identified as like, 'We probably need this. A lot of people want to play together, and they don’t want to compete.' So we offer that because of that."

Liu goes on to tell Gamasutra a few more evolutions the series has made over the years — adding single player to Bad Company, the destructibility of the Frostbite 2.0 engine — and then shares some of the qualities Battlefield 3 will bring to the table to make it a unique experience in and of itself.

Of course Battlefield 3 will be hitting the DLC category fairly soon out of the gate with its Back to Karkand map pack, but what is more interesting, and directly in competition with Call of Duty is the Battlelog.

"You can access the Battle Log from an iPad, for example, or any device. That’s one way of doing it. We will release a mobile version of the game, of course. I think, in the future, we will see a much more natural and much more coherent tie between different platforms and versions in the way you just engage in the game.”

While many of Liu’s statements about Battlefield are all well and good, I couldn’t help thinking that many of the qualities that the series exudes — co-op, single player, and a robust stat tracker — are also trademarks of the Call of Duty franchise. Battlefield may have started out as a different entity than Call of Duty, but it seems to move closer and closer with each iteration.

Aside from the obvious design choices do you think that Battlefield is that much different from Call of Duty? What is it about DICE’s franchise that makes it unique?

Battlefield 3 releases October 25, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Source: Gamasutra