Battlefield 3 gun customisation detailed

By Fred Dutton Published 25 August, 2011

DICE: "Thousands" of options available.

Gamers will have "thousands" of ways to customise their arsenal in Battlefield 3, according to developer DICE.

As explained in a new post on the game's Battleblog, each gun has three accessory slots for unlocked weapon accessories. The more you use a particular weapon, the more unlocks you'll pick up and the more customisation options will be open to you.

In the example pictured below, a rifle has been equipped with a heavy barrel, bipod, and a 4X magnification combat scope - just the ticket for medium to long range targets, or to lay down suppressive fire to back up team mates.

Conversely, add a suppressor, foregrip and quick acquisition holographic scope, and it becomes perfect for close quarters combat.

Available unlocks will include different optics, suppressors, bipods, barrels, underslung grenade launchers, underslung shotguns, foregrips, flashlights, laser sights and more besides.

The EA-published shooter, which won our Gamescom game of the show gong earlier this week, is due out in Europe on 28th October.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • aidan1994 #1 9 months ago

    cant wait

  • methuzalix #2 9 months ago

    Now this is the announcement i've been waitning for! Weapons are why we play FPS games (aside from vehicles ofc) so it's nice to know that we'll get just the thing for each situation. This was the thing I missed in BFBC2.

  • madloo08 #3 9 months ago

    nice!!

  • dirtysteve #4 9 months ago

    I'd like a flash light, no suppressor, and a luminous balaclava please, I'm going stealth.

  • Collymilad #5 9 months ago

    Hardly.

    The problem CoD has is that all the guns are exactly the same from the off, and it extends to the upgrades.

    Even Bad Company 2 has guns that act differently, and I see no reason why that won't continue into BF3.

  • CaptainQuint #6 9 months ago

    Yeah it's nice an all, but it's all superficial. Just like CoD: you're gonna get a shitload of rifles and machine guns which all basically do the same thing and with around five of them being the only guns worth using. Oh but it adds "depth", right?

    I'm looking forward to BF3 for the ingame mechanics themselves and not the gimmicky meta game/customisation nonsense. Are you?

  • Jonny5Alive7 #7 9 months ago

    I bet most of these 'thousands' are just different colours.

  • metalangel #8 9 months ago

    Unless you're special ops, in the real military you are assigned a weapon based on your training and skill. You also don't get to attach extra shit to it (unless approved by command, which for rank and file troops, again no). Can you imagine the logistical nightmare of trying to stock ammunition, magazine and spares for the dozen or so rifles in Battlefield? There's a reason that everything in the US military now runs off jet fuel: they only need to bring one type of fuel!

    As CaptainQuint says, it's all superficial, and designed to appeal to Modern Warfare 1 fans. Before all this crap, both CoD and Battlefield had standard issue weapons and you got to know how to use them very well :) Now you get people charging into battle with guns they hate, slowly accumulating kills to unlock some stupid badge or perk or something. It really pissed me off that for the historical setting of World at War you could have Germans with American weapons fighting Russians with Japanese weapons.
    Edited by metalangel at 25/08/11 @ 22:57

  • WeakOrbit #9 9 months ago

    Can I customise my gun to fire bee's?

  • Kenny79 #10 9 months ago

    If the hit reg is anything like BC2 you won't have to!

  • TagemandBagem #11 9 months ago

    Bipod on a carbine. Silly.

  • FogHeart #12 9 months ago

    I'll have the little underslung flag that says 'Bang!' on it.

  • MattyD #13 9 months ago

    Oh ye of little faith. I don't see how this is radically different from the system in use in BC2. You can add different sights using one perk slot, add magnum ammo or improved handling using the next, etc.

  • CaptainQuint #14 9 months ago

    ^ BC2 is just as superficially deep, yes.

  • wtc0771 #15 9 months ago

    Having tried some of it out in the alpha, I have to admit that the customisations do make it feel radically different when you mix things up a bit!
    I almost prefer it to the BF2 style of universallly the same, as it makes you see somebody else's setup and think "i've got to try that to see why they've chosen it"

  • CaptainQuint #16 9 months ago

    "Ooo, someone is getting lots of kills whilst using something different to me, therefore it must be good..."

    No; most of the time it's just someone trying something new and getting lucky with it. Sorry, but that's the way it works. Three months after the game's release and we will see the vast majority of these customisations completely ignored by players.

    Am I being a grump? God no. Realistic and HONEST, absolutely. I bet my house on it.

  • Sir_STRESSHEaD #17 9 months ago

    I'm all for the customisation. That's what these games are about right? Keeps things fresh. I don't agree that in COD all guns are the same at all. They all behave differently and suit varied styles of play. Also, if you get bored or things get stale you have other options to mess around with which may even improve your game. All of this can only be a good thing. Personally I really hated having to run around with an LMG whilst i was a medic. Customisation is key!

  • EuroSkept1C #18 9 months ago

    It's gonna be a truly complete game. We'll not know what combination to use... So many guns and options! Many big maps...

    Purely Mayhem! We gonna live epic moments! And lastly, it will write history! ( all these at least for the lovers )

    "Grips" will certainly be my most used item!
    Edited by EuroSkept1C at 26/08/11 @ 04:02

  • orangpelupa #19 9 months ago

    weapon in BFBC2 is many and very differents.
    and BF3 will have more different weapons by allowing many customization

    good news indeed :D

    i just hope i can use my M1 garand again....
    its the only "medium-long" assault weapon that kind to laggy player like me....

  • Harmonica #20 9 months ago

    I was hoping for something like this, BFBC2 definitely lacked personalisation options.

    Now announce that the class system doesn't restrict you to arbitrary irrelevant weapon choices and crap, please. A medic with an LMG, seriously? Why would a support soldier that needs to move quickly carry heavier weaponry? Stupid.

    Ideal world BF for me would feature some kind of persistent system where you had to fund your weapon upgrades and repair them, ala reality, so if you REALLY wanted some expensive optics you had to pay for it with your earnings. Not to mention, ghillie suits, different paint jobs, kevlar vests, etc. Alas I don't think we're getting that.
    Edited by Harmonica at 26/08/11 @ 07:07

  • RedPanda #21 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • DDevil #22 9 months ago

    I'm going to strap my gun to a Camero.

  • Architect_z #23 9 months ago

    Is there a Bayonet attachment?

  • TheEarlOfZinger #24 9 months ago

    I'm going to strap a camaro to my GUN. Headlights, bitches.

  • asphaltcowboy #25 9 months ago

    Let's hope that in this game that the servers remember all your load-outs so you don't have to do them from scratch all the time like in BFBC2 then ;)

  • RedSparrows #26 9 months ago

    I just min max my way to a good gun then forget the rest. Same every time. It also won't improve the same old iron sights shoot stuff we've been doing for years.

  • ILoveThrashMetal #27 9 months ago

    Does anyone know if the Coriolis effect is used in multiplayer like in bfbc2? All be it very dumbed down

  • Bravestinsane #28 9 months ago

    sounds good, as long as i can have a dual mag for quick reloading, with a suppressor and a red dot ill be happy XD

    15/60

  • carlitoswagon #29 9 months ago

    @ThrashMetal

    Yes, it's included as well as different bullet speeds applying to different weapons. Not much difference from BC2, which is no bad thing.

    Anyways, can't beat good old iron sights. The way God intended.

  • ILoveThrashMetal #30 9 months ago

    Cool.cheers for the info