Battlefield 3 consolidates its latent PC shooting gameplay with improved animations and more extensive environmental destruction. Although the 360 and PS3 versions can't deliver the PC's 64 man shoot-outs, Battlefield 3 still promises to be impressive whatever platform you play it on.

Battlefield has always felt a little different to the other console shooting games -- unlike Call of Duty, Modern Warfare and Medal of Honour it has held onto its PC heritage to encourage more diverse strategies and pixel perfect shooting.

Battlefield 3, which if you count all the spin off games is actually the 11th in the series, promises the same array of weaponry that made the series so popular. New this time though are features as diverse as fighter jets and the ability to lie prone properly -- not to mention 64-player battles on PC.

Visually, Battlefield 3 also promises improvements. It now uses a fresh style of character animation technology similar to that used in EA Sports games that enables it to create more realistic soldier movement. This also enables players to pickup fallen comrades and drag them to safety.

The updated Frostbite 2 engine will also broaden your ability to destroy architecture and landscape during the battle -- something that has become a call sign of Battlefield's gameplay. This time the game takes in maps from Paris, Tehran, Sarajevo, Sulaymaniyah and New York -- with more still to be announced.

Battlefield 3 will be released on PC, 360 and PS3 in late 2011.