The maps in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Battlefield 3 will be a bit smaller and more compact then their PC counter parts. This compromise was necessary in order to yield the best possible experience on the console systems.

While the console versions of the maps will be smaller, it is said that the size is roughly 75% to 80% of the original map size. By way of comparison, it has been suggested that the Battlefield Bad Company 2 maps are a good point of reference; and those maps didn’t seem that small at all.

The decision to reduce the map size on the console versions was said to have been made not only to give players the best possible experience, but to maintain the pace during game play. It is unlikely that the decision will turn out to be a bad one for Battlefield 3; the game is going head to head with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, in which the series has always had a very quick game pace in the popular multiplayer mode.