Battlefield 2 brought a huge following to the competitive side of Battlefield on PC. I remember buying BF2 the day it released, and I couldn't stop playing it for hours into the night even though I had an 8 a.m. class the next morning in college. I was already involved in playing competitive Halo 2 for the past year, and I had no idea about the competitive side of BF2.

After finding out about the Cyberathlete Amateur League BF2 open 8v8 league, I started posting as a regular on the forums. A few older gamers from Minnesota noticed my post and I started playing pubs with them in BF2. From the pubs, the guys asked me to play with them on their BF2 team in CAL. Playing organized BF2 competitively was the most fun I've ever had in gaming.

Our basic strategy for the classic Strike at Karkand map was marked up just like the colors in the screenshot. I had a squad of myself and a teammate, we ran spec ops and took the U.S. humvee to the far left flank of the map. Our role was to destroy the opposing commander's assets and try to cap their starting flag. Meanwhile the rest of my team was split up into two-three other squads. We had a primary tank guy and an APC guy. Their responsibilities were to keep the armor for our team alive as much as possible, and if destroyed, remember the timing of the respawn of the armor and make sure to grab it as soon as it comes back to put it back into the battle.

The best part of Strike at Karkand was the middle flag called the Market. This was the hardest fought area of the map since it was the middle point for the armor of both sides. The depth of strategy was unreal on this map. Sometimes teams ran their tank on the high side of the Market to have good lines of sight on attacking infantry, and sometimes the tank would hide in the alleyways, there were countless strats that unfolded.

Many people who played BF2 probably didn't experience this side of Battlefield. It's very unfortunate because this is where the true essence and core of BF comes from. The game becomes very life-like when you play with an organized team communicating and managing squads within the team. Each BF2 map becomes a life-like warzone where the better team will always come out on top. True military tactics and strategies work wonders because of the core design of BF2. Many people prefer the infantry-only side of BF, but I say no thank you to that. Give me 1v1 tank battles fighting across the railroad track at Gulf of Oman. Give me the APC where I can pile a squad inside and drive them into Market at Karkand and deploy them into attacking the flag.

What we know right now about Battlefield 3 is very little. On paper the game looks like it will be BF2 all over again but better, more evolved. With the potential absence of the commander mode, it's one less layer of strategy taken away from the game. While the commander mode was a huge asset to the core strategy of BF2, hopefully its absence in BF3 will still provide many layers of strategy.

It will be interesting to see how Back to Karkand plays with destruction. If entire buildings can be taken down , then the strategy of using the alleyways for infantry flanks and armor peak spots will be tough to keep up, and that's exciting to imagine!

If someone were to ask me what am I most excited for in BF3, I would respond by saying I hope to get the same level of strategy and fun I had from BF2 when I played 8v8 competitively. While I may not play the game competitively in the future, I hope BF3 brings back competitive Battlefield. Staying up on a Friday night watching live casting streams of top Battlefield clans wage war on one another was so entertaining. Listening to the play by play and the communication of the teams was unbelievable!

Battlefield 3 has the potential to bring competitive Battlefield back to PC gaming like BF2 was in 2005. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!