Those who pre-ordered Battlefield 3 have been enjoying the beta for the last couple of days. But if you prefer to take a more conservative try-before-you-buy approach, now is your time to get in on the action, as the game's multiplayer beta has officially gone live for all PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players today. There's no registration requirement, so you'll be able to start playing as soon as you've downloaded the beta from Xbox Live, PSN or EA's Origin service on PC.

The beta itself includes a single map, Operation Métro, and the game type Rush where one team must attack two M-Com stations while a defending team tries to prevent them. It's about a 3.9GB download for the PC version. The map will feature 4 fully unlocked Areas and allows up to 32 players to join in a match. If you haven't done so already, be sure to download the latest drivers for your AMD or Nvidia video card, as they've been specifically optimized for the game.

There's also a second map called Caspian Border being played on several password-locked servers, complete with jets and tanks while allowing up 64 players at once during Conquest mode. A Community Manager for DICE shared the password "sexyelevator" on the official forums but it was changed after a few hours. A new password might be posted in the forums at some point but getting in won't be easy since only two servers are running this map.

The beta will only last until October 10, roughly a week and a half from today. Since this is a multiplayer-only affair, gamers will have to wait until the full game launch on October 25 in the U.S. and October 28 across Europe to play the single player campaign of what is arguably this year's most anticipated FPS title.

Installation instructions for all three platforms are available here. PC requirements for the game are posted after the break. Let us know if you've tried out the beta and your thoughts so far.

Minimum System Requirements

  • OS: Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) 32-bit
  • Processor: 2GHz dual-core (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or Athlon X2 2.7GHz)
  • Memory: 2GB
  • Hard drive: 20GB
  • Graphics card (AMD): DirectX 10.1 compatible with 512MB RAM (ATI Radeon 3000, 4000, 5000 or 6000 series, with ATI Radeon 3870 or higher performance)
  • Graphics card (Nvidia): DirectX 10.0 compatible with 512MB RAM (Nvidia GeForce 8, 9, 200, 300, 400 or 500 series with Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT or higher performance)
  • Sound card: DirectX compatible
  • Keyboard and mouse
  • DVD ROM drive

Recommended System Requirements

  • OS: Windows 7 64-bit
  • Processor: quad-core CPU
  • Memory: 4GB
  • Hard drive: 20GB
  • Graphics card: DirectX 11 compatible with 1024MB RAM (Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 or ATI Radeon HD 6950)
  • Sound card: DirectX compatible
  • Keyboard and mouse
  • DVD ROM drive