EA has released the first in a series of  Battlefield 3 gameplay videos that follow Staff Sgt. Blackburn and his team of U.S. Marines into the bad part of town.

Titled Fault Line, we finally get a real good look at the gameplay rather than the quick glimpses we saw in the teaser trailer. War is never a pretty sight, and it appears these new videos will capture that essence.

The first thing we noticed with the video is the fantastic use of lighting. You can really see the various shadows and even dust particles floating in the air to create an all more realistic looking game. Dogs bark, lights fall to the ground, and rubble burns in the streets as the Marines make their way through the Iraqi/Iranian border.

We also see that you’ll be able to pull fallen teammates out of the line of fire. Let’s hope they can do the same for you.

We like what we see so far. Let’s hope the rest of the videos in the Fault Line series are equally impressive. The Call of Duty franchise better watch out because Battlefield is right on their heels. What are your thoughts of the new gameplay?