8 Minutes of Battlefield 3 Alpha Gameplay

I'm not digging the small squads at all. Why does the LAV have 6 slots if you can only have 4 people in your squad. I mean, I can understand small squads in rush, but not in a REAL Battlefield modes like conquest. Bad Company styled squads won't fly either. I could understand making the squad leader and medics spawnable perhaps, but not the whole squad. Sure, I'll play the game until I have a blood clot, but that is going to bother the hell out of me. 8 squads on each side in a 64 player server, and everyone can spawn on others in their squad?

It's because of game balancing and accessiblity that you can spawn on any squad mates. Imagine a dunce squadleader that doesn't know when to push or when to hold back, having the only option to spawn on him/her or at a base far away would be a pain. Being able to spawn on any squad mates alleviates the need for a single person to be extremely effective in order for the whole squad to be effective, this way work and resposibility are delegated to every squad member. So if one member is not a good place to spawn on, you'll have a better chance to find another member that is.
It also provides tactical flexibility for players when choosing where to spawn. For example, if a squad leader is engaged in a fire fight, you can spawn on another squad mate that is in a good position to flank, instead of spawning back at a base.

As for the 4 member squad, I have no explanation for it. Though as a long time Battlefield player, I can say from my experience that this is not a major problem.
Back in BF2, seeing a full 6 member squad is not that common anyways. Also, considering that BF3/BC2 have 4 classes with multiple roles to play in each class, it fits in filling the 4 slots with different roles that those classes provides, whereas in BF2, there was 7 classes and each had somewhat of a different role to play, so a larger squad size would make sense.

It doesn't seem like weapon weight is accounted for...

Anyways, this looks, okay I guess. Just not something I'd buy without having a lot of people to party up with.

Looks good on foot, but I've wanted to see more vehicle play. I want to know if you can jump out of helicopters and parachute safely to the ground or building like you could in older Battlefields. WE WANT VEHICLES!!!

Well the good news I took out of this is it looks like it will be better than Bad Company. Not sure it's going to be great as the hype though.