What the Xbox 360 version of Battlefield 3 looks like, without installation

Because not all Xbox 360s come equipped with hard drives, Battlefield 3 features an optional HD texture installation. The game is entirely playable without the installation... but a new video shows how drastic the drop in visual fidelity is.

The HD texture pack requires 1.5GB of hard drive space, on top of the 7GB demanded by installing the disc onto the console. If you hsven't invested in a large hard drive for your Xbox 360, watch the video to see exactly why it's not really optional for Battlefield 3.

The video, captured by NextGenWalkthroughs (via Joystiq), looks akin to a last-generation title. Calling this mode "standard definition" is not entirely accurate. We'd simply call it "bad."