14 DAY TRIAL // Our Incoming 2015 series focuses on the most important game launches of the next 12 months and next up we talk about Battlefield: Hardline.
What we know
Battlefield: Hardline is the next game in the long-running first-person shooter series that Electronic Arts positioned as the main rival to Call of Duty from Activision and the game needs to deliver solid quality and some interesting mechanics in order to justify its delay and to compete with the already very successful Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
The new title is designed to move away from the military theme in order to focus on the conflict between law enforcement agencies and a variety of criminal cartels, all of them now having access to more powerful hardware than ever before.
The single-player aspect of Battlefield: Hardline will focus on a pair of detectives who will investigate an increasingly difficult set of drug-related cases and will begin to see the effect the corruption has on their city.
Developer Visceral Games has promised that it will create a narrative that uses the lessons of well-known TV shows like Breaking Bad.
On the multiplayer side, Battlefield: Hardline is designed to offer smaller battle spaces than other titles in the series, with more of a focus on dynamic combat and high stakes moments.
The development studio, with help from DICE, is also working to make sure that the two factions offer variety in their choice of weapons and skills.
Battlefield: Hardline will be launched on the PC, the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One and last-gen consoles on March 17 in the United States and on March 19 in Europe.
Why it matters
Battlefield: Hardline faces a tough launch because of the major delay it has incurred, which was revealed after a testing phase during which Visceral Games was forced to accept a lot of criticism coming from the community.
The studio has said that it will use the time in order to make sure that all feedback is evaluated and adequate changes are made, but it’s unclear whether the long-term fan community of the series will be satisfied with the offered experience.
Battlefield: Hardline might be a success because the spring launch schedule tends to be less crowded than the fall one and gamers often have more money and more time to spend with a new experience.
It could also be a failure which will have a big impact on Electronic Arts and on the future of the shooter franchise.
