14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts and Visceral Games surprised many fans yesterday at the E3 2014 press conference when they confirmed that the beta stage for Battlefield Hardline is already available on the PC and PS4 platforms, allowing many different gamers to try out the new first-person shooter experience.
Battlefield Hardline was leaked to the world some time ago, and last month EA and Visceral decided to make things official and presented the first few details about the new Battlefield game, which instead of depicting wars against different nations and armies, will now focus on the conflict between cops and criminals.
With a suite of customized multiplayer modes, not to mention the promise of a touching single-player story campaign styled after modern cop dramas, Hardline definitely piques the curiosity of many gamers, both veterans of the series and newcomers.
Now, the Battlefield Hardline beta is available and includes two of the all-new multiplayer modes from the upcoming shooter, in the form of Blood Money and Heist, alongside a single map called High Tension.
Can this new shooter experience live up to the Battlefield name or is this just a poor attempt at exploiting the series? Let's have a quick look.
The core premise in Battlefield Hardline might remind shooter fans of other titles that focused on cops vs. robbers, like Payday, but the new title adds quite a few core Battlefield properties to the experience, from the emphasis on vehicles to the wide range of guns, the Levolution system that alters the layout of a map, and much more.
In the current beta, there are just two modes, called Blood Money and Heist.
Blood Money sees the cops and robbers fight over a central stash of money. They need to fight over it and take as much cash as possible back to their own vaults, and the team that fills its vault wins the match.
However, things are trickier than they seem, as teams can assault their rivals' vault and steal cash from it, in order to prevent them from winning.
Heist sees the robbers assault different targets and steal things from them, so that they can be transported to a drop off point. If the criminals succeed in two such endeavors, they win. Cops, on the other hand, must intervene and stop the robbers in their tracks, either before or after they got the loot. A frantic cat and mouse game is underway, and certainly Heist is the more fun of the two experiences.
In terms of actual gameplay, shooting feels quite solid, although those looking for an accurate simulation like in Battlefield 4 might not be so thrilled with the current gunplay in Hardline, which feels more like in the Battlefield Bad Company titles.
The vehicles are quite varied and are a breath of fresh air, as besides helicopters with miniguns on the side, you can use regular patrol cars or pursuit bikes while playing as the police, as well as coupe sportscars while controlling the criminals.
Classes include Enforcers that use assault rifles and can heal others, Mechanics that can fix vehicles, Operators that have ballistic shields and explosives, and Specialists that can snipe and set up traps.
Action is hectic, like in any Battlefield experience, and the urban setting, with lots of vertical areas, augments this feeling, so expect to get killed from all sorts of angles.
Overall, Battlefield Hardline feels great as a Battlefield game, although it's hard to say just how much of a different or at least evolved experience it will be over last year's Battlefield 4.
Check out the gameplay video from the beta below, showing the Heist and Blood Money modes in action.
