Shooter fans have a new entry on the horizon from the fantastic “Battlefield” series. This time, Visceral Games — the company behind the frightening “Dead Space” series — hop into the pilot seat. “Battlefield: Hardline” is the new title, and it’s promising a new look at the franchise by moving away from soldiers towards a police themed thriller.
Note: This preview is from incomplete code from an earlier build. The full “Battlefield: Hardline” game will be released in March 2015.
The Thin Blue Line
This go around, the “Battlefield” franchise trades the front lines of war for the blue lines of the law. Focusing on the lives of cops and the criminals they encounter, you play as a Miami police officer who finds himself embroiled in the sinister underbelly of the city.
We can’t go too much into the actual narrative for spoiler reasons, but you should know that Visceral Games certainly has nailed the tone of a gritty TV cop drama. The opening level had us slowly moving through the seedy Miami crime scene, and sets the stage for thrilling police procedural — just with more booms. If you love shows like “NYPD Blue” or “The Wire” then you’ll like the tone of “Hardline.”
And it’s looking pretty nice, too. The Frostbite Engine pumped out some pretty impressive visuals, even in this preview build. If you’ve played “Battlefield 4” on PS4 then you already know how impressive the graphic engine can be on the consoles, and the sounds of the guns are big and meaty, with ear-popping explosions.
Electronic ArtsGood Cop, Bad Cop
You’re given some options when it comes to enemy encounters. Typically, “Battlefield” would present a squad of enemy combatants that you could turn to hamburger with some heavy metal. “Hardline” asks that you take a more measured pace by arresting and apprehending felons. There’s a hold-up mechanic in which you can flash a badge and make arrests. However, you’ll have to be cautious and keep a keen eye for subtle movements as some enemies can get jumpy and go for their weapon.
On the other side, you can go the classic route and simply apply overwhelming force. As with the other games, you’ll have a host of weaponry from pistols to sniper rifles — along with a variety of gadgets — to aid your adventure, like stun guns and trip mines. There is no “right” way to go through the game, as your rank and equipment gradually increase as you progress anyway; but if you choose the less lethal options, you’ll progress faster by earning more points for arrests and not KIAs.
You’ll also have some light detective work in which you can use a scanner device to highlight suspicious evidence. Collecting evidence isn’t exactly required to advance, but it opens up more of the background story that expands the larger narrative. It also unlocks custom gear that can be used in multiplayer as well, so completionists will have some work to do.
Electronic ArtsBattle-Feel
The spotlight on police action hasn’t damped the shooting fun. “Hardline” feels like a “Battlefied” game, through and through. Fans of the series can pick up a play immediately with a short adjustment to some of the new abilities… Stealth being one the bigger changes.
“Battlefield” has always had a few stealth sections, but “Hardline” has taken it a bit further. As with “BF4,” you have a scanner gadget that can tag enemies and interactive level elements. It’s similar to how a “Metal Gear” game plays, in that it highlights their cones of vision on the minimap, allowing you to think carefully about your approach.
The sections we played offered plenty of stealth paths, along with going loud with automatic guns. If sneaking around isn’t your thing, you can always go in blazing — but expect a lot of resistance because enemies might call in reinforcements. One of the later sections we played had us sneaking into heavily guarded apartment building in which one small misstep had the baddies raining fire down from all over the place. It got pretty intense, and after a few reloads, we decided to try a more careful approach.
For example, when we finally got into an apartment and found the info we needed, enemies were altered to our presence and we had to defend a small area. These “fortress” segments will task you to use your gadgets and shooting expertise to systematically take out the enemies as they bust in hard.
Preview Thoughts
Overall, our hour and change preview was pretty positive. It’s nice to see this war-focused franchise try something different, yet, at the same time feel similar for fans of the older games. It’s funny to actually be excited for the single player part of a “Battlefield” game, too… Not to disparage the fine work from DICE on “BF3″ and “BF4″ — as the focus for most players has always been the larger than life multiplayer arenas. So far is looks as if Visceral is adding their own flair to the series, while keeping in step with what fans would expect. The police angle could take some serious twists and we can’t wait to play some more.
“Battlefield: Hardline” will be available March 17, 2015.
Lock And Load With Our ‘Battlefield: Hardline’ Preview
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