The Battlefield series is changing things up with its latest installment, Battlefield: Hardline, a game that puts players in a game of cops and robbers reminiscent of the movie Heat. While this idea has a great deal of potential, the Beta that we played left us with a bad taste in our mouths.
As soon as we loaded up Hardline things were a bloody mess. As this is an EA game we loaded up the Origin service which is par for the course, but instead of just clicking play and getting into some action we had to sit through the most convoluted loading for a game we have ever seen. It took us no less that three windows before we were even in-game. The Battlefield: Hardline window started minimized (we nearly missed it down in the taskbar) and we were ushered into a browser based game screen. It’s a messy experience and one that was confusing to many here that tried to play. We don’t know the reason, or even need, for a middle man site to get us into the game, but it’s just one added step keeping people from getting to the fun.
The need for this integrated website that Hardline uses is a mystery as it’s just one more thing running in the background, but even worse is that the game, as of this Beta, opens in windowed mode every time we loaded it up. What the possible resource usage on a system when the games drops is unknown, but we can safely say that the browser integration will take up a needless amount of it. For a game that is listed at $69.99 for the Deluxe Edition on pre-order we can’t say that it’s quite ready for your money.
We really hoped that our disappointment would fade once we got into the game, but even when we did it failed to impress. During the Beta the map that is playable (High Tension) does little to make any of Hardline’s features shine through. It’s your standard battlefield style map with lots of tall building in a semi recreation of downtown LA. In the “Heist” mode criminals are tasked with stealing some loot and making a getaway while cops try to prevent it (Blood Money mode is essentially the same thing) . It’s a simple premise that has a lot of potential, but never really reaches any lofty heights.
The requisite things that make Battlefield, Battlefield are here. You have large set-pieces and lots of unique vehicles to drive around ranging from motorbikes to helicopters. These vehicles are fun to drive around and pull silly stunts with, but they serve little purpose at this time besides just getting players to the action. One can see their use becoming expanded in the future, but right now we really only saw players hop in, drive to the firefight, and hop out.
The problem with Hardline is that it’s just so “Been there done that.” It doesn’t matter which side you are dropped into as both cops and robbers play in the exact same way. What could have been a really nice team-focused back and forth between small squads, boils down to a death-match capture the flag style affair every time we played. The reasoning for why each side is causing Armageddon style mayhem and destruction is essentially the same as well. The robbers want to steal all the loot for themselves and the cops want to take all the money for evidence. I’m not well versed on police policy, but it sure seems like this kind of engagement would be frowned upon.
It’s also important to note the amount of clutter on-screen at all times while playing. The HUD gives the impression that one is playing Ghost Recon Future Solider with the amount of stuff going on. Again, this could have been used to the games advantage by allowing certain police units to have access to some advanced tech and likewise with unique robber units, but instead it’s the same for everyone. The on map objectives, “Stop Criminals” for police units and “Steal Money” for the robbers will be highlighted onscreen, and various multicolored waypoints are floating around the screen all over the place. It does more to annoy the player that to help the game in any way.
The one thing that had us excited about Hardline was the possibility for real teamwork between members of a squad. The Payday series is known for heavy reliance on teamwork if you want to get your heist accomplished, but none of what made that game fun is present here in Hardline. For a game that begs for core team-based features, none are here to be found. Because of this, the players that we encountered scattered and went solo as soon as matches started. In fact, beyond the obligatory racial slurs (that are still prevalent and sickening) the games chat was nearly silent every match. No squad communication of any kind, no in vehicle chat, no ability to coordinate movement at all.
Right now Battlefield: Hardline is a generic $70 exercise in tedium. Yes, it’s a bit of fun, but it is far from the game it needs to be to shine in an already crowed field of shooters. The level layout fails to reach Counter Strike’s tightness as most of the action takes place in tiny areas, wasting much of the level. The game also fails to capture the teamwork you get out of any of the Payday games by offering no teamwork options to speak of. Sure, this is only a Beta, but they put this out there knowing what it was and that’s a shame because Hardline could have been something special. There is still a while for the developers to change things up from the feedback they are receiving and bring us something impressive, but as of right now nothing in the game justifies dropping $70 to pre-order the game when you could pick up CS:GO and both Payday games and still have enough change leftover to go out and do something.
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