First Impressions: ‘Battlefield: Hardline’ Beta

With the failed launch of Battlefield 4, EA aims to take things back to the basics and revamp what made the Battlefield franchise great in the first place.

Note: The following feature is SPOILER FREE!

Everything around you is shaking; the sound of gunfire comes from everywhere, but it’s the metal rubbing against concrete that overpowers it. Your teammates are all screaming while blood splatters in your eyes. With a giant crane falling all around you, you and your team haul tail to a vacant, full-sized white van and speed after the criminals that have looted the armored car.

After emptying your second magazine clip, the car in front of you catches fire, the occupants bailout, and a foot chase begins through a building, and up the stairs and elevator to the roof. It all ends here. They’re running for the helicopter, and you have no more grenades. That’s when one of your teammates comes zip lining from the adjacent building to yours. You may be out of grenades, but they aren’t. They destroy the helicopter and help you kill everyone on the roof. Game over; police win!

The Battlefield: Hardline Beta has two modes. “Heist” and “Blood Money.” The introduction paragraphs outline the great parts of “Heist.” One team of criminals attempts to break into two different armored vehicles and escape with the loot while the opposing team of police officers try to kill the criminals until they run out of respawn tickets. With “Blood Money,” opposing teams try to steal five million dollars from a safe and get it back to their armored car before the other does. Players can also attack the opposing teams’ armored car and rob it, hoping to get away with the cash a little bit faster while hindering their process.

While the game is still very much in Beta form and has more than a few issues to work out with control of vehicles and overall presentation, the game feels a lot like Battlefield 3, and I mean that in a very good way, since it’s my favorite game of the franchise aside from Battlefield: Bad Company 2.  The car control is very easy to get used to and responds well most of the time, and the leveling up system is smart, using money earned through gameplay sessions to purchase different guns or equipment. The addition of grapple hooks and zip lines do a lot to help freshen up the gameplay. I also like how much of an emphasis Battlefield: Hardline puts on playing as a team. You’re almost constantly dropped in with your group and encouraged to work together for extra points and bonuses. I can only hope that they fix the team-spawning feature before the game launches.

For a guy that had sworn off Battlefield games, I was pleasantly surprised to get my hands on the Beta of Battlefield: Hardline and to like it so much. Why my wounds from Battlefield 4 have not fully healed, I have softened my position and do genuinely look forward to the release of Battlefield: Hardline so I can see how much it has changed.

Have you gotten your hands on the ‘Battlefield: Hardline’ Beta yet? Have any questions about the game? Let us know in the comments below.

*This feature on ‘Battlefield: Hardline’ is based off playing a digital copy of the game on the PlayStation 4 console.