Battlefield Hardline – Everything You Need To Know
The guys over at totalxbox.com managed to grab a look at the leaked Hardline trailer before EA took it down, and have the skinny on what to expect in the upcoming new addition to the Battlefield family.
As previously reported, the game swaps out Battlefield’s traditional soldiers and terrorist line-up for a bunch of cops and robbers. According to the leaked footage, the single player stars Nick Mendoza, a Miami detective who’s out to revenge himself on once-trusted partners. The cast is a “rogue’s gallery” of coke dealers, billionaires and assorted lowlives, and the plot takes inspiration (and actors) from crime dramas like Justified and House of Cards – it’s structured like a TV miniseries, though you won’t (seemingly) have to pay by the episode.
The game will “revitalise” Battlefield’s single player. Among other things, you’ll make use of a police scanner to uncover bits of backstory (e.g. by scanning for finger prints), or mark targets with outstanding warrants in order to earn more cash. As in previous games, marking a target also makes it visible on your HUD when out of direct view, which allows players to out-manoeuvre enemies and create rudimentary battle plans before opening fire.
Hardline’s multiplayer retains certain Battlefield tentpole features – a large selection of ground-based, water-based and aerial vehicles; a generous amount of map destruction; and a strong emphasis on teamplay – but there are new modes, items and the like which pay into the cop vs robber premise. There’s a grappling gun, for instance, which appears to have a similar effect on basic tactics to wall-running and double-jumping in Titanfall. You can also expect sawed-off shotguns and tasers, among other heist-themed toys, plus a “full arsenal of military grade weapons.” Vehicles include muscle cars, police cruisers, attack boats, gunships and helicopters.
The most interesting of the new modes is Heist Mode, in which the robber team tries to infiltrate a bank vault and escape with the loot. There’s also Rescue, where SWAT teams try to free hostages, Hotwire, a car chase across on of the game’s “huge open environments”, and Blood Money, where you try to carry bags of cash back to your base. Capture the Flag with money, in other words. Enticingly, there appears to be a four-player splitscreen mode.
The game’s AI has apparently been redesigned, and maps are more open than ever before. Theatres of war include subterranean labs, car dealerships, rooftop swimming pools and grubby airstrips.
