Battlefield Hardline Beta First Impressions

So here I am with the shiny new beta for Battlefield Hardline, a spin off from the main Battlefield franchise allowing us to fulfill our childhood dreams of playing cops and robbers. As you can expect, one side plays as Johnny Rottensod, hoodlum and well armed thief while the other side takes the role of Billy Bigballs, a proud servant of the po-po.

Initially there are only two game modes available across one map; Heist and Blood Money. Heist has the robbers attempting to steal packages from armoured cars while the police try to stop them. Blood Money is where both sides have a capture point and a large stockpile of cash is out in the streets, it’s up to both sides to battle it out and attempt to capture the lion's share for their side in order to win.

Both of these game modes happen in downtown Los Angeles, so you can expect the combat to range from close city street shoot-outs to rooftop sniper-fests as each side battle it out in the concrete jungle. Your usual class composition is there; Medic, Engineer, Enforcer (LMG guy) and Professional (Sniper), however the method of obtaining weapons is more akin to Counter Strike than Battlefield. Your actions in-game will be awarded with cash, which in turn can be used to purchase weapons and attachments, though you will still need to level your classes up in order to unlock your armaments before being able to buy your new shooters.

The action is just as tense and bat shit crazy as you can expect from a Battlefield title. Explosions, crumbling walls, thick smoke providing cover as you make your moves, bullets whizzing past your ears; it all adds tension to the experience, then when you throw in vehicle chases with muscle cars and Police interceptors hurtling through the streets, it all just appeases your inner child, making you squee with delight.

It’s an interesting shift of perspective for the series, moving away from the military combat zones and into a more recognisable civilian environment. This also shows in the weaponry available, from little snub nosed .38 Revolvers to Uzi 9mm’s, it all fits in with the overall theme of war on the streets. Tasers, teargas and even good ol’ Police baton twatting sticks are available for people to run riot with, and this is exactly what you’ll be doing.

Running on the gorgeous Frostbite 3 engine, there is no doubt that Battlefield Hardline is a very pretty game, even on my modest gaming rig the beta ran pretty much flawlessly which is a good sign for the full game. Decent framerates were easily achieved even with particles, smoke and all sorts of shit happening on screen. I had a huge amount of fun playing this, trying to take down the scum while I’m playing as the law, even with non-lethal takedowns, if you manage to sneak up behind your perp, you can disarm and handcuff the criminals. I can safely say that this is no flash in the pan, Battlefield Hardline is shaping up to be a solid entry to the franchise.

We can also expect a tasty single player campaign when the game releases later this year, but in the meantime you can head over to http://www.battlefield.com/hardline/beta and sign up yourself if you haven’t done so already, however the beta is only available to the glorious PC master race and those PlayStation 4 peasants. Sorry Xbox users, this isn't available for you because… Reasons.