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Don't get me wrong, I am really looking forward to this game, but machine-gun-equipped, war-crying, kilt-wearing cartoon characters is a bit over the top. In this new video we get a look at all of the chaotic hilarity that will ensue in Victory Village. You can download and play the game free of charge later this year on PC.
Accessibility is the keyword for the Battlefield Heroes dev team and I've never been happier to hear it. I like my WWII shooters just fine, but they do start to feel a little stale after the fourth or fifth version; and it gets really hard to get into a series once the established fan base is dead-set on going after the blood of noobs in multiplayer. And now that Battlefield has gone back in time and to the future, where else can the series really go?
To Toon Town, it looks like. And that's not a bad move if the idea is to net the casual crowd and attract people who aren't into any of the other Battlefields. Heroes aims to be for everyone with its charming, cartoon-y look, basic gameplay mechanics, and extensive online community support. Like Team Fortress 2, Battlefield Heroes will feature special abilities depending on what class of soldier you play (invisibility for snipers, whoo-hoo!) - but the similarities stop there. For one thing (and this is most important), it's free to play. You'd think that'd count against the game in terms of depth and detail, but Heroes is actually way deeper than it's cartoonish looks and $US 0 price tag lead people to believe.
EA's gritty, nay, visceral take on free-to-play modern combat - Battlefield Heroes - was originally slated to appear over the winter. Thing is, winter's already here, so what gives EA, you holding out on us? Oh, it's been delayed? Right. Noted. The announcement came during EA's conference call yesterday, with the promised addition of new "social networking features" meaning it's being held back until the end of the year. In the mean time, we've never seen this screen before, showing the game's "bad guys". Cartoon Nazis or the Max Headroom Army? You be the judge.
Is the gritty realism of Battlefield: Bad Company not your particular cup of tea? Chris over at EvoGamer shares with us the website where you can sign up for the beta test of EA's cartoony alternative, Battlefield Heroes. Of course the main game will be free when it comes out, but it always helps to get a leg up on the competition while keeping an eye out for bugs you can keep to yourself and exploit at a later date.
Hit the link below to sign up, and be sure to read through the entire exhaustive agreeement before putting your name to it, as that is the responsible thing to do.
Skim away!
Battlefield Heroes Beta Sign Up Page [QABoss via EvoGamer]
Before the whole shebang took off last night and Electronic Arts kicked off their Spring Break Games Day, I managed to sneak my way onto a computer loaded up with Battlefield Heroes to check out a bit of gameplay and mess around with the game's interesting customisation settings.
DICE's free-to-play upcoming shooter features Team Fortress 2-like graphics and a definite Battlefield Lite feel, but what really captured my interest was the game's use of customisation.
To create your character you have to first choose between a soldier, gunner and commando. Once you've selected the basic type of character you are playing you can go in and customise his look by adding objects to the ten provided slots. Like in many role-playing games, each slot changes a specific part of a character's look.
Character customisation in DICE's Battlefield Heroes certainly looks deep, but we suspect the majority of the good stuff will be had via microtransaction only. I mean, they can't possibly give away the ability to sport a wooden leg for free, can they? The many ways one can primp out their character can be seen in the new trailer above, with screen shots below for the bandwidth starved. It's so cute!
DICE's casual stab at Battlefield may be free, but that doesn't take away our right to complain, outlined in the gamer Constitution. Sure, Battlefield Heroes looks cute and looks to feature the same well known gameplay at zero cost, but two maps? Surely, you can't be serious. They are, as producer Ben Cousins explains to Gamasutra that in typical Battlefield development cycle "we bust our asses making 50 maps, and then within six months of the game being released, everyone's playing two maps. The two best maps. So, we just decided to make just the two best maps, and not the other kind of maps."
I suppose that makes sense. Still, we're not much for microtransactions and the ability to buy your way into experience with time-limited multipliers that cost real money. It just makes us want to wash the pain away.
EA Goes Free-To-Play: Battlefield Heroes' Producer Speaks [Gamasutra]
Here are a slew of screens from EA's upcoming free web game Battlefield Heroes. To catch the promo video if you missed it, be sure to hit up our impressions of the game. Oh, and while you're at it, don't miss our eyes-on of Mirror's Edge, either. Seriously, that's a game you need to mentally bookmark. Yes, we just said "mentally bookmark." And if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with LeVar Burton.
You may think of EA's cartoon-influenced Battlefield Heroes as a poor man's Team Fortress 2. The thing is, you'd be fairly right to do so. The game will actually be free to play for anyone with a web browser and, yes, in person it looks just as much like TF2 as you'd think—but that's not a bad thing, necessarily.
Sure, Battlefield Heroes' pricing model is new to the series, but everything else? Old old old. In his developer blog, senior producer Ben Cousins explains that the whole point of the new game was for the series to return to the comical, "crazy unrealistic" style of Battlefield 1942, and for players to "get to the fun" quicker, which I'm taking to mean no more long slogs to the front if you missed your spot in the jeep. Some more information revealed include the fact the game's based on the Battlefield 2142 engine, it'll include more RPG elements and that the new microtransaction pricing structure was inspired by EA Korea's online version of FIFA.
The First Step [Official Blog]
You may think of EA's cartoon-influenced Battlefield Heroes as a poor man's Team Fortress 2. The thing is, you'd be fairly right to do so. The game will actually be free to play for anyone with a web browser and, yes, in person it looks just as much like TF2 as you'd think—but that's not a bad thing, necessarily.