Battlefield Heroes has a cartoony look somewhat like Team Fortress 2
Battlefield Heroes is the next Battlefield game from EA DICE, the creators of Battlefield and Mirror’s Edge. After Battlefield 2142 and Battlefield Bad Company, where was the Battlefield franchise going to go next? Apparently back to WWII (ugh), but with technology the way it is, Battlefield Heroes has been simplified in such a way that it is an online web based game. You just go to the Battlefield Heroes website, log on, and hit the Play button. A new window opens to the game client, and soon you’re into the game. Read on for my thoughts on the time spent with the beta.
The general premise of Battlefield Heroes is similar to other Battlefield games: two teams both trying to capture and hold specific locations on a map while killing other members to reduce their ticket number to zero. Whichever team hits zero first loses. Battlefield games also always have different classes a player can use and vehicles to drive. I believe the beta comes with three maps: a small map with no vehicles, a medium map with vehicles, and a large map with vehicles. Battlefield Heroes also went the cel-shaded path with cartoony sound effects – not unlike Team Fortress 2. The game is also only played in 3rd person, a departure from previous Battlefield games.
My experience
The first thing I discovered was that I had to actually create a character and name him to play the game. There are only three classes available in the game: the soldier, the gunner, and the commando. The soldier is the general all-around class, while the gunner is more like a heavy weapons guy and the commando can cloak and uses a knife. I ended up creating a German soldier, and made him look comically menacing with a mean looking mustache. Part of me likes that you create one character and you stick with him during gameplay, but of course, what sucks is when you want to play another character. The beta allows you to create 4 characters total, so it is possible to create one of each class.
The options you have available during a match is remarkably simple – the soldier starts with an SMG, a shotgun, a med kit, and dynamite. The dynamite is an anti-vehicle weapon since it sticks to vehicles, and the weapons both have unlimited ammo but have clips that have lengthy reload times. I believe every class has the first aid kit, which heals a small percentage of your life back and has a cooldown, but when used near other teammates, it also heals them. So it’s possible for a group of four or five teammates to all be next to each other and use their medkits to bring everyone from near empty back to full life.
The gameplay grew slightly stale after a series of matches (which are all performed through matchmaking), as there’s not enough gameplay depth in engaging with enemies. If you see another enemy you just unload your clip into him as fast as you can and hope you survive so you can run off and heal. Most online FPS games are like that when broken down, but something about Battlefield Heroes seems a bit too simplified. Perhaps the weapons just aren’t strong enough – it takes about 5-6 shotgun blasts head on to actually take out an opponent, so you’re just spamming it as fast as you can to hopefully kill the enemy. Or, the player models just move too slow so when you finally engage someone there’s no agility involved during the firefight. Everyone just makes a beeline straight to the capture points and spam shotgun blasts at one another until one side can take over.
Free to play
While the gameplay is perhaps too simple, it will be 100% free to play when it hits retail. The way that Battlefield Heroes will make money is through advertisements and players being able to spend real money to buy in-game stuff. Now, before people groan, let me explain how the MMORPG layer works into the game.
The reason you create a character in the game is because you are able to level him up, buy clothes, weapons, emotes, etc. for him. As you level up in game, you unlock ability points, which allow you to pump them into skills similar to Diablo. In the beta, my solder had five or six different skills that could each be leveled up to 5. For example, one ability, was First Aid, which when leveled, would not only increase the percentage of healing I got back with each first aid kit used, but also decrease its cooldown time and increase its radius of use so I could heal more teammates. Another ability allowed my SMG to shoot “fire bullets”, which would cause damage over time for each bullet that struck an enemy. As that ability leveled up, more damage would be caused. The “fire bullets” ability also is its own ability with a cooldown, so I actually had to map it to one of my number keys just like an MMORPG. I didn’t play the game long enough to really max out on the abilities (or see them actually being useful), but it’s nice that they give the gameplay a bit more depth.
Now for the weapons, clothing, and emotes section. As you level up, new tasks similar to Achievements show up that you can work towards, such as killing 5 players, capturing 3 times, etc. Each of those tasks when completed award Valor Points, which are the main currency used to buy weapons and emotes. Valor Points are also earned through normal playing of the game. What’s kind of sucky is that these weapons and emotes are all on a timer. So you can buy a new shotgun for 35 VP, but it lasts only one week or a month. That’s it! You have to keep buying them – it’s not gear that you hold on forever. And also, the weapons aren’t like upgrades as they would be in traditional MMORPGs. In the beta, I had access to buying two different SMGs and two different shotguns. Compared to my starting SMG and shotgun, one SMG and shotgun had faster fire rates but shorter range for better up close damage, and the other SMG and shotgun had slower fire rates but longer range for distance. So one weapon is not necessarily better than another – they’re just customizable based on how you want to play. Emotes are pretty silly too, but I guess at the end of the day since weapons and emotes are buyable with in-game credits you earned, it’s no biggie.
The clothing though, is paid for through Battle Funds, which cost actual dollars. You can buy all sorts of attire: hats, shirts, pants, outfits, etc. I wonder if this is really for the right gender – I thought women enjoyed dressing up more than men. I’m not about to drop a couple dollars so that I can wear a fetching new cap! So I guess at the end of the day, the monetary system ain’t so bad since it doesn’t really affect gameplay. It’s like people paying more money for costumes in fighting games (which I wouldn’t do).
Parting Thoughts
What EA DICE has done is made the game a lot more accessible to casual players, while at the same time keeping most of the core Battlefield premise in tact. On top of this, EA DICE has added an MMORPG layer to get players to continue to play. All of this seems to combine to form a game that has the potential to hook in casual players, but I don’t believe its gameplay depth is enough to keep hardcore gamers like myself. It’d be like playing Maple Story instead of World of Warcraft or something. If you’re a gamer like me and want to play something, why not play the best that the genre has to offer? But of course, Maple Story is highly successful, and perhaps that is what EA DICE is really trying to do – get a “lite” online shooter out there that can be hugely successful with casuals. Check it out if you feel like you’re going towards being a casual gamer (I’m probably not long for becoming one myself), as its simple gameplay mechanics still have just enough to keep you interested if you did enjoy the Battlefield games but want something more mindless.
