Battlefield Heroes Beta: First Look

Battlefield Heroes, developed by the EA-owned DICE, very cleverly skirts around real-world conflicts – and the inevitable cloud of controversy which follows them – by giving players a World War II-inspired setting to play in. Here, the fictional National and Royal armies are at odds with one another. The art style has a distinctly “axis & allies” feel, with military greens and browns backed by a red, white and blue (and yellow) flag for the Nationals and greys/blacks with iron crosses for the Royals. The signifiers are familiar while avoiding any real-world references, allowing the global community of jaded gamers to happily accept what they’re given without raising the specter of that oh-so-very-tired “another World War II shooter” argument.

 

The game is now in its beta testing phase, which will apparently be opening up to an increasing number of players in the coming months. Currently, users are able to create characters (“heroes,” in the game), customize their appearance with a decent array of clothing and gear options and duke it out against the opposing army on one of two multiplayer maps. They can also activate up to three “missions,” Achievement-like goals (such as kill five enemies in a row without dying), which earn Ability Points. Earned points can then be spent on purchasing and improving special abilities, each of which can be mapped to a numerical hotkey.

 

 

 

In its final form, Battlefield Heroes will feature a greater number of maps and an as-yet-undetailed overarching metagame, likely something to do with tracking the progress of the ongoing struggle between the National and Royal armies. Character customization will also be enhanced with a micro-transaction model which allows players to purchase – with real money – cosmetic upgrades for their heroes. We also expect (read: hope) to see a greater range of weapons and special abilities in the final game.

 

The basic format in Battlefield Heroes pits the two armies against each other, competing to control a series of strategically positioned flags on the map currently in play. The object is to deplete the other team’s tickets by killing enemy soldiers; the number of tickets removed for each kill depends on how many flags are possessed by the killing team. Anyone familiar with the Conquest mode in DICE’s other Battlefield games will find themselves in similar territory here.

Weapons can be switched and abilities activated by mapping each to numbers 0 through 9 on your keyboard. Each class – the well-rounded soldier, the tank-like gunner and the stealthy commando – gets its own set of abilities to draw from. The commando, for example can activate Stealth mode and then prime the Piercing Shot ability for an unseen, powered-up sniper strike. The gunner, on the other hand, can activate an ability which temporarily nullifies any nearby enemy grenades. All abilities are subject to a cooldown timer when they are used, to balance things out.

 

 

Of the two currently available maps, one focuses on infantry combat and the other on vehicles. Players are never forced to drive of course, but sniper rifles are generally ineffective against tanks (planes and jeeps as well). The maps feature all manner of nooks and crannies for players to get tactical with, including a church steeple on the infantry-based level which makes a perfect sniper’s (or rocket launcher markman’s) roost.

The simple yet highly stylized visuals are instantly appealing, giving the whole game the feel of a light-hearted graphic novel in motion. Bugs are still being worked out – this is the beta, after all – so crashes and other technical hiccups occur with a fair amount of regularity. When a session is found and loads up properly however, the experience is smooth and remains relatively free of lag.

The Battlefield Heroes beta is definitely enough of a taste to suggest that good things are in store for EA’s free-to-play shooter. The game offers an enjoyable paring-down of the larger console- and PC-based Battlefield experiences. With more still to be revealed about the metagame elements, pricing plans for the store and, as one rep suggested at the publisher’s recent Studio Showcase, the possibility for player-created “missions,” we’ll certainly be talking plenty more about Battlefield Heroes in the coming months.

 

Marco Cecilio, NoobFeed