“Battlefield” fans have been happy to get the announcement that the latest installment in the franchise has now gone gold, which means it’s entered its final production stage. The game is coming soon, and even though some have been skeptical of the new direction EA have taken with its design, there seems to be a lot of positivity and anticipation about the new “Battlefield” as a whole.
What will “Hardline” change in the franchise though? For one thing, the basic premise is now completely different – instead of national armies coming up against each other, we have cops versus robbers, only in a much more massive, explosive scale. The game will still play in a similar way to previous “Battlefield” titles, which means heavy use of vehicles, high-caliber weaponry and squad tactics.
The skepticism that we mentioned above has been directed towards the way the game’s premise apparently doesn’t mesh well with its gameplay. “Battlefield” has always been about large-scale fights with lots of explosions, use of armored vehicles and more – not exactly the kind of scenario one pictures when imagining a bank heist.
And yet, that’s what we’re getting – the game’s designers have skewed reality a little bit in order to accommodate for the game’s gameplay, so players will indeed get a chance to experience the classic “Battlefield” gameplay in an urban environment.
Did EA learn their lesson from “Battlefield 4”? Hopefully – according to many fans and critics, this was the worst installment in the series so far, owing to its poor technical state upon release. While EA did release patches to address the majority of the game’s issues, the damage had already been done, and the game quickly got a very poor reputation.
Serious, proper testing is what the series needs in order to get back on its feet, according to most fans. Its gameplay is already solid enough that it doesn’t need too much refining. If EA just focus on implementing the same gameplay mechanics, adding some new experimental details here and there, while also developing lots of new content for the game, such as new maps, weapons and gadgets, that’s really all that fans want right now.
As long as it works well in the end, that’s all that matters – and if the launch of “Battlefield 4” taught EA anything, it’s that it’s definitely much better to push a release back by a few weeks but make it good, rather than dealing with negative public reactions for months once the game comes out and is disliked by everyone. It’s actually not even anything new under the sun, as other companies have realized this concept long ago.