Battlefield Hardline Reviews
The cops 'n' robbers theme often does more harm than good to the Battlefield formula, but this peculiar spin-off has just enough tricks of is own to be worth a collar.
Hardline's release was smooth, and although it did feel like a modified BF4, it also plays like something novel and worthwhile all on its own. If you have recently built a gaming PC, and you don't yet have Battlefield 4, I would recommend buying that title first, and then grabbing Hardline down the road when the price drops.
There are some who can dominate Battlefield's multiplayer with an Olympian efficiency, but the overwhelming majority are marooned in the middle, where the concussive sound of bullets and the smoldering plumes left by grenades aren't signs of domination but reminders that you're still on your feet, not dominating the world, but surviving in it for another few seconds. There's genuine awe in these moments, a beauty particular to video games, demanding respect for scale and the necessary investment of thought, coordination, and time to accomplish simple acts like moving a duffel bag from A to B. It's a poetic antithesis of the game's story mode, proof that order can more easily come from conflict than from conflict's preemptive repression.
While Battlefield Hardline is fun and has some cool set pieces, it's not really an improvement over Battlefield 4. Weak story, poorly written characters, and scaled down multiplayer make Hardline feel generic and rushed.
In a genre that has become saturated with Call of Duty-knockoffs, putting players on to the thin blue line is an excellent change. Battlefield: Hardline shift from the war zones to the streets helps bring a sense of originality to the series.
If you prefer the sort of fast-paced gameplay that Visceral seems to be going for, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare did a much better job of delivering on that vision.
Battlefield Hardline takes a fresh look at the traditional warfare gameplay with a focus on combat between criminals and cops. The single-player campaign makes for a compelling and innovative approach to the traditional Battlefield gameplay with an increased focus on multiple victory paths and stealth. A variety of new game modes and redesigned progression system make for some of the best online multiplayer gameplay found in a Battlefield series game. Battlefield Hardline is a worthwhile entry in the series that shouldn't be passed over by fans.
Hardline is certainly a different Battlefield experience, but it retains a lot of the core mechanics that should keep fans of the franchise content. The action is faster, less strategic, and less deliberate than it's predecessor, but there is a reason why this isn't titled Battlefield 5.
Battlefield Hardline takes the franchise to a totally new level with the inclusion of "cops" and "robbers" that is pure fun!
'Battlefield: Hardline' puts a clever spin on the 'Battlefield' formula, but a serious identity crisis keeps it from being a solid step forward for the franchise.
And Hardline could be better. There are shades of it here, now and then. Games in general can be better. But they never will be until we raise our expectations. When even the best of us feels limited to writing "narrative rosaries strung with beads of pure chaos," how do the least of us stand a chance?
Even with a new setting and a new developer, Battlefield Hardline is still a Battlefield game which means it can be a rough road to travel for more casual shooter fans. The story campaign is fun but has zero lasting appeal once you beat it and the multiplayer is something you can only really enjoy for the long term if you're willing to invest in the game's Premium service or you have a dedicated group of friends to play with. Battlefield Hardline may have taken strides to shake up the core Battlefield experience but, in many ways, it's still more of the same old Battlefield, for better or for worse.
Hardline is a solid entry in the series, and the fact that it seems to have launched without technical issues is notable though not really something that should need to be commended. It's doubtful that it will end up as more than a stopgap for fans, however.
As a whole, 'Battlefield Hardline' manages to reinvent 'Battlefield' as a goofy cop drama, and as a successful one, though its ambitions and advancements are few. It does, however, succeed in freshness, a much-needed course correct away from its grim wartime roots into something far more likely to warrant repeat binge viewing ahead of the next season--er, game, even beyond its ever-lively multiplayer.
Battlefield Hardline was a fantastic entry in the franchise. It was fresh, new, stealthy, comedic, and overall a damn good time to play. There's a little something for everyone here.
If you're looking for a fun, solid-though-not-brilliant cop drama to play through that then lets you jump into multiplayer and be the cop or the robber, this is the game for you.
There are people that say that Battlefield Hardline is just a DLC pack disguised as a new release, but that's not quite true. It feels familiar in terms of gameplay, but fresh enough in theme and heavy enough in content that it's worth its own release. It's a decent game that gets points for originality of concept, but how much value it has is down to how much you enjoyed previous entries in the franchise, and how much you'd like to see the Cop FPS genre become a thing.
Skip the single-player campaign and jump straight into the refined multiplayer