Sleepy Gamer

For the next installment of the outstanding series of multiplayer-focused Battlefield games, it seems EA and DICE wanted  to make something different.  While the cell-shaded, cartoony look and 3rd person perspective are what first catch the eye, it’s the “free to play” business model, with revenue gained solely via advertising and microtransactions, that make it truly unique.

Despite what the game’s producers may say, the simple look and approachable gameplay do indeed offer a much more casual-friendly experience.  The incredibly low hardware requirements mean that most computers will be able to run it without a serious upgrade.  Five second spawn times, infinite ammo and limited weapon choice make it quite approachable for any gamer used to the mouse and keyboard.  The downside of this approachable nature is that character class distinction is rather lacking among the game’s three classes.  You seem to have more options in customizing your character’s appearance than actual gameplay abilities, with numerous store-bought clothing and emote options at your disposal.

On the flip side, battles are incredibly fun and frenetic, frequently occurring around the game’s flag capture points.  Death leaves you with just enough time to check your stats and catch your breath.  Before you know it you’re back in on the action, thanks in part to the game’s automatic spawning system that does a decent job sending you back relatively close to the action.  The AI system also does a good job of making sure you aren’t constantly ambushed by spawn campers, like in Battlefield 2 when your side was pushed back to a single capture point.  Vehicles, such as tanks, jeeps and planes, are present on most maps, but their awkward controls and tame firepower make them much less important than in the more realistic Battlefield games of the past.  The game also takes a cue from the Halo series, with automatic matchmaking, based on player skill.  No server lists to navigate and refresh, just quick access to instant action.

Gaining XP, or experience points, functions the same as in most other modern shooters.  Where Battlefield Heroes differs is in the added missions to take on.   Missions must be equipped before joining a match and offer interesting achievements (ie: “kill 15 enemies” or “deal 1000 vehicle damage while avoiding 10 deaths in single round”) that award Valor points for unlocking new weapons.  Completing missions also unlock new ones, so the “dangling carrot” mechanic is very gratifying.  Battlefunds can also be bought with the real money and are mostly used for buying extra clothing options.  However, it is also possible to use the monetary currency to supplement your character with healing bandages and XP earning boosts.  Hopefully there will be ways for microtransaction-phobic players to gain these perks as well, but not much is known yet about these premium benefits.

I am well aware that this is still just a beta.  Many balancing issues will be iterated upon until the kinks are worked out.  As it stands right now, the only class that I had any fun playing was the “Solider” class.  The class has an extremely useful group heal ability that makes it essential in battle.  The sub-machine gun and shotgun combo work well in most situations and the spam grenades ability can be a lifesaver against multiple enemies.  Despite the name, the “Gunner” is a glorified shotgun expert due to the incredibly nerfed mini-gun.  The “Commando”, with it’s hybrid Sniper/Thief design fails to have any real strengths, aside from the cloak ability, while possessing an insanely low health amount.  It is nice that Valor Points are collectively earned across all your characters.  I will probably end up focusing on just one character and spend all my points on his weapon upgrades.

Since this is a beta, I feel it is my duty to offer up my 2 cents on what I would like to see improved for the final product.

1) Keep the unnecessary MMO stuff out. In other words, allow character switching upon player respawn and force auto-selection of army sides.  This would probably require a little fiddling with how missions work, since each character you make has it’s own separate mission progress.  The fact that you’re stuck with playing a particular class for the entire match is extremely limiting though.  So many times, I’ve wanted to swap to a different class so that I might have a chance at hunting down all the invisible Commandos that suddenly flooded the map.  It’s also annoying to join a match and be outnumbered 8 to 1 because everyone else’s characters are part of the other army.  It almost feels like they were going for a more MMORPG feel by forcing you to build each character individually and have a sense of faction loyalty.  With the present population numbers, it just doesn’t work.

2) Buff the Gunner’s gun. As it stands right now, the Soldier serves practically the same purpose with the added benefit of healing and extra grenades.  Even the in-game tooltips advise you to take cover behind fellow Gunners, but I can’t really recommend that strategy right now.  The Gunner should feel more like the Heavy class of Team Fortress 2 or Support class from Battlefield 2.  Overall, the classes need to a bit more distinct in their abilities and starting weapons to give them more individual importance.

3) Keep players in the match. I’d like to see more game options accessible without leaving the match.  As far as I can tell, there is no way to manage your current active missions, equipment or abilities while in matchmaking.  Also, the same map will loop over and over again, unless you back out to the main menu and reenter matchmaking again.  A player vote of the next map would be nice.  A little more feedback on how many more matches on a particular map would be nice (ie: Match 2 of 3 on “Victory Village”).

4) New weapons. Other than pistols and grenades, the only weapon upgrades available are for improved versions of the weapons you already own.  Weapon unlocks and new abilities are why experience model-based shooters keep you coming back for more.  The constant improvement of your skills and character are essential to this gameplay mechanic.  Since this is a very arcadey take on the Battlefield series, more over-the-top weapons and abilities would be a great addition to an already hilarious game.

5) Tweak how victory points work. I really love the addition of missions as micro goals to shoot for.  Unfortunately, the difficulty on these tasks ramps up quickly and many of the weapons for spending your Victory Points are merely temporary rentals that expire.  The real versions of these weapon unlocks are incredibly expensive, requiring a good deal of VP gained from multiple characters slots.  Either the missions should be repeatable, perhaps after an amount of cool down time, or the unlocks should all be permanent.  It doesn’t seem hard to imagine reaching a brick wall where all you have left are impossible missions.

I have yet to play with friends, so anyone fortunate enough to get into the beta please drop me a line and I’d be glad to play sometime.