It would seem that not all that many of you were sold on Hardline. Just three of you shared your thoughts on the game in last week’s WeView, and while some were fairly positive towards the game, the low number of responses doesn’t make me feel that there’s not a lot of love out there for EA’s decision to move outside of the confines of the modern military setting.
That being said, Amphlett was actually very impressed by the way “EA allowed the series to take a step away from the usual Battlefield scenario”, comparing the decision favourably to Call of Duty’s fairly narrow parameters.
In terms of the actual gameplay, Amphlett was a little concerned at first, as the game’s first Beta had put them off the title. However, it would seem that in the intervening time Visceral has “sorted out all of the Beta niggles”, leaving Amphlett to describe the game as “a blast”, with the Heist and Hotwire modes getting most of their attention on the multiplayer side of things.
The game got a slightly more mixed reception from Youles, with the single player being the sticking point for them. They described it as “really, really boring”, with most of their displeasure focusing in on the stealth system. They were quick to point out that “you could play off the radar as the enemies’ triangular field of vision was “given” to you”, even while playing on the game’s hardest setting. They also noted that “the details and textures were very poor” if you happened to look outside of the main area of a level, a complaint that seems very fair when you consider the power of the latest generation of console hardware.
The multiplayer seemed to be more Youles’ thing, although they did point out a number of flaws in this element of the game too. Their central issue was with the game’s spawning system, which can leave you “thrown in amongst the enemy team after death”, instead of spawning you close to other members of your team. On top of that, they were also disappointed that despite being a newer game than Battlefield 4, Hardline is “getting less support, patches and even content than BF4”.
Finally, we turn to beeje13. They were more positive about the game overall, enjoying both the single player and multiplayer elements. In particular they seemed to be a fan of the game’s episodic presentation, although did feel that the third and fourth episodes were somewhat lacklustre. They were, however, a fan of the way “you could go about the levels in different ways, bypassing enemies altogether sometimes, going all guns blazing, non-lethal (freeze and arrest/stun gun) or stealth style”.
The game’s multiplayer elements also drew their praise and, much like Amphlett, they were a fan of the Hotwire and Heist modes, as well as Blood Money. However, they did find that “Having to grind for the last multiplayer trophy” ruined the experience, leaving them with no interest and ultimately leading to them selling the game on.
Unfortunately it seems that Amphlett forgot to leave a verdict, so we’re left with just two votes. Both came down on the side of Sale It, although Youles felt the game’s single player only warranted a Plus It rating.
In tomorrow’s WeView we’ll be looking at Sunset Overdrive, but there’s no poll for this week, as we’re going to try something slightly different next week. Also, if you have any ideas for games you’d like to see or changes to the WeView system then do leave us a comment below.
Starman
I think the Battlefield name actually harmed this rather than helped it. Everyone I know avoided it because they were expecting months of patches and a mess at launch.
Youles
Sadly it’s been the opposite, well in terms of patches. I think there has been one patch since March (or maybe two because of the first DLC release), and it still has niggling problems.
The DLC has also been slow coming which is a pain since the online community is falling faster than with the usual Battlefield games.
cam_manutd
I played the beta and it wasn’t all that impressive. Watching some youtube reviews of the game highlighted the poor single player and the opinion that it could have been a standalone dlc game.
Personally for weview, the system works so I don’t think changes should be made in terms of content. However a wider choice in the polls would not go amiss. I would like to see a classic Final Fantasy in the polls. Like 12 or 9 for example. 12 particularly because despite splitting opinion it was an amazing game-still is.
Forrest_01
I have been interested in this one, but there have simply been too many other things on the horizon for me in terms of things I have to play, so am yet to pick it up. I am still interested in this, but whether a slot in my gaming schedule will open up to actually allow for this remains to be seen.
However, on the point of patches & DLC, I suppose you have to remember that this is not a DICE driven game, but a Visceral one, so perhaps that’s where the issue lies. DICE are quite well known for supporting a product months after its release (& fixing crappy release bugs that should never have been there as well of course), but I am not sure the same could be said for Visceral. However, that probably just gives more credence to the fact that they perhaps should have separated this from the BF name, as a certain level of quality (or lack of if we are talking at launch?) & amount of additional content is generally expected.
wonkey-willy
i still think this should of been an add-on.
a lot like vietnam for bad company.
i will pick this up at some point when it hits the bargain bin..
beeje13
Would like to see Forza Horizon 2 for weview. The Witcher 3 aswell but it might be too soon yet.
Kris Lipscombe
The Witcher 3 is probably too recent (particularly given it’s huge). Forza Horizon 2 was on the polls for a month or two but never won the vote.
CR8ZYH0RSE
Battlefield Hardline turned out to be a pretty decent game in both campaign and multilayer.I also joined in the beta (even though it was just one map) and it turned out better than i anticipated so i ended up buying on day one.I think it was the damage done by the previous Battlefield games as to why people didn’t bother buying this time around and who could blame them.
Forrest_01
It’s definitely not the ‘damage done by the previous thing Battlefield games’ at all – In fact, I think you’ll find that for most it’s quite the opposite. They expect gritty warfare on some kind of Battlefield from a Battlefield game & this certainly isn’t it.
I get what you are saying in that there is usually one thing (or more) a bit broken at launch, but I don’t think that was it at all. It’s more based around the fact that this has ‘Battlefield’ slapped over the top of it & isn’t what people expect from a Battlefield title. This is by a different developer & covers quite a different theme & I think for some it was just a bit too different.
Amphlett
Oooop, fancy forgetting to put a rating on my little WeView write-up. I would go along with the “Sale It”
On the point of ratings in WeView, as Hardline is an EA we are never going to see it (or any other EA games) available on PS Plus owing to the EAAccess tie-up for MS’s xbox, so the “Plus It” rating is rather redundant.