Battlefield Heroes
Format: PC
Price: £0
http://www.bfheroes.org/images/Battlefield-Heroes-Screen-5.jpg
Battlefield Heroes is a new shooty shooty fighty fighty game from BF2 developers [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Illusions_CE]DICE[/ame], published by gaming monolith [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Arts]EA[/ame], due in Summer 2008.
The early premise was to create a game that can be played by anyone, regardless of skill level or PC hardware. It will do this in a variety of ways. To keep the minimum spec down, the developers are using a (very) slimmed-down version of the Battlefield 2 engine. It'll apparently "run on granny's old laptop". Minimum specs are currently:
1Ghz CPU
512 MB RAM
64 MB Video Card (integrated cards will be supported)
500 MB - 1GB HDD space
To ensure you're not playing with annoying newbs, or ridiculously skilled level 60 players, the game will use a matchmaking system that pairs you up with similarly-ranked players. This will hopefully keep things fair - good players will progress up the ranks and be paired with similar levels of opponents and team-mates.
Not Available in Shops
That's right, you won't be able to buy the game in shops. You won't be able to buy the game anywhere in fact. It's part of EA's new Play 4 Free business model, borrowed from hugely successful titles in Korea. The game will be completely free, and you won't have to spend a penny playing it (unless you're still on dial-up). Money will be made by having advertisements on the game website, and in game menus as banner ads. Mercifully, there will not be any adverts or billboards in game, as the developers agree that they would be very out of place. Players also have the option of buying unique upgrades to customise their character, such as helmets, goggles, gloves etc, or power-up-style options. They won't, however, give paying customers much of an edge over the freebies, if at all.
Gameplay
The game will be a third person shooter, with the camera over your character's shoulder. This was decided upon so that you can see the action better, and see your lovingly customised little hero. There will be 3 character classes to choose from, Soldier, Commando and Gunner.
From the wiki entry:
Spawn times are to be kept very short - probably 5 seconds - to keep the fun going and reduce wait times. There will be hand weapons per class, as well as tanks and planes.
Abilities will grant players skills such as healing and being able to lob handfuls of grenades at once. The Achievements system will be mission based, and will grant players badges upon completion. As you level up you will gain access to more items and levels (maps).
Style
The team at DICE were keen to try something different than their last couple of games, Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142. They needed a style that'd downscale to crappy computers and still look good on a bleeding-edge gaming beast of a PC. They wanted to convey 'fun' and keep it all very accessible and over the top. Comparisons will be drawn to Team Fortress 2, but Senior Producer Ben Cousins insists that this was on the drawing board long before details of TF2 were available (if we're being pedantic, TF2 switched styles late on in development). The result is a cartoony world that treads the line somewhere between Roadrunner cartoons and Commando comics.
Uh-oh
There are a number of things that can go wrong with this. The advertising may get a bit nuts. I know i won't be playing if the advertising becomes too in-yer-face. EA are notoriously bad at responding to patching issues depending on who you believe, but as they're hoping to reach many many people, they'll have riots on their hands if they fail to respond to hundreds of thousands of rabid gamers requiring bug fixes.
Resources
Official site: http://www.battlefield-heroes.com
Hilarious trailer: http://www.battlefield-heroes.com/video
More screenshots: http://www.bfheroes.org/Battlefield-Heroes/News/New-Army-Screens-Shots/
Final Thoughts
I personally can't wait for this - i think it'll be a hoot. It'll either be the most awesome-est thing ever created or the biggest pile of unfinished poop casserole ever committed to hard drive. If it is indeed a load of old cobblers, we've nothing to lose but the time it took to download and install it. Hopefully they'll get it right though. Looks like my tan will have to wait...
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