Screenshots :.
Battlefield Heroes
PC
Matt
15-07-2009
"CHAAARGE"
"All sorts of amusing chaos ensue"
"Like this, for example"
It’s free, yeah? It’s a free browser-based game. In these times of having to shell out up to £50 for a few hours’ worth of entertainment you can’t fault EA for giving us Battlefield Heroes for absolutely nothing, but at the same time this leads me to all sorts of confusing feelings on how it should be looked upon. See, I am spoilt every day by frenetic lunchtime Team Fortress 2 sessions, and although you cannot bracket Heroes in the same category due to it’s small nature and absence of price tag, you can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by what it currently is.
Countless thousands of you will no doubt have played a Battlefield game before obviously, although I can’t count myself amongst you due to my comparatively recent discovery that, hey, I enjoy running around like a lunatic getting fragged by members of an opposite army. It was with this feeling that I downloaded the Heroes plugin and set about creating my own character to indulge in much the same, although very quickly it became apparent that various limitations were going to frustrate me.
On a purely aesthetic note before you even start playing, you become aware that to gain access to the majority of the unique clothing items and such you have to buy them through micro-transaction. Okay, fair enough that EA have to make their money somewhere, but the clothing and feature sets that are free to everyone are hugely limited and hence you end up with servers full of very identical characters legging it around.
Still, if the problems had been only superficial then you could have forgiven the game to a large degree. Problem is, there are a couple of other issues that are linked to the way the game actually plays out that undermine the whole experience to a lesser or greater amount.
See, before you even start legging it around shooting people you create yourself a character in one of three classes, with commando being your sneaky sniper rifle kinda guy, the gunner being an oafish fellow who deals out plenty of damage but is none-too-manoeuvrable and the solider, who sits about halfway. Whilst you can create a number of players across each class should you wish, you can’t switch between classes during matches. Thus, if you end up in a match where everyone’s (for lack of a better phrase) going commando then that’s tough luck and you’ll have to lump it.
The classes themselves are a bit lopsided too, with my playtime eventually convincing me that the commandos were at a lofty advantage. The main reason for this is that, unlike TF2 in which character movement is relatively nippy, Battlefield Heroes has pretty sluggish movement for all classes, leaving anyone particularly vulnerable to being sniped. The size of the maps currently available also does little to help, with it being entirely possible to take up a nice position halfway through and effectively spawn camp the other team into oblivion.
It’s not all bad of course, and the game offers the usual Battlefield selection of tanks and planes to bomb around causing all sorts of chaos in. Mid-air firefights between yourself and an opposing plane are hilarious stuff on occasion and great fun to boot, and being able to carry two passengers on yours wings so they can hop off and parachute down to land behind enemy lines is a nice little tactical avenue to explore should you be facing stern defence.
The jeeps and tanks are also good fun to play with, although they’re perhaps a little to vulnerable from enemy fire currently. During one particularly epic match I managed to swing the game toward my team by sliding around a corner in a jeep and wiping out a clutch of enemy soldiers that were protecting one of their capture points. I may have been shot for my trouble, but in the ensuing push my squad mates were able to capture the point and we went on to win.
So it’s not a complete write-off, and with character levelling and new items to earn (or buy if you feel the need) there’s plenty of scope as you wait for new levels (and hopefully classes) to be released. It’s also plenty charming with its cartoon army styled visuals and jaunty little background tunes, so there’s plenty to enjoy. With that being said, you can’t ignore the fact that at the moment it’s not as fun as it should be, free-of-charge or not. Whether these issues are addressed remains to be seen, but in any case given the absence of a fee perhaps the best solution is to download, log in and check the thing out for yourselves.
Countless thousands of you will no doubt have played a Battlefield game before obviously, although I can’t count myself amongst you due to my comparatively recent discovery that, hey, I enjoy running around like a lunatic getting fragged by members of an opposite army. It was with this feeling that I downloaded the Heroes plugin and set about creating my own character to indulge in much the same, although very quickly it became apparent that various limitations were going to frustrate me.
On a purely aesthetic note before you even start playing, you become aware that to gain access to the majority of the unique clothing items and such you have to buy them through micro-transaction. Okay, fair enough that EA have to make their money somewhere, but the clothing and feature sets that are free to everyone are hugely limited and hence you end up with servers full of very identical characters legging it around.
Still, if the problems had been only superficial then you could have forgiven the game to a large degree. Problem is, there are a couple of other issues that are linked to the way the game actually plays out that undermine the whole experience to a lesser or greater amount.
See, before you even start legging it around shooting people you create yourself a character in one of three classes, with commando being your sneaky sniper rifle kinda guy, the gunner being an oafish fellow who deals out plenty of damage but is none-too-manoeuvrable and the solider, who sits about halfway. Whilst you can create a number of players across each class should you wish, you can’t switch between classes during matches. Thus, if you end up in a match where everyone’s (for lack of a better phrase) going commando then that’s tough luck and you’ll have to lump it.
The classes themselves are a bit lopsided too, with my playtime eventually convincing me that the commandos were at a lofty advantage. The main reason for this is that, unlike TF2 in which character movement is relatively nippy, Battlefield Heroes has pretty sluggish movement for all classes, leaving anyone particularly vulnerable to being sniped. The size of the maps currently available also does little to help, with it being entirely possible to take up a nice position halfway through and effectively spawn camp the other team into oblivion.
It’s not all bad of course, and the game offers the usual Battlefield selection of tanks and planes to bomb around causing all sorts of chaos in. Mid-air firefights between yourself and an opposing plane are hilarious stuff on occasion and great fun to boot, and being able to carry two passengers on yours wings so they can hop off and parachute down to land behind enemy lines is a nice little tactical avenue to explore should you be facing stern defence.
The jeeps and tanks are also good fun to play with, although they’re perhaps a little to vulnerable from enemy fire currently. During one particularly epic match I managed to swing the game toward my team by sliding around a corner in a jeep and wiping out a clutch of enemy soldiers that were protecting one of their capture points. I may have been shot for my trouble, but in the ensuing push my squad mates were able to capture the point and we went on to win.
So it’s not a complete write-off, and with character levelling and new items to earn (or buy if you feel the need) there’s plenty of scope as you wait for new levels (and hopefully classes) to be released. It’s also plenty charming with its cartoon army styled visuals and jaunty little background tunes, so there’s plenty to enjoy. With that being said, you can’t ignore the fact that at the moment it’s not as fun as it should be, free-of-charge or not. Whether these issues are addressed remains to be seen, but in any case given the absence of a fee perhaps the best solution is to download, log in and check the thing out for yourselves.
6/10