"Battlefield Hardline" Review

     

     "Battlefield Hardline" is definitely something new in the Battlefield series. The question is though, how new? "Hardline's" campaign has you playing as Detective, Nick Mendoza. You work for Miami Vice and discover that *surprise-surprise*, there are a lot of dirty cops. You being the good guy and all, you decide to try to bring as many people to justice as you possibly can. Characters are well-voiced, but many of them turn out to be very stereotypical. 
     "Hardline" takes a different approach this time around with a large number of stealth sequences in its campaign. Don't worry though, for all of you Michael Bay nutcases, there are still crazy action sequences. Whether you're driving a tank, controlling an abandoned plane's cannon or in a high speed, off-road chase, "Hardline's" got it for sure. During the stealth sequences, you have the ability to flash your badge at up to three enemies causing them to put their hands up. You may then arrest each of them by laying them down on the ground and cuffing them. Doing so will net you quite a bit of points each time. However, killing your enemies will give you no points... at all. This renders the "arrest system" effectively broken. The game should give at least some points for going  bad. The more enemies you arrest, the more weapons you'll unlock. Certain enemies have warrants out for their arrest. If you arrest them, you'll gain extra points. Enemies can be tagged and warrants revealed as well using your scanner.

     To be honest, I would've rather watched both "Bad Boys" movies than played "Hardline's" campaign. At least the movies would have shown me a good time. Developer, Visceral Games has used just about every single cop TV show/movie cliché in the book during the game's campaign. From hotel shootouts to warehouse shootouts to a weed grow house shootout. It's all here. Of course, you can choose to go through these sequences stealthily if you please. The game has you playing in many different locations including a swamp, island, hotel, warehouse and others. Probably one of the coolest parts about "Hardline's" campaign is the fact that the entire thing is set up as a television show. After each mission, or "episode", an icon from the next "episode" will pop up in the corner of your screen saying "Next episode playing in 30 seconds", like Netflix. If it was a television show though, I guarantee it would be cancelled by the end of its first season. Whenever there's a dull moment in "Hardline's" campaign, the game just throws a crazy action sequence your way to keep you entertained. It's funny how the one thing that made a game series boring is the one thing that vitalizes it. 

     Graphically, "Hardline" passes. Character models shine with excellent attention to detail, as well as the little things in environments such as street light reflections in puddles. Destructible environments are also available, but the scale of how destructible they are is pretty small. Visceral Games tried to craft an original Battlefield campaign, but just about every idea they had fell victim to another cliché. Even all of the celebrity appearances in "Hardline's" campaign couldn't save it. There were barely any original ideas here. During the campaign, I was frequently arresting the same exact character model, hearing the same lines of dialogue over and over. It felt so lazy on Visceral Game's part. Even the ending is HUGE sequel bait, but I still kind of enjoyed it.

     Multiplayer in "Hardline" is very different from past games in the Battlefield series. It's cops vs. robbers this time with seven game modes and nine maps. Out of those seven game modes, only two modes from past Battlefield games have returned; Conquest and Team Deathmatch. The other five, which are all new game modes are Hotwire, Heist, Rescue, Blood Money and Crosshair. "Hardline's" multiplayer is almost always at breakneck speed. Hotwire has most players in high speed chases trying to secure marked cars while gunning each other down. When in a vehicle in Hotwire, which range from motorcycles to big rig trucks to muscle cars, players can stick themselves out of the windows for drive-by shooting. 
     Heists have the robbers trying to break into a vault and steal the cash. The cops must stop them from reaching their extraction points with the money. Rescue has the robbers holding hostages, while the police must rescue them. There are no respawns in this mode. In Blood Money, both the cops and robbers are trying to retrieve money and return it to their respective team sides. Sides can be raided to secure more money and the first side to reach the money goal or whoever has the most money when time runs out, wins. Crosshair is a little bit like Rescue; there are no respawns. In Crosshair, the cops are keeping a criminal turned witness safe that they need to get an extraction point and the robbers must kill him before he gets there. Destructible environments seem to be more prevalent in multiplayer. Cover can be obliterated, making you an easy target. Maps also have events that can be triggered by players causing small or humongous levels of destruction. 
     "Hardline's" multiplayer progression system is still relatively the same as past Battlefield games, except for a couple of changes. Instead of unlocking new weapons based on your rank, most weapons can now be purchased with the money you earn from the game modes. Attachments are earned through kills. Certain items will be awarded for completing specific challenges. As always, you can carry extra things such as gadgets or first aid kits. I appreciated the ability to purchase weapons instead of the traditional level-progression system. Sound in multiplayer is pulse-pounding and will keep you on your toes, scanning your environment for threats. For some reason, multiplayer's sound sounded better to me than in the campaign.
     "Battlefield Hardline" still looks about the same as the previous Battlefield games only this time it's cops vs. robbers. The game's disappointing campaign made me shrug and I was worried that the multiplayer would be a disappointment as well, but luckily, that was not the case. There have been some great changes made, along with some new additions, but not enough has been done here to make this feel like a totally new experience.
PROS:
- Campaign's episodic format
- New, varied multiplayer modes
- Better weapon unlocking system
- Breakneck speed multiplayer
- Impressive graphical details
CONS:
- Disappointing story
- Story clichés everywhere!
- Broken arrest system
- Not a totally new Battlefield experience
- Repeat character models and dialogue
- Stereotypical characters
Final Score: 7/10