Battlefield Heroes on the horizon



Battlefield Heroes will be the next game on my most anticipated games list to be released as it's been slated for a Summer (Winter, if you're in Australia like myself) 2008 release. This game will be DICE's (the studio behind the prolific "Battlefield" series) latest PC game as the game Battlefield: Bad Company, is going straight to console. Like Battlefield 1942, the game has adopted a WWII setting, but this is where the similarities end.

In their latest iteration of the Battlefield series, DICE aims to create a shooter that is aiming to focus on fun rather than realism. As can be seen by the graphics, DICE are adopting a similar artistic style to what was adopted for Team Fortress 2 which helps to further promote this game as one that doesn't take itself too seriously. The game is definitely aimed towards the more casual gamer as they're also adopting a system that only pits you against opponents of a similar skill level and not 15 year old uber-pros. The game even allows you to customise your character the further you progress in the game giving it a bit of an RPG bent to it and best of all, the game is promised to be free (although you can pay to get extra customisation options).

Those are the reasons for me being quite excited by this game - although what remains to be seen is whether the game will really take off? Sure the game is free, so that's a drawing card in getting people to play it but if the game isn't as fun as DICE promises it to be, it could be a disaster. Frustrated players leaving the game could cause a domino effect resulting in hardly any players which is bad news for a solely multiplayer game. The game may discourage the more hardcore players as well since it effectively appears to be a first-person shooter from a third-person, over-the-shoulder view (although DICE claims they may change this depending on player input). One other minor annoyance is that they way DICE will generate revenue is from in-game ads, although they claim that by "in-game", the ads will only be displayed on the game setup pages as opposed to the game proper.

The game is currently in closed beta so hopefully we'll be able to get some opinions from beta testers in the near future.

Comments

  1. Interesting...I've seen lots of previews and 'hands-on' features floating around, but haven't had a look at the game before.

    I've never been a huge fan of online FPSes, preferring to leave them to LAN party situations, but this looks pretty interesting. And it's free? Can they really generate that much advertising revenue to make it worthwhile?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes apparently it'll be free. It's a good question to see if they are able to generate enough advertising revenue but they're hoping for it to be supplemented by keen players purchasing customisations for their in-game avatars (i.e. you can make your soldier wear a pirate hat or something wacky along those lines :)).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment