Today, Ian Milham, creative director of Battlefield Hardline, made some big announcements for the upcoming game. We all know Hardline is taking a cops and robbers approach to the first person shooter genre. Talk of basing the game off of material made for TV cop dramas is nothing new. However, Milham did release some juicy hints about things we can expect in single player for Battlefield: Hardline, talk about the direction the developers want to take the game, and when we will next get new info on the game.
Milham described that he, his studio, and gamers are getting tired of the traditional military FPS formula: macho guys with guns save the world from evil… again every year, over and over. With the cops and robbers mentality, Battlefield Hardline hopes to grapple with different sort of issues and gameplay. Milham criticized games of the past for employing a whack-a-mole style gameplay for clearing enemies and moving on to the next level (I never completed the Battlefield 4 single player because it was too boring and conventional). In addition to a genre change, Milham says Hardline will allow for a greater tactical depth than other games have offered.
The creative director reveals to us that levels in the single player will not be structured with only one way to complete the mission. Each level will contain an open world system where the player can choose any means necessary to achieve a goal. Players can tackle objectives with stealth, or go guns blazing. You can zipline past enemies and deal with them later or face them head on from the start. Vertical choices like ground warfare or moving and attacking from buildings will be at play. Players can choose to intimidate enemies or subdue them with physical force. If an enemy has a warrant on him, you can choose to take him down and get the cash or play it tactically and snag him and all of his cronies in one swoop later on.
Milham also alluded to the absence of a bullet and mag count in the in-game HUD. He described a Dirty Harry scenario where the player must guess whether his gun has any bullets left to fight enemies or if he has to find another way (Eastwood style intimidation?) Insurgency, the ultimate tactical, hardcore shooter works well with nearly nonexistent HUD so I’m excited to see how far Visceral Games will take this philosophy.
Finally, Milham announced talent from popular crime TV shows working on Battlefield Hardline and that the cast and crew for the game will be at Comic Con to present more footage and answer questions.
