Battlefield Heroes is a free-to-play, browser-based online shooter, which employs the ‘freemium’ model: ie: you get the basics for free, but have to pay for cooler stuff, however, unlike Runescape, or other such games, doesn’t impact your ability to play the game – the things you can buy are purely cosmetic improvements. Weapons and upgrades can be purchased by points earned through kills, flag captures, etc.
BFH has come under fire for being too much ‘like Team Fortress 2' Not wanting to call those people idiots, but those people are real fucking idiots. Besides a cartoony aesthetic, these games have almost nothing in common. Being a browser-based game (requiring a few downloads, but essentially browser-based) BFH’s art style is a deliberate choice, choosing stylized reality rather than failing to deliver more ‘realistic’ graphics.
When you’ve created your account, you are then asked to create your characters. There are two sides, the Royals (Allies) and the Nationals (Axis). While the game chooses not to explicitly state this, it’s clearer than the flight path of sounds through Sarah Palin’s head. There are three classes – The Gunner – a damage-sink with a heavy MG and rocket launcher, The Soldier, a middling sort of class with a SMG and a shotgun, and the Commando, with knife, sniper, and invisibility. I’m just giving the broad strokes, you understand – I’ve played with all three classes, and once you start leveling, there are a plethora of upgrades and new weapons you can get.
The gameplay is third-person, and is pretty standard – shoot enemies until dead, capture point X, or complete objective Y. Not to say that it isn’t fun. It’s very entertaining, at least at the beginning, when your surprise that it’s all free hasn’t worn off yet. It feels like playing a shooter, not incredibly polished, but hey, they’re working on it. They you realize you can’t change classes between spawns. This strikes me as rather odd, because I can think of several situations where that would have been very useful indeed, and while I’m sure there’s a legitimate technical reason for it, it still irritates me.
Belying my grumbling, though, there’s a note of genuine enjoyment. It’s a fun game. And it’s got a catchy tune in the title screen that I can’t stop whistling. I think what typifies this game most is the fact that it’s just good fun, albeit in short bursts. A strong recommendation, what with it being free and all. What are you waiting for?
Revive Network kept fans happy with a few long dead Battlefield titles, but today that all stops.
A Battlefield Heroes remake is now available. The open beta can be downloaded right now, with players populating servers once more.
Battlefield Heroes is scheduled to shut it's doors on the 14th July.
Due to dwindling player counts EA most likely decided now was the best time to retire the third person shooter of the acclaimed Battlefield series.
Battlefield Heroes officially launched on the 25th June 2009.
