Friday, June 26, 2009

Battlefield Heroes Impressions

In Battlefield Heroes, the highly popular ranking and experience system is back in full glory, right? Wrong, personally, I feel in Battlefield Heroes, the ranking system is absued. By the end of each 5-10 minute round or so, you'll see that you've racked up nearly 1000 points that will be added to your character. This feels good, sure, but when you see literally billions of points popping up before your character, they begin to become meaningless. Added the fact that there are few weapons to choose from, you'll ifnd yourself wondering what to spend your points on. One of the only factors that distinguishes Battlefield Heroes from any run-of-the-mill modern shooter is your abilities and clothing options, which may interest you Barbie fans out there. But as for me, and any other man out there, I honestly don't care what my character looks like.



But surely this game wasn't intended for me, a hardcore Battlefield 2/Call of Duty 4 player, right? Yes, in fact for players new to shooters, or online games in general, this game is great. I watched attentively as my babysitter's son, who is about 9, play Battlefield Heroes -- he enjoyed it, partly because of how greatly the game gratifies you as you earn points, as well as how forgiving the game is. Also, the requirement for speedy reflexes is not quite necessary, which for me at least, is something that made my experience with the game less as enjoyable. And because the game is accessible, free, and encouraging, you're going to be finding yourself in many games with a hefty amount of exploiting jerks.



Aside from all the details, the core gameplay, for me, fails to impress. The shooting mechanic could have been done more effectively in a number of ways. Shooting in Battlefield Heroes feels uneffective, and that's due to the fact that DICE wanted people to come back for more each day -- after all, dying with a few rounds to the head in a game like Counter Strike is not the most encouraging, fun, or even gratifying way to draw in a fanbase. It's apparent that everything from the health system, the UI, the HUD, the few classes, the inability to choose spawn points, the fact that this game takes place in 3rd person, the inability to go prone, the amount of rounds it requires to take down someone, and the very few weapons to choose from, that this game was made for the utmost unskilled, inexperienced, and brutally unsavy gamers, children, or people to enjoy and play, and have that ideal 'Battlefield Experience' that was lusted after by people outside the Battlefield 1942 community.



All in all, I'm araid to say Battlefield Heroes is not my favorite Battlefield.

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