Battlefield Heroes Goes Into Open Beta

EA Digital Illusions CE has quietly opened up the beta of Battlefield Heroes, their long-delayed, free-to-play shooter. After gradually scaling up the number of players in the closed beta, they've now made the game available to everyone and lifted the NDA. EA has not yet mentioned this in an official announcement, probably hoping to keep their servers from being overwhelmed. The game's website is now accepting signups. IGN ran a hands-on preview of Battlefield Heroes back in April.

I literally LOL'd watching the intro movie

[PrescriptionWarning]

on their website, it reminded me of the theme song intros to all those cartoons I grew up with, TMNT, GI Joes, etc. Can't wait to try out the gameplay, though its a shame it doesn't work in Linux so I'll have to boot up my windows gaming rig to play. Don't know yet if it works in OSX, but I doubt it.

I played in the first beta

[WiglyWorm]

The game is good. In the earlier beta it had some horrific problems with the netcode/lag correction and hit detection. Aside from that, though, it is quite fun. I would say comparisons to TF2 are somewhat deserved. It is a class based FPS with objective oriented missions. The vehicles add an extra element, from jeeps which are a simple troop transport (which the passengers can shoot from) to tanks, to airplanes (which are mostly useless unless you have a joystick as they are near impossible to control), but they do function as a fast troop transport as one person can sit on each wing. Graphically, it's nothing to write home about (they're not bad, but come on, it's web based), however the level building/character customization aspects are a very interesting aspect. Each of the classes has unique abilities the ones I remember from the first beta include "I eat gernades" which allows the heavy gunner to eat gernades thrown by the enemy to heal himself, first aid "healing auras" that heal people around you. Etc. Further, the load out options add a whole lot of strategy to the game. There are various weapons from fast firing but low accuracy, to high accuracy slow, to close range high damage. Secondary weapons add even more strategy by allowing you to use gernades for anti personal, dynamite for anti-tank/booby traps. There are some comical elements such as the ammount of knock back caused by explosions, but the strategic gameplay of capture points, and the map design were all very good. Over all, I recomend at least giving this game a shot, especially considering the price. While I never went back to the beta when they reopened, I do wish I had, it was because of time that I didn't, not because of any lacking in the game's fun factor.

Re:Been Playing for a while

[PingSpike]

I suppose there are a few schools of thought on it...but IMO, if some guy could spend $500 and then run me over with with his adamantium plated hover tank with auto targeting laser systems while I flunk pebbles at him from a free slingshot...I wouldn't even download the client for free. Playing a game of "Who's got the most money?" isn't exactly something I would consider an enjoyable hobby activity, even if many hobbies somewhat boil down to that already.

Its one of the reasons (I had others) that I wanted nothing to do with EA's "booster pack" infected titles. I do think selling fancy clothes so the rich kids can continue wearing their designer jeans in the video game is an alright compromise.

4Gb firefox plugin?

[imrehg]

Are you kidding me?
Download the game as a _4Gb_ Firefox plugin? One of the stupidest idea, IMHO.....

No possibility of changing install location, I wonder when was the last time I had 4Gb free space in c:\... must been some time before i installed openoffice.org.

Re:Been Playing for a while

[intheory]

I've also been playing in the beta, for about a month now. The game is fun and has taken me away from TF2 for a while but I dont think it has the staying power. I've played as Soldier and Commando, lvl 10 soldier, lvl 3 commando now.

After playing in such a relatively well balanced game like TF2, there are some significant weapon balance issues. (i.e. knife versus SMG, tank vs dynomite). Team-based play mechanics isn't very strong--it is too easy to play as a lone ranger. There are some interface glitches and functional issues (okay, it is a beta) that are pretty frustrating, i.e. after you die it cycles through each other player's view with a lot of loading/kludge wait times.

Weapon variety isn't satisfactory either. You basically get 1 of 3 SMGs, 1 of 3 handguns and 1 of 3 shottys. Each is basically the same model with differences in ammo and effective range, but not enough to really matter.

Vehicles are fun to drive, including the planes. placement of AA guns on the maps doesnt make much sense. Running people down in a jeep is pretty fun.

The Battlefunds are confusing too; I fully expect that if I put down cold hard cash that I can purchase advanced weapons. Not super OP but at least distinct. That's not the case. But you should see my "I'm with Stupid" t-shirt and grenade belt. I'm not kidding.

Anyway, I agree with rotide's review in many respects, but this is definitely not like TF2. Much more casual game.