Haven has spent some time examining the EA/DICE "free-to-play" MMOFPS, Battlefield Heroes.  Come take a look at what he experienced, and see whether or not this game might interest you...

Battlefield Heroes

Here we go: another Electronic Arts (EA) published game. Developed by DICE, Battlefield Heroes is a completely oriented player versus player (PvP) massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). The player versus environment (PvE) aspect of the game does not exist. The game is known for its mostly free-to-play content, speedy queuing system, fast paced battles, and cartoony look.  You can read more about the game or sign up on their website at: www.battlefieldheroes.com

Faction Selection

In beginning the game, players must first choose which faction they want to be a part of – the Royal Army or the National Army. The Royal Army is essentially the "good guys" while the National Army is the "bad guys." There are no special perks for joining a particular army, unless a player prefers a certain color. The Royal Army has a blue flag, while the National Army has a red flag.

Character Customization

After selecting a faction, players create their own, unique character. Due to the cartoony look of the game, the customization process is not very detailed. The player has the option to change the skin tone, hair color, hair style, and facial hair of their character; however, the changes do not look that dramatic. For a free-to-play game, I guess the customization is sufficient, but do not expect to stand out in any fashion. The developers do let players buy new items and equipment from an in-game store, however, a small sum of realmoney needs to be spent to have access to these unique features.

Class Selection

Moving on, players must now choose a class. There are three classes within the game: Soldier, Gunner, and Commando. The soldier is the "average" class within the game. This class possesses average speed, average health, and is a decent mid-ranged, armed medic. The gunner is the "tank" of the game. Possessing devastating fire power and high health, this class is a force to be reckoned with. However, this class is also the slowest moving class of the game, which can be annoying when trying to run away from gun fire or attempting to get somewhere in a hurry. Lastly, the commando (my personal favorite) is the "rogue" class. This class can go into stealth mode and then deliver massive amounts of damage with knives and sniper rifles. The downside, however, is that the class has low health. If caught out of stealth or seen while in stealth, the commando’s chance of surviving is quite slim.

Tutorial and Basic Controls

After a player chooses his faction and class, it is time to move onto Basic Training, which is essentially the tutorial of the game. In entering the tutorial, the player starts with 80 hit points and learns that the buttons: WASD are used to move, while left-clicking controls the action that is selected in the action bar (which is located on the bottom of the screen and corresponds with the numbers on the keyboard). For instance, the commando starts with his knife (1), gun (2), stealth (3), dynamite (4), and bandages (5) displayed on the action bar. If (1) is selected, the commando will swing his knife when the player left clicks. If the player switches to (2), he will shoot his gun, and so forth.

On the subject of the gun, there are a few things each player should know. To manually reload, the button "R" is used. If a player chooses not to manually reload, the character will automatically reload after eight shots are fired. Right-clicking lets the player go into scope mode if the gun is selected. This mode is extremely useful when trying to headshot a player. A headshot is not a one hit kill, but it will do much more damage than a shot to the body.

Once a player learns the controls, he is free to move throughout the tutorial land. There are no other players or NPCs here. A puff of red smoke guides the player from check point to check point, all the while learning to shoot effectively and drive vehicles. The vehicles in the game consist of a jeep, tank, and plane. Each of these vehicles allows a certain number of passengers that can shoot at targets while riding. The jeep and tank are fairly easy to drive, but I personally had some person problems with the slow turning of each vehicle. The plane, on the other hand, was extremely difficult to maneuver. I had a very hard time taking off, avoiding obstacles (trees, buildings), trying to turn without crashing, and aiming to shoot. After about five attempts, I gave up on the plane and moved on. After the player is done with "flying" the plane, the tutorial is over and the player is ready to begin the actual game. Let the PvP begin!

The Basics of a Player vs. Player Match

As soon as the player presses the "Play Now" button, he is thrown into a random PvP match with other players of around the same level. At the start of the match, each team or faction starts with 50 tickets. In order to win, each team must either kill the players on the other team and/or capture the flag points strewn across the map. For each enemy killed, the opposing team loses a ticket. For each flag point controlled, the opposing team gradually loses tickets. In order to capture a flag point, a player must simply stand near the point while the flag meter gradually fills (a player can be in stealth to capture points). Once the meter is completely filled, the team standing in the area now controls that point. However, the flag points are always up for contention and can be taken by the opposing team at any time. Overall, if a team reaches zero tickets, that team loses.

Combat

Moving on, the actual combat of the game is "kind of" exciting. While most of the fighting is just selecting a weapon (gun or knife) through a player’s action bar and then left-clicking until an enemy player is dead, there are some unique strategies that can be used. For instance, the commando’s ability to stealth makes a fight much more strategic. Taking the time to sneak up behind an enemy player to stab him in the back three or four times makes a player feel accomplished. Another example is when an enemy player thinks he is in a safe place to bandage when suddenly a commando pops out of the shadows with a knife or a soldier comes barreling over a hill with a gun. Needless to say, bandage time is over and the enemy player is probably dead. 

Continuing, dynamite is also used during combat. Acting like a grenade, a player throws the dynamite out in an enemy infested-area and waits. A couple of seconds later, BOOM! Any enemy player within the radius of the explosion is either dead or severely hurting. Overall, dynamite has the potential to make combat amusing; however, the downside is that the couple seconds of delay is too much time. Enemy players usually have no problem running away before the explosion occurs.

Leveling Up

To level up, players can gain experience in two ways during a PvP match. The first way, of course, is to kill the enemy players. For each enemy killed, a certain number of experience points are added to the player’s experience bar (located in the upper left hand corner of the screen). Another way to gain experience points is by capturing flag points. If a player is standing by an enemy flag, then that player gradually gains experience as the flag meter fills. The experience points stop accumulating once the player has captured the point. As of now, the level cap is 30, but the developers are thinking of maybe moving the cap to 40 or 50.

Talent Points

Following a PvP match, players have the chance to spend their talent points if they have leveled up during. Talent points can be spent in a variety of abilities depending on the class of the character. For instance, commandos can upgrade their stealth ability, which makes them harder to detect while in stealth mode. Commandos can also add a poison to their knife, which adds a DoT (damage over time) to the target they are attacking. I personally do not know the abilities of the soldier or gunner, as I did not play those classes. Once a player is done spending his talent points, it’s time to queue up for another match and repeat.

Final Judgment

All in all, I believe this game deserves 5 out of 10. The "fun aspect" of the game is certainly apparent, but there is not much variety to keep players (or maybe just me) interested. The objective of each PvP match is the same and while there are a couple of different maps to play on, they do not really give the player a sense of a new environment. I personally blame this on the cartoony graphics and lack of customization seen within the game. Everything looks the same. There is also very little communication happening in the game. No strategies are ever being planned, nor are players ever attempting to work together.

Anyway, if you like quick, easy PvP matches, then this is the game for you. There’s very little waiting around and the basics of the game are extremely easy to learn (except for flying that lovely plane). As a free game, the overall score could be moved to maybe a 6 or 7, but I am personally not a fan of the cartoony-type games.