Well… kinda.
If you can’t make it through the alphabet soup in the title, see the breakdown at the end of the article.
It’s taken me quite some time to get my hands back on this article (I originally started it on July 15) for several reasons. 1) I (well, my wife has, I’m just on the sidelines) have a new baby on the way and we’re spending about 90% of our time on getting the house ready. 2) At the time I discovered Heroes, it seemed that EA was having a lot of connection issues (I heard a lot of people were having trouble even playing Battlefield 1943 on 360). 3) Even without remodeling, I just don’t have as much time for gaming as I truly would like.
Anyway, now I’m here to finish this. I’ve gotten in some quality play time, and it’s time to give you all a taste.
Likes:
Anyone who’s talked to me about gaming-related stuff in recent days knows that I’m a huge fan of the redesign that Valve did with Team Fortress 2. The stylized, edgy cartoon update to the world and character models just fits right with my sense of aesthetics. I love love love the look of TF2, pure and simple. Battlefield: Heroes has taken that same idea, but in not quite such an edgy way. While the redesigned characters in TF2 look universally sinister, even the baddest character models in Heroes is still cartoony in a cute way. The vehicle and building models are smaller, more rounded versions of what you’d see in the regular Battlefield series.
EA has worked out a relatively effective auto-balance feature. Since there’s no single-player feature, the idea of jumping right into battle with experienced players can seem a bit daunting. To help newbies get the hang of things, clicking the ‘Play Now’ button drops you into a game with players that have similar experience levels. This keeps people from getting their heads blown off while they’re still trying to get their bearings, and helps keep some players from getting discouraged. It’s not a perfect system, but it seems to work pretty well. Of course, you can always join/create a server so you can play with your friends, regardless of experience levels.
Like Combat Arms (my current favorite FPS), Heroes allows for pretty extensive character modification. Through points earned in-game, and the option to buy points using real money, players can purchase modifications to clothing, weapons, and accessories for their characters. Since the game is still relatively new, I haven’t seen any player mods that really stand out, but I’m sure there will be some great things as time goes on.
Dislikes:
Unfortunately, no game is perfect, and BF: Heroes is no exception. The biggest beef I have with the game is that skill balancing appears to be done at the character level (you can create up to 4 per account), rather than at the account level. This means that one could spend a lot of time leveling themselves up, getting intimately familiar with all the aspects of the game, and then simply create a new character with no rank to start cleaning up on newbies. I didn’t see a lot of this in my early times playing, but once in a while, there was someone in there just blasting through with a little too much familiarity.
There is only one type of in-game currency, which allows people to just spend a lot of money on $BF and buy weapons that can clean anyone out. Combat Arms remedies this situation by allowing two different types of purchases. Purchases made with real money can only be applied aesthetically. Weapons and other accessories that help with game play can only be earned by playing.
As much as I like the cartoon design of the game, I think it’s almost a bit too cutesy. You’re still shooting and killing people, blowing things up with tanks and dynamite, and engaging in aerial dogfights. While I don’t think all battles should be dark and edgy, this design is just a touch too bright and bouncy.
Overall:
In all, I think BF: Heroes can become a game that a lot of people enjoy. It’s paced well, is pretty entertaining, and is easy to get into quickly with only a little bit of FPS experience. Since it’s free to get and free to play, there’s really no reason for anyone with an interest to at least check it out at battlefieldheroes.com
Glossary:
TF2 – Team Fortress 2: Valve’s complete rework of the extremely popular HalfLife Deathmatch mod. TF2 features completely reworked and highly-stylized environments and characters, while still maintaining the original game-play feel and map layouts.
BF2 – Battlefield 2: EA’s fantastic successor to the original Battlefield: 1942 series of games. Realistic combat, vehicles, and locations combined into one addictive game.
CA – Combat Arms: Nexon’s free-to-play combat shooter. See my review of the game posted previously.
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