Battlefield Hardline

I'd love to see Rescue and Heist establish a community of players, because they're great modes done well.

Superficially it might look like a reskin, but Battlefield Hardline is no cop out. [May 2015, p71]

A passable and unspectacular campaign is unlikely to win any new fans, but Hardline's fresh take on Battlefield multiplayer makes it worth a shot. [Issue#256, p.68]

Hardline both succeeds with flying colors, and fails miserably in various aspects of its game design but the good outweighs the bad with its sandbox style mission design, handful of addicting multiplayer modes, and rock solid Battlefield gunplay players know and love.

Against all the odds, it's the single player campaign that's proved to be Battlefield: Hardline's biggest selling point. Trying to play through as a 'good cop' by arresting baddies instead of filling them with lead is very rewarding. But the gunplay is as fun as ever if you want to play that way too.

The cops ‘n’ robbers theme often does more harm than good to the Battlefield formula, but this peculiar spin-off has just enough tricks of is own to be worth a collar.

It's a decent game that gets points for originality of concept, but how much value it has is down to how much you enjoyed previous entries in the franchise, and how much you'd like to see the Cop FPS genre become a thing.

Multiplayer is, of course, the main reason that you buy into a Battlefield game, and it's generally enjoyable, even if it doesn't do anything to revolutionise the genre. However, both Activision and EA, and every other FPS developer that aspires to become the top dog franchise, needs to learn that if they are going to persist in putting single player narratives into their games, then they need to do a far better job.

It wouldn't be a Battlefield game without a host of multiplayer scenarios, and Hardline is definitely no slouch in that department, even if the assortment of options lack a certain sweeping freshness that would have been greatly appreciated.

Don't even consider buying for the single player campaign, as it doesn't add anything new to the genre. On the other hand, the multiplayer modes can be tons of fun, especially the more relaxed ones. In the end, it's a partially successful experiment in giving Battlefield a more casual appeal.

While it doesn't feel as vital as Battlefields past, inventive new multiplayer modes and a fresh, if slightly unfocused campaign make Hardline the worthy TV spin-off to DICE’s big budget blockbusters.

Battlefield Hardline fails in rebranding DICE's series but its core is still enjoyable. And when it does the Battlefield, there’s still a lot of fun.

Battlefield’s jump to law enforcement and lawbreakers doesn’t rob the franchise of its essence but fails to bring enough heat to woo non-fans.

The single-player mode starts out promisingly, but bogs down into a rather weak stealth game whose action feels hit-and-miss. Multiplayer is where the game works best, especially on its smaller maps, which can deliver truly thrilling and intense action.

There's genuine long-term fun to be had in multiplayer modes, but it's not consistent. [June 2015, p.66]

Hardline is the archetypal spin-off, then; the victim of a franchise treading water until the next big advancement.

A laughably-shambolic campaign and multiplayer that is merely serviceable and too timid to step out of Battlefield 4's shadow.

There is still a great multiplayer shooter here, but it feels more like an expansion than a full sequel - if it wasn’t for the campaign, Hardline would be Battlefield 4’s version of Bad Company 2's Vietnam expansion - it even has the vehicle music. It just forgot to bring the personality.

Battlefield Hardline is hardly a disaster, but it feels like a franchise spinning its wheels with minor adjustments, rather than truly advancing forward.