Visceral Games is currently hard at work with DICE on Battlefield Hardline, the cops and robbers themed entry in EA’s bestselling Battlefield franchise that is due to launch later this year (presumably, the game will be fully playable by about this time next year).
However, one thing that many people with sharp eyes have noticed is that Hardline seems to be using the same assets as Battlefield 4. PlayStation Lifestyle asked the developers about this, and Visceral Games was surprisingly candid in their reply.
‘Well, obviously the engine is the same. We’re using Frostbite 3, which is a fantastic engine. We’ve got improvements incoming to it, we’ve improved the vehicle physics and so on, because in a cops and criminals setting vehicle collisions are way more important than in Battlefield. So, we’re making fundamental changes under the hood to some of these systems. In terms of the UI, we still want it to be recognizably Battlefield but we got some changes…we’re listening to user feedback, and we’re always soliciting comments and feedback from the players. So, if you have specific comments, you got specific feedback, let us know. We’re happy to take it in, we’re still a good way from release, we got time to make some changes. Let us know what you like and what you don’t like and tell us why,’ they said.
It’s nice to see that the developers are at least receptive to the community, and that they are being honest and forthcoming about the game’s development. Whether Battlefield Hardline is a game worth playing (or just a playable game… at least at launch, anyway) remains to be seen, but as it stands now, we are cautiously optimistic.