Battlefield: Heroes is a free online-only, advertising supported 3rd person shooter with optional micro payments for customizing the appearance of your character. Basically, EA is applying the Free MMO approach to a persistent online shooter. I’ve been playing the beta for some time, and its a really easy install via a web browser, (both IE and Firefox were tested, and works with both) and the game works swimmingly.Game play:
The Battlefield: Heroes pits the The National Army and The Royal Army in a cel-shaded WW-II style war. There are 3 classes, taking 5 core class types and squeezing them into the following 3:
Soldier: The ‘normal’ class that’s equal parts medic and commander.
The Gunner: (aka The Heavy): The big dude with a big gun and higher defense.
The Commando: Equal parts sniper and special forces.
The core game is the traditional Battlefield conquest mode, where each side starts with 50 points and one flag/spawn point, and you battle to gain the other points on the map. You can’t pick your spawn point like the full Battlefield games, instead the server automatically spawns you close to the action.
All the traditional mainstays of Battlefield are here. Squad-based game play, large maps, vehicles, its everything you expect and are accustomed to, just 3rd person. Aiming is a bit odd till you get the hang of it, and then you’ll easily be popping off head shots. Vehicles control smoothly, but if you’re flying an airplane, I suggest you use a joystick.
The weapons and other gameplay-affecting upgrades are earned via a mission system where you compete for badges, and the points that you are rewarded can be used to buy different customizations and weapons.
Hardware Requirements:
Battlefield: Heroes is pretty light on the hardware requirements, especially since its launched from a web browser, it’s meant to be able to pick up and play whenever you have a free moment:
* Operating system: Windows XP or Windows Vista
* CPU: Intel Pentium 4/AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz
* RAM: 512 MB (1Gb on Windows Vista)
* Video Card: 64MB DirectX compliant video card, Pixel Shader 2.0 and above. (AGP and PCIe only)
* Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
* Hard Drive space: 1Gb of space is required to install the game
* Internet connection: 256kbit Cable/DSL connection
Microtransactions:
In Battlefield: Heroes, you can buy what EA is calling “battlefunds” points you can earn otherwise from just playing the game.
You can use them to purchase (right from the FAQ):
* Level up faster, get Valor Points (VP) faster
* Get new clothes to create a unique hero
* Buy ultra exclusive limited-edition items
* Get special emotes to taunt your enemies
This is the sort of thing that could cause a lot of trouble if implemented improperly, but EA has promised not to sell anything that would upset the balance of the game, such as weapons and equipment, avoiding the whole haves/has not thing. We’ll see how all that turns out, but for now, things seem fair. The one thing I don’t really like is the paying for leveling up.
Source: Hand Held Heroes