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Battlefield Heroes to re-enter beta

Published on 23rd January 2009 by Joe Martin

Battlefield Heroes is a new and experimental move for the series, one aimed at a more casual audience.

Electronic Arts has announced that the often rumouredly-cancelled Battlefield Heroes game is still alive and, in fact, readying for another surge of beta testing and development.

According to RockPaperShotgun the sign-up process for beta testers has been re-enabled and the site will soon be ready for another burst of activity after having a few months of tweaks and fixes from the development team.

Based on the popular Battlefield series created by Dice, Battlefield Heroes goes in a risky new direction that has had mixed reactions from regular gamers. While the usual Battlefield games have been multiplayer-focused and at least semi-realistic military shooters, Heroes is something entirely new.

Aimed more at casual gamers, or those with lower-end systems, the PC-exclusive title will run online only through a dedicated browser, but will be totally free to play. Instead of generating money from sales, Electronic Arts is hoping to finance the game through optional microtransactions, though Dice has promised that no saleable items will give players any in-game benefit. Players will mostly be able to buy new wardrobes and character models.

Still with a strong focus on teamwork and with plenty of usable vehicles in the game, the gameplay is fundamentally similar to previous Battlefield games, but scaled down and made a bit more user-friendly.

Is Battlefield Heroes sounding like your cup of tea then, or are you happier with a touch of Counterstrike? Let us know what you think in the forums.

15 Comments

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Redbeaver 23rd January 2009, 14:45

i am waiting for this game.....

Bauul 23rd January 2009, 15:48

Funilly enough I was at a conference yesterday and a speaker from South Korea was explaining how player-enhancing microtransactions were the norm. They way they see it, if you can stump up the cash you deserve to have an advantage. There are MMOs people dump twice their usual monthly fee into to purchase better weapons and items, and everyone does it. In other words, the polar opposite of the way western gamers think.

B1GBUD 23rd January 2009, 15:56

Better late than never I suppose, this was actually scheduled for a summer release!

I wonder if we'll actually see BF3 this year?

sotu1 23rd January 2009, 16:43

we wont see BF 3 for a while (but here's to hoping they're already working on it) and i think microtransactions with no advantage are a way of easing us into the idea of paying to be better. it'll happen. soon. it's the future of pc gaming imho.

DLoney 23rd January 2009, 19:13

whats going on in that screen? (dude riding the wing)....

Im also waiting for BF3

Dark_Master_Dragon 23rd January 2009, 19:36

:'(I cant wait to play it man hope it comes out fast :)

UncertainGod 23rd January 2009, 19:39

Looking forward to this immensely, it will be nice to have a back to basics Battlefield to play again.

plagio 23rd January 2009, 19:44

don't care about this game at all. It's a battlefield with a team fortress skin or something like that.

I WANT BF3 !

Jojii 23rd January 2009, 20:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLoney
whats going on in that screen? (dude riding the wing)....

Im also waiting for BF3

You can see much better on the wing then if you were stuck inside the plane.

wuyanxu 23rd January 2009, 22:41

hang on, browser gaming?? same as that Tribes series web game??

come on, we want real games

lewchenko 24th January 2009, 02:16

Heroes.... No thanks.

BF3...erm is EA deaf or something. The world cries out for BF3.. An instant pot of money just waiting to be collected if they do it right, but oh no... they release every other franchise under the sun and then moan that profits are down, and new IP didnt deliver.

For crying out loud... listen to your customers and give us BF3. Most business's that dont listen to their customers start losing and money and go bust. It really is that simple.. oh and did I remember to say 'no thanks' to Heroes.. Oh yeah, I did at the start of the post. Once more for effect... ' No thanks '.

bogie170 24th January 2009, 07:00

If they can turn the player feel and movement from COD4 plus the vehicle world of BF2 together in BF3 then it will be immense.
Anyone got any news or snippets on BF3?

I for one can't wait for BF3.

The only other game getting me excited at the moment is Codemasters Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. This has the potential to be awesome. I just hope they keep the amount of keyboard buttons to a minimum.

feldm4n 25th January 2009, 18:34

I saw the Heroes website when it was up with the "beta vdeo". Ths game is garbage.... Why waste time on this cartoon style stuff? TF2 already did it, and although I personally dislike TF2 it has some nce graphics for what it is. Thing is Valve destroyed TFC and that is the way I see it. Heroes seems to be a waste of time. Why go in a direction that has already been done graphically speaking?

EA should port Bad Company from Xbox & PS to PC. I didn't understand why they didn't. I hope we all get a new BF at some point soon.

Xir 25th January 2009, 19:35

I'm looking forward to it.

Mainly because I liked how the original battlefield had a very low entry level in multiplayer, just jump in and game away (plus very simple and forgiving network settings, unlike anything C&C).
You didn't have to be a half-pro to have fun (like in CS), just jump into a vehicle and wreak some havoc.

If they can recreate this "easy multiplayer" feeling I can live with the comic-graphics.

Burnin' 26th January 2009, 01:44

My friends and I have been waiting for BF3 for a while... We are an still active Battlefield 2142 clan and we just weren't impressed by BF: Heroes. I mean, looks like fun and all but it just doesn't feel like a REAL battlefield game. .. more like a game cube/DS kind of a thing (cartoon graphics, 3rd person view...)