New Battlefield turns to casual masses

By Robert Purchese Published 21 January, 2008

"Play 4 Free," says EA. With ads.

EA has announced it will be releasing a free Battlefield Heroes game in the summer.

Developed by series veteran DICE, it will be a cartoon-inspired war game powered by advertising and micro transactions. This is known as "Play 4 Free".

Aimed at the mass market, the game will offer a downloadable client, lots of character customisation and hours of shooting madness.

Its fresh art direction will help it stand out, too, just like Team Fortress 2 did last year. Oh, it looks quite similar. Perhaps it's just a coincidence like the Burnout Paradise cover image.

"There's something here for all types of players - be it our core Battlefield fans or casual gamers," said Ben Cousins, big cheese at DICE.

"With the new online model we will continually add new content to keep the game fresh and keep players engaged, while integrating player feedback in real time. As a game developer, it is such a cool new way to make games."

Head over to the Battlefield Heroes site to keep up to date with its progress.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • dllord #1 4 years ago

    Yeah i think its just a coincidence that they look ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME!!!! LoL!

  • eleven63 #2 4 years ago

    I was speaking to EA Oct/Nov last year about them supplying an on-line game for a website I was working with at the time - they had "something up their sleeve", but we could not agree an NDA - guess this is what they where talking about - shame I never got to see a demo.

    It was discribed to me at the time as "South Park, with guns..."

  • smoison #3 4 years ago

    Oh great , Dice the company that released 2 unfinished battlefield games before.

    Who wants to bet this game gets released un finished, un polished and in a BETA stage like all of the other DICE games.

  • El_MUERkO #4 4 years ago

    what amazing and unique art direction

  • Gurrah #5 4 years ago

    Developed by series veteran DICE, it will be a cartoon-inspired war game powered by advertising and micro transactions. This is known as "Play 4 Free".

    Team Fortress 2 - anyone?

    EDIT:

    I just took a look at the games website and there was this photograph of the 'Games for Windows' magazine with the Battlefield: Heroes guy on the front and a small picture of TF2 underneath... come on Dice, you could have done that a bit more subtle.
    Edited by 1 at 21/01/08 @ 12:07

  • Machetazo #6 4 years ago

    ho hum.

  • the_dudefather #7 4 years ago

    looks like they are gluing together other ideas from other games


    IN HELL!

  • asphaltcowboy #8 4 years ago

    Whoa whoa whoa, let's not forget that TF2 takes quite a big cue from The Incredibles! It's a little to early to judge (given that that mag cover looks like concept art) but admittedly DICE could done something other than the "very strong jaw line and nose bridge" number.

  • tobsen #9 4 years ago

    Seeing how they raped their previous customer base with the buggy farce that was Battlefield 2, I am not surprised that they now turn to another audience.

  • gaselite #10 4 years ago

    Sounds cool, micro transactions could be a bit fiddly but this could be great if they handle it cleverly.

  • Saladin #11 4 years ago

    That little tank graphic is a rip off of Advance Wars, without a doubt.

  • Clive_Dunn #12 4 years ago

    Hmm, will be interesting to see how this model actually works. I can't think of anything worse than being able to buy better weapons though, it'll turn off the casual gamer immediately.

  • jlaakso #13 4 years ago

    I'm not sure the core will follow any sort of dumbing down. And for the novice, Battlefield can be a lot to take into. So trouble ahead. But certainly there are not too many quality online shooters available for free, worth a shot... And Dice knows their stuff.

  • skillian #14 4 years ago

    Dunno if it'll be for me, but it's good to see new ways of doing things being tried.

    Good luck to them.

  • rudedudejude #15 4 years ago

    "this could be great if they handle it cleverly."

    Unfortunately I don't think the Dice/EA combo has ever handled anything remotely clever. They are the largest supplier of bugs to the world!

  • gizmo #16 4 years ago

    Has the Wii triggered a dumbing down of all things sacred? It's like everything is getting mainstreamed.

  • Royal Fool #17 4 years ago

    EA are hoping to embrace the Korean model.

  • gaselite #18 4 years ago

    People, please stop saying 'it's a rip off rah rah rah' etc. The game indsutry has always been very derivative, borrowing concepts and ideas is nothing new. Imitation can be the sincerest form of flattery. That aside I'm sure it will play nothing like TF2 anyway.

  • knocker #19 4 years ago

    Hey! I want to embrace a Korean Model first

  • AbyssUK #20 4 years ago

    Codename Eagle Codename Eagle Codename Eagle!!!!!

    Its returning !!! YES!

  • jambolio #21 4 years ago

    Well if it's free, then I will download and have a look, whether or not it's any good will be another question. Here's to more inbreeding of the games industry (I.E. EA finding things that have worked well in non-EA games and pilfering them for their own releases).

  • dudefella #22 4 years ago

    Haha, oh my. This is quite shameful on EA's part. What a disgrace.

  • Apostle #23 4 years ago

    As a long time Battlefield fan, I'm not particualy happy. If I want all out fun and crazyness, TF2 rules the roost. BF for me is about a completely different style of fun, with friends and clans. Not saying BF2 was realistic, but I enjoyed its level of realism, while keeping things fun.

    I guess I'll pin all my hopes on Bad Company then. Just aswell CoD4 is such a kickass game, other wise my modern warfare itch couldn't be scratched.

  • zoidberg #24 4 years ago

    they won't top TF2.

  • Wyrm #25 4 years ago

    Well, TF2 looks like it was stolen from the drawing board of The Incredibles anyway.

  • krokomkiller #26 4 years ago

    You are getting a free game and yet complaining???

    And while we are comparing games - only me who found the multiplayer in Cod 4 to be Bf2 without vehicles? (weapon upgrades, sprint etc)
    Edited by 1 at 21/01/08 @ 16:03

  • seasidebaz #27 4 years ago

    sounds good to me.

    the microtransactions apparently only apply to visual stuff as well and not to any weapons.

    which is nice :) cos i don't like to pay for stuff i don't need!