GamesRelay

Name: Battlefield Heroes

Coming from a Battlefield 1942 background, I have always expected a game from the Battlefield series to be realistic – to a point, yet Battlefield Heroes throws that completely out of the window.

What we have here is a cross between a Team Fortress 2 graphics style, a Battlefield game and a whole bucket of fun mixed in. The game offers a fresh look to the genre and a splash of colour from the usual dreary war torn games where the colours are washed out to give that gritty war type feel. You could say Battlefield Heroes is a drug induced hallucination, sometimes it certainly feels like it, with it's quirky characters and over joyous sounds.

The game uses the setting of World War II to some extent, borrowing similar weapons and vehicles, but that's where it ends. If it was a realistic WWII game, then we would be back at Battlefield 1942 and probably not be writing this review at all. Heroes comes across as a pick me up style play-with-me type of game where you launch the game from your web browser via a downloadable plug-in. It's easy to setup and get started and you set your options and characters look and feel from within the browser. It's unusual, but then, oh wait, we didn't mention it already. Battlefield Heroes is free! That's right.. FREE. Any dislikes or negative opinions can probably be shot down quite as easily as an enemy Spitfire in Heroes.

This isn't to say the game has it's flaws, all do, but then for a free game, beggars can't really be choosers. With the three classes included in Heroes, they don't have a great margin of difference from the get go, but the whole point of the game is to unlock points which you can use to purchase upgrades for your character. For the more wealthy gamers, the ability to purchase new clothes and upgrades are available for a marginal fee. This is where the game draws it's income from, but then you don't necessarily need these to play.

The game works just as well if you don't purchase anything, and is just as fun. You gain experience for playing Heroes, and every few levels you gain you receive a special skill point which allows you to spend it on different abilities available to your character. People will now be thinking of “builds” as they like to call them on the best templates you can use to mash your opponents into the ground, well fear not because Heroes allows you to reassign your ability points and start a-fresh, so the ability to ruin your perfect character is removed.

The real world currency and in game currency don't end there. Your real world currency will buy you a mixture of mainly different clothing items to stylize and accessorise your character, and because you're using your hard earned cash to purchase them, the items are yours to keep. What makes the in game currency different is that once your points are spent, the ability or upgrade you have purchased will only last a set amount of time thus giving you the need to play to keep on purchasing those items. Thankfully the weapons and upgrades which give you an unfair advantage are restricted to purchase through the in game currency, thus negating the more often than not rich kid who blows his load on everything, giving him an unfair advantage on your newbie character.

Remembering the other Battlefield games for a brief moment, it was easy to play the game and change your class as need be to fill out certain roles, if there were no medics, you could swap to one. Heroes removes this feature as part of a more grand scheme of things, thus limiting you to the character you chose.

Heroes' vehicles are of particular fun. You have jeeps, tanks and planes for different types of warfare. They have a fun feel to them and aren't hard to control. This especially applies to the planes, being able to fly and land is as easy as eating pie, so you don't have to worry about needing a joystick to fly like someone out of the Battle of Britain. The tanks compared to the jeeps are a little sluggish and aren't best suited for your run and gun, capture the point as fast as possible type gameplay. But getting a jeep full of squad mates is where it's at. You see, Heroes is based around the capture points, the aim of the game is speed, whether you use your jeep to get there as fast as possible and capture the point, or fly a plane which allows two of your team mates to hop on the wings, either or, should net you a win.

Team play in Heroes is most rewarding. Using headsets you could easily take on your opponents and run them down one by one while capturing the points, but when the action gets thick, the game becomes a heap of bullets and brightly coloured explosions, where your unit cohesion and team work go right out the window, and it seems to be every man for himself. This doesn't take the fun out of the game, after all, Heroes isn't a serious realistic action type shooter. It's supposed to offer a fun free alternative to the norm.

So what does Battlefield Heroes boil down too? With it's four maps three classes and vehicles to boot, it could be mistaken as a downloadable title you have to pay for, but with it's pick me up and jump right in style gameplay, and a fairly deep character customisation to boot, the game is a fun experience. Top that all off with the fact that it's free, and your on to a winner.

Whether or not Heroes lasts long is a good question. With it's limited maps, only time will tell if the game fizzles out after the initial release period. With regular updates, more maps and more customization options, Heroes could be a big thing for an online game, paving the way for other free titles. But the fact that it's a free game, and requires users to purchase things they don't really need other than to look good are a hindrance. If people pay these micro transactions to look like something out of the Munsters, the game should be a hit, if not, then it may not be long before Heroes disappears into the void completely. Time will tell.