Battlefield™ Hardline

Do NOT buy, not even if they pay you for it. EA has to be one of the IF NOT the absolute worst gaming company ive ever hads to deal with. Dont do the same mistake i made and buy it even if its only 1.99. Heres what "playing" the game looks like. You download it, then obviously you have to install the very obsolete anticheat, after that is done you click on the nice big green button "PLAY" but guess what, you dont get to PLAY, you get to download their ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ EA launcher, after you went through the trouble of signing in, even though your password IS CORRECT, you get to click the tiny "play" button on the launcher, WHICH THEN SENDS YOU TO THEIR WEBSITE!! Just for you to try and find the "PLAY CAMPAIGN" button which did not take me 20 minutes to find. You click it guess what, the game doesnt START. ITS TELLING YOU ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN THAT YOURE "ONLINE IN BATTLEFIELD ON PC" but infact youre in TASK VIEWER trying to find the game while youre trying really hard not to through your keyboard through your screen. Game doesnt load, wasted money GG and thanks for nothing as always EA.

instead of launching the game, it opens a webpage. ♥♥♥♥ off </3

I cannot even run the game. When I press Play button, it opens Battlelog website, then it stucks there forever. It just asks me to open EA App. But it always gets launched after I try to run the game. I played the game like 2 months ago without a problem on a server to test. But then deleted. Now I wanted to give a chance to play the campaign, but I encountered this ♥♥♥♥ problem. Imagine a game needs you to open their website to play the campaign :D. Thank you EA, once again

I really wanted to love this game. But I just can't. Where do I even begin, to be honest? Launcher: How about the fact that it's not even Steam to EA Origin Launcher app to play the game, but Steam to EA Origin Launcher, to a game-specific website??? Oh, and yes, an account is still needed. Why? I understand needing an EA account for multiplayer, but for the single-player campaign??? CS FPS Cap: Or how about how a lot of cutscenes are engine-locked to 30 FPS? On PC, this doesn't feel like being in a movie or TV show to me, it just feels choppy. CS Replay Skip: Also you can't skip the mission cutscenes for missions you've already completed. I enjoyed them the first time, but when I missed an objective and had to go back through, taking 5-10 minutes per level for unskippable cutscene reruns just wastes time. Poor Gunplay: Perhaps the biggest problem is that the gunplay/ballistic mechanics/balancing are simply TERRIBLE. (Note that I prefer PVE/story mode, so I can only speak to those.) Enemies often shrug-off a 7.62x51 (.308) round to the torso, or one or two 5.56 rounds to the head, and sometimes even a .308 round to the head too. When hits register, fights are often over very quickly, including if you the player get shot by a couple enemies at once. But so often enemies just feel like bullet-sponges unless you get perfect headshots, or spray and pray excessively. I could forgive that with most handguns, but with battle rifles? That's absurd. Also, weapon range is laughably low Weapon accuracy is poor. Weapon stats are not balanced around weapon type, caliber, barrel length, etc, and seem to have arbitrarily assigned values. Even the supposedly "meta" weapons in the game are just okay at best, and often not even that. In short, weapon mechanics are nothing like Battlefield 3 and 4, and are instead just plain bad. I've played Indie studio, beta-test, early access games made by tiny teams that had much better gunplay than this. Stealth: The stealth aspect of the story mode is interesting... to a point. But I feel it's overly relied upon and I personally found it tedious and annoying after awhile. YMMV on this aspect. It was more that it was overly time-consuming and not really rewarding for doing so. The phone scanner: Oh how I came to loathe that thing. I find that it blocks too much of your field of view. It doesn't tell you where you need to go in enough detail, and it sends the player on many wild-goose-chases across multiple floors for whatever clue you're after (No height/floor indicator, no map of what sites you have yet to search, etc.) It doesn't tell you what clues/areas you've missed, and it sometimes doesn't list an "x/y clues in your area found" list when there are in fact unfound clues in your area I think it was an interesting idea, but I don't think it was implemented well. At all. Due to that, I often found myself having to go back and reply missions, and even do internet searches on where seemingly impossible-to-find clues where hidden. I'm not asking for this feature to hold the player's hand, but rather that the player shouldn't have to hold the scanner's hand to do basic game tasks. It adds time-spent and complexity, but it doesn't really feel rewarding. I dreaded using the thing, save on missions that didn't have combat. I think if there had been combat missions and then detective-only ones, or maybe a "must resolve current room's case to progress mission" feature, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. As it was, it just felt like something else to manage, with me babysitting a poorly done UI/mechanic, rather than actually solving cases or adding interesting gameplay. Which is a shame, because I liked the idea of investigating things and gathering evidence. But this just felt like a checklist and constant second layer of UI to manage while being shot at. What the game is: The game is, in my opinion, a terrible FPS game. But I didn't find it to be a satisfying detective/investigator game, or stealth game either. Yet it tries to be all three. In my opinion, it succeeds at none of them, which is a shame, because I really would have liked a game that did all, or at least the combat and detective-work aspects, well. Single-Player Story Plot: Finally, let's talk about the story. I will try and avoid any major spoilers, but I will briefly go over how I felt about it, ending included (without details.) Spoiler-free version? I didn't care for the story. If you want to go in totally plot-blind, then probably avoid the following, though. I was really hoping that this game's premise, and what I heard about it online, meant it might offer a truly satisfying, if not very deep, detective story. For a lot of it, and it's honestly quite short, (16 hours play-time as of review, but that was with repeating about 1/3 of the missions from missed clues, and multiple hours of staying logged into the menu while I needed to AFK, so realistically more like 6-7 hours, with most of that being stealth, fighting, and trying to figure out which floor clues 3 meters away were on,) it feels like a pretty standard FPS story. Not deep, not great, but not bad. Predictable plot and characters, sure. Not much character depth or growth, either. But okay. And that would have been enough to be "fun but not great" if it had managed to give a half-decent ending. But then the final act happens. It is at that point that it decides to go completely out of character, avoid any kind of arcs/conclusions, leave a ton of questions about the characters and their motivations, and leave basically all of the plot points as cliffhangers. Supposedly the developers planned to address these in a series of sequels, but these were canceled. Frankly, with how shallow and unsatisfying the plot was in this first game, and with how awful the FPS mechanics/balancing were, I can see why said sequels were cancelled. Final thoughts: At least it runs fine, when not cutscene capped to 30 FPS, on what is now mid-ish end hardware in 2026? At least the graphics are fine for a 2015 game? (Not good, but not bad. It's not photorealistic, but it was good enough that I could get into the world.) At least it was only $2.13 USD on sale? I don't play PVP, so I don't know if that aspect is still running, but I'd be surprised if many people bothered playing a 2015 FPS game with poor mechanics in 2026. There are much better options out there. I can't help but feel that I wasted my time on this more-so than money. If the ending had been even just okay, I'd probably say "well it gave me $2-worth of fun." But as it is? "Well that's a couple days of gaming I won't get the time back on." I would not suggest getting it even at the sale price of $1.99. (And if that was the standard price, I probably wouldn't even have left a review. But it isn't, so I did.) PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS at the regular price of $40. In 2026, this would be seriously overpriced at even $20. But $40 is just... awful for what this game is.

>launch EA >EA launches Battlelog (browser) >start game from the browser >directx error >close EA and open again >launch from EA without steam >start game again from browser >almost 10 mins just to open the game and unskippable intros >needs internet to play singleplayer >singleplayer has unskippable 30fps locked cutscenes >multiplayer has 16 players >join game to get called slurs >multiplayer also doesn't show new unlocked stuff unless restarting both EA and Battlelog

Just the story alone makes this a Battlefield game worth playing.

if u remove the whole ritual u gotta do to launch this game for the first time, unskippable 30fps cutscenes and locked to 70 fov in the campaign(can only change on multiplayer) its pretty good, over hated for no reason and very underrated, whoever the multiplayer is completely dead, still worth it for 2€ on sale just for the campaign

It’s not that bad a game; I quite enjoyed it. I know this game isn't what Battlefield fans wanted it to be. They thought making a '[b]Cops vs Criminals[/b]' type of game would make the franchise more interesting but it actually made it worse. They could have made this a separate series instead. This game certainly has some plot holes, flaws, and weak elements in some of its missions and story arcs. Consequently, the game received a massive amount of hatred, which ultimately caused the studio to shut down (I am really sorry for Visceral Games). I am not actually a regular Battlefield player, but I have certainly played many games from Electronic Arts and I am still playing their games. I bought this game specifically to observe the final title from Visceral Games; to understand why they were shut down, and why this particular game received so much hate from fans, amongst other reasons. I am expressing my full review with a few spoilers included, as this will also help newcomers. So, the [b]pro[/b]s: [list] [*]This game is more oriented towards a 'takedown' and 'tactical' style of gameplay. You have to arrest enemies rather than kill them, because you are playing as a police officer. There are ways to play the game without being detected and to feel like a spy. [*]Places, atmosphere, dialogues, and individual level scenarios are awesome. All those soundtracks are excellent. Some of the tracks are even from some music bands too. [*]I did not encounter any bugs or glitches at all. [*]Multiplayer mode is truly amazing. It isn't overly grindy, and it is highly entertaining too. Just like old Battlefield games, it features four factions, experience earning, and weapon part unlocking. All of the character voices and groans are hilarious and entertaining as well. [*]This game is well-optimised and runs smoothly even on low-specification hardware. You just have to lower the resolution and turn the graphics settings down to medium or low, and that's all. [*]Narrative and dialogues have been implemented correctly. You must complete most of the mission silently and obtain arrest warrants, including finding evidence and case files. [*]Weapons and gadgets sound realistic and their holding and reloading animations look great. There are even secret weapons and reload animations for some weapons that you can find in multiplayer. [/list] The [b]cons[/b]: [list] [*]The story starts off well, but it gets progressively worse towards the end. There are a total of 10 episodes, excluding the Prologue. The first five episodes are great and truly make you feel like you are doing police work. However, the story suddenly takes a completely different turn. Nick (the protagonist) essentially becomes a rogue agent and wants to kill everyone. You can still arrest people by shouting '[b]FREEZE[/b]', but it doesn't actually make any sense since you are no longer a cop. There are many plot holes that you will notice too. Enemies just stand guard all the time without even wearing proper tactical gear. All those armed men can easily be arrested simply by pressing '[b]G[/b]' when they don't know your location (up to three at a time). Once you're caught then everyone knows your location. Even Dawes's (the antagonist) men are actually private guards or corrupt police officers, and you have to kill them in Episode 9. You get betrayed by Khai (a woman) who was your partner in earlier four episodes. But Nick was rescued from the prison van by Tyson (her boyfriend) in Episode 5 so that he can help to eliminate/cease Dawes. So, by the end, Nick the cop has turned into a criminal. The ending is a massive cliffhanger that leaves Nick alone in a secret bunker on an island (and at times, Dawes even acted as if he is Nick's real father. He asked about Nick's mother twice). Nick had to kill his old partner, Stoddard. Because he was betrayed by Dawes, Khai and Stoddard, and after teaming up with Khai he began killing everyone. Plus, in Episode 8, you had to kill Dune's dad. He showed up all by himself, operating a tank. Dune (a random girl) is the girlfriend of Boomer (one of the main characters), and she went against her own father to save Nick and Boomer. Really, what kind of plot twist is that? You started killing from Episode 6. [*]Enemy AI is very awkward. All those locations are very empty, and there are barely any people (except targets) to see. All the model and face designs looked familiar, and your partner can get through them all the time. [*]There are various weapons and gadgets available to try but most of them are completely useless in the story campaign. I only needed to use AKM and a good silenced handgun, along with an armoured vest and a gas mask. [*]How can a police officer get access to heavy military weapons to do raids and to go in various places? The game fails to show a valid justification or logical references for this 'cops vs criminals' setup. [*]There is an achievement that you can no longer unlock because the COMPETITIVE multiplayer mode has been completely shut down. [/list] the game runs in an online only mode to synchronise your activity through the story, as described in description. You have to use a native web browser to launch the game. There is a way you can play it completely offline but I am not sure if it unlocks achievements and Battlepacks on the website. Some negative reviews are solely because it must be launched from your browser. So, these are the things you need to know before trying out Battlefield: Hardline. Again, this is a standalone campaign with zero connection to the main Battlefield franchise storyline. I bought this to experience the final game made by Visceral. They really left a lot of Easter eggs and references behind for us Dead Space fans in their final project, and I was able to catch all of them (Some of them are even from other EA titles). Visceral was the main developer responsible for the story and level design, while DICE contributed a bit as well, mostly focusing on the multiplayer. Uprise handled the Battlelog maintenance, and EA held the reins over everything. Visceral failed to achieve commercial success with both Dead Space 3 and Battlefield: Hardline, which is why the studios was closed down on 17th October 2017. This (BF:H) game's multiplayer features will become unavailable on 22nd June 2026 for PlayStation and Xbox consoles too. PC is now the only place left to play the multiplayer, and the highest player activity can be seen between [u]1 PM[/u] and [u]10 PM[/u] UTC. I am still playing the multiplayer (with around 50 people) on the AE51 servers (sometimes in [FREE]) and I am thoroughly enjoying playing with the remaining BF:H fanbase. If you are willing to try out this game, I recommend buying it only when it is at an 80% to 95% discount. You don't have to buy the Shortcut Pack.