Gamers get caught in a cliche-riddled crime drama along with enjoying some exceptional multiplayer mayhem in the first-person adventure Battlefield Hardline: Deluxe Edition (Electronic Arts and Visceral Games, reviewed with Xbox One, rated Mature, $69.99).
The military-shooter franchise, built upon fighting through world wars and global terrorism, turns its focus on cops and robbers chaos with mixed results.
The action begins with a solo story campaign tied to recently promoted Miami police officer, Nick Mendoza.
As the new detective, a player works with a few partners, including the violent and cocky Khai Minh Dao, to go off the books and stop a burgeoning drug war tied to the new liquid cocaine called Hot Shot.
It’s a plausible premise that one would find in any modern day crime television series, more of a modern day “Miami Vice” that HBO’s “True Detective,” as the player takes part in 10 episodes, each running about an hour each.
Virtual character likenesses of known actors such as Kelly Hu (“Hawaii Five-O”) as the out-of-control partner and Benito Martinez (“The Shield”) as the stern but fair boss deliver lots of cheesy dialogue while the interactive drama develops.
Plot reminders from a serious announcer before and after completing an episode (“previously on Hardline …”), shaky camera angles, lots of character angst within cut scenes and a guiding musical score help complete an authentic televised experience.
Unlike previous war-based titles involving constantly engaging firefights with bad guys, the slightly clever twist in “Hardline” allows the player to pull out his badge and arrest willing criminals.
That’s a great idea until you cuff the jamoches and watch them lie on the ground, sleeping like a little baby and complete with zzzzs floating above their noggins. It kind of ruins the grizzled impact of the moment.
Besides the use of lots of weapons (from shotguns to pistols, police baton and grenades), Nick also has the use of a handy high-tech scanner to scout locations.
The device can locate and tag every enemy in the area, target criminals with outstanding warrants, highlight items of interest, listen in on conversations from a distance and even gather and log evidence digitally.
It offers a stealthy option to avoid confrontation and let’s the player know that he has options other than just running and gunning to mow down the bad guys.
Players can also expect a bit of the absurd and sensationalistic with events that deliver mass destruction, from heavy police militarization and a battle of dueling tanks in the tradition of a blockbuster film.
Also, the occasional requirement of driving vehicles became pretty laughable within the story. I felt like Austin Powers trying to maneuver a golf cart out of Dr. Evil’s lair corridor most of the time.
Of course, the solo story campaign is not the reason Battlefield stalwarts purchase “Hardline.”
It’s the massive, online, multiplayer action with up to 32 warriors per team that clearly takes precedence here as developers deeply upgraded many reasons to virtually shoot cops and robbers.
For those that can get past the slightly uncomfortable premise of controlling heavily armed police officers fighting heavily armed criminals as they blow up American towns, the challenge is exhilarating.
The options feel endless within seven different game modes that include a deathmatch (kill the enemy), rescuing hostages (or stopping the attempt), stealing money (or stopping the theft) and escort a VIP (or assassinating him) to a safe location.
Nine maps spread out from the Florida everglades to downtown Los Angeles, and each map has an environmental event, sometimes triggered by gun-toting players, to mix up the terrain on the fly such as fracking site explosions, building demolitions or a dust storm.
On the field of battle, factions of SWAT teams or street cops versus thieves or hard-core criminals can fight it out on 27 types of vehicles (from gunboats to attack helicopters and motorcycles).
They can use over 50 customizable weapons and over two dozen gadgets — gas masks, tasers, ziplines and grappling hooks to name a few.
Players can additionally interrogate opponents, deploy tracking darts (to help unguided rockets deliver damage) and even pick up heavy-duty armaments scattered on the playing field (more rocket launchers) to turn the tide of the urban battle.
My favorite mode, Hotwire, is sort of a “Mad Max” meets Mario Kart. It has players secure and drive vehicles around at high speeds while attempting to blow each other up. Drivers can blast music and multiple players can sit in vehicles to protect each other and shoot at enemies while hanging out the windows.
Despite my gripes with being Nick Mendoza, “Battlefield: Hardline” created a very dynamic and mostly enjoyable experience for this first-person shooter fan highlighted by a fantastic multiplayer experience. Further refining destructible environments and war, the game delightfully walks the line between the current “Call of Duty” and “Far Cry” universes.
Note: The Deluxe Edition ($10 more) includes three special Battlepacks (bags of goodies that warriors access in the multiplayer modes) consisting of a variety of clothing, weapons, attachments, rewards and gear along with 10, not-so-special gold Battlepacks with more common items.
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
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