Those who have participated in the Battlefield Hardline beta program have noticed a cop vs criminal campaign that is stealthier and smaller compared to previous Battlefield titles that Electronic Arts (EA) launched.
However, as soon as the player gets into a loud gunfight, there is no escaping. There’s currently no way to turn away and go back into the stealth state.
This is something that developer Visceral has been trying to address.
“We’ve got a system in place now that we’re calling ‘last known position.’ There’s two things you’re encountering: one, you get detected and everybody has heat-seeking AI. They know exactly where you are and start shooting you to death. That sucks, clearly,” said Steve Papoutsis, executive producer of Battlefield Hardline.
“The other thing is, you don’t feel like you have an opportunity to get away from the guys and go back to that undetected state. So we’ve put in this idea of last known position. Enemies will now track where they think you’re at,” he added.
The studio has also clarified that they are in the processing or improving the game to make it less punitive. They are looking at injecting more non-lethal combats and approaches.
The “stealth campaign” is practically embedded in the storyline of Battlefield Hardline. The main antagonist of the story, Nick Mendoza, is a character who tries to do the right thing the first time. He is no impulsive gun-blazing hero. Then again, something will happen that will place Nick in a situation where he breaks the law.
Battlefield Hardline is scheduled for its commercial release date on March 17, 2015.