12.13.2022
If you're a fan of shooters, you've most likely played at least one Battlefield title in your lifetime – the games are known for providing intense warfare-style action, with each being set in a unique time period. The first BF took place in World War 2, followed by Battlefield: Vietnam and then Battlefield 2 which took the game to our current times making references to the war in Iraq.
Many fans were wondering where the series was headed for next, and certainly very few people expected this – Battlefield: Heroes is completely different from the previous ones in every way you can imagine.
Gameplay
The first thing you're going to notice is the art style – the game is no longer realistically-themed like its predecessors, instead featuring a bright cartoony look – more on that in detail below. Another drastic change is that it's completely free to play – it came out in roughly the same period as id Software's Quake Live, another free-to-play title, and provided some healthy competition for it.
In BFH, you can create an account and start shooting up the place without having to pay a cent – however, if you want to get access to some of the cool-looking character customization parts, you'll have to buy some “BattleFunds”, which cost real money.
Don't worry though – cosmetic attributes are pretty much all money can get you, and they don't give you any in-game advantage. The other thing you can spend your cash on are stronger variants of some of the weapons, but those can be bought with “Valor Points” as well, which you earn for free by just playing – the only difference is that buying them with BF frees you from having to play a certain number of hours a week in order to earn enough VP to keep them.
Graphics and System Requirements
Battlefield: Heroes is extremely stylized, featuring a vibrant and colorful art style. Some criticized it for looking too similar to Valve's Team Fortress 2, but just a few looks at media from both games is enough for anyone to see the obvious difference – besides looking cartoony, the two have nothing in common and their styles are very unique. Battlefield: Heroes is a lot more cheerful and less serious than TF2, offering such items for customization like pirate and ninja clothes, stylish suits, jetpacks (cosmetic only) and even shoulder parrots.
Even though the game makes a heavy reference to World War 2 (for example, the two main sides are the Royals, who resemble the Allies very much, and the Nationals, who're an obvious reference to the Nazis), its action takes place in a fictional setting, allowing the designers to include lots of items that don't tie in with the WW2 period at all. The engine is extremely lightweight and the game runs at high framerates even on a notebook – which, combined with the fact that it's free, makes it extremely available and in turn very popular.
Other
If you find BFH enjoyable and decide to stick around (which isn't that hard, believe us), make sure you keep an eye out for special promotional codes which are distributed in various outlets (for example, gaming magazines) – they give you access to exclusive, limited items that can't be obtained by any other means – make your friends jealous!
Conclusion
You literally have nothing to lose by giving Battlefield: Heroes a try, but be careful – just a few hours of comically crashing airplanes into enemy tanks can be enough to make you pull out your wallet and play dress-up with your soldier!