Although Visceral Games has done a solid job of detailing the new multiplayer components for their upcoming spin-off, Battlefield Hardline, not much has been said with regards to single player. We know the campaign will be episodic and will cast players as a beat cop turned detective named Nick Mendoza, but hard specifics were not easy to come by.
However, withvery few weeks remaining until Battlefield Hardline hits store shelves, Visceral Games is finally getting into the nitty gritty. Not the grittiness of the single player campaign, mind you, but specifically how long it will take players to complete and what experiences it may offer.
Details of Battlefield Hardline’s campaign length come courtesy of an impromptu Twitter Q&A with Creative Director Ian Milham. With only 140 characters to work with, Milham couldn’t go into too much detail with regards to Hardline’s story, but he did have some interesting reveals nonetheless.
First and foremost, Milham revealed that Battlefield Hardline’s campaign would feature 10 episodes. We know from prior announcements that those episodes will take players from Los Angeles to Miami, but now we know exactly how many there are.
Length-wise, those episodes will dance around the 1-hour mark, with some coming in under an hour and others taking over 60 minutes to complete. Averaging that out, it’s conceivable that Battlefield Hardline could offer close to a 10-hour campaign, which is far more substantial than the average Battlefield. It’s a chance to tell a more meaningful story perhaps.
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While Call of Duty loves switching protagonists, Battlefield Hardline will keep players focused on Nick Mendoza the entire time. There may be times when he gets a new perspective on the game’s drug war, but he is the single protagonist. There are also key choices to be made in the game, but not all of them will be morality-based decisions. Visceral has teased branching storylines before, so it’s possible that these choices will influence those divergent paths.
Other highlights of the Q&A include less of a focus on quicktime events in the campaign, a sandbox-style approach to gameplay, and Dead Space Easter Eggs. There was no word on if the goofy reload animations will make it into the finished game, though.
With discussions over game length and value popping up as of late, it appears Visceral Games wanted to get out ahead of time and let players know that their campaign is substantial. How substantial is unclear, but EA did delay Battlefield Hardline to give Visceral more time with the story.
How interested are you in Battlefield Hardline’s campaign? Do you like a longer or a shorter shooter campaign?
Battlefield Hardline releases March 17, 2015 for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Source: Ian Milham