Naturally, thematic dissonance
occurs when your fellow officers in
the game harp on about upholding
the law and playing by the rules, right
before you bust into a room together
and spray bullets in the direction of
anything with a face, or when you
realise that taking the non-lethal
route rewards you with increasingly
lethal ways to dispatch enemies – but
I choose to laugh at this sort of thing
rather than spend too much time
questioning it, especially when the
overall package is as enjoyable as it
is. You’ll find car chases, explosions,
helicopters, hostile hillbillies and even
a tank in there, and while there’s no
mistaking that Hardline is driven by
anything other than superb lunacy, it’s
guaranteed to put a satisfied grin on
your face.
It’s fantastic that Battlefield finally
has a solo campaign that’s worth a
damn, but Hardline’s multiplayer is
where things start to unravel – and
multiplayer is where this franchise
is expected to be at its strongest.
On the surface, everything seems
appropriately Battlefield. It presents
wide-open spaces in which to charge
around recklessly firing high-powered
weapons at anything that moves. Want
to strap some C4 to a vehicle and use
it as a steerable explosive? You can do
that. Want to hop in a chopper with a
friend and do strafing runs on enemy
strongholds? Make it happen. You’re
free to go full gangster, hopping in a
sedan with three mates hanging out
the windows and tearing around the
Issue 34 | 2015 The OverClocker 39