Review: 'Battlefield Hardline’ is a Surprisingly Smart Take on a Cop Show

It’s safe to say that a video game about heavily armed police officers shooting up city streets could hardly have come out at a worse time.

Even though Battlefield Hardline is supposed to be inspired by over-the-top Hollywood cop flicks like Bad Boys and Lethal Weapon, it’s next to impossible not to have troubling images of Ferguson, Mo., jump into your head when watching armored SWAT teams cruise through an embattled city in the game’s multiplayer mode.

But Battlefield Hardline is smarter than it lets on. In a surprisingly nuanced campaign, Hardline balances real-world politics with hammy action moments to deliver a heady mix of honest commentary and entertaining action.

For the first time ever, the single-player portion of a Battlefield game is the highlight of the package. Battlefield Hardline tells the tale of Nick Mendoza, a newly minted detective in the Miami Police Department. Mendoza’s first day on the job is essentially Training Day, as his wiseass partner, Stoddard, introduces him to the seedy underbelly of the streets. Stoddard very quickly reveals himself to be an irresponsible gunslinger, opening fire during a police chase and setting up Mendoza as a cop with conscious.

Other games may have put Stoddard in the role of hero, but that sort of gung-ho carelessness is seriously frowned upon in the world of Hardline. It’s the first indication that the politics of this game may not be what they seem.

Structured like a TV cop show — complete with “Previously on Hardline" at the start of each of its 10 episodes — Hardline toys liberally with morality. Cops can be dirty and criminals can be heroic. Despite the game’s title, the line between the two shifts frequently over the course of the solo campaign.

It’s a sharply written story, and compared to the faceless fodder of past Battlefield games, I found the cops and criminals of Hardline to be memorable, charming, funny, likable, and appropriately despicable. I actually cared about these characters, which is more than I can say for most shooters.

That same level of attention carries over to the gameplay, which is another big departure for the Battlefield franchise. The vast majority of the missions in Hardline encourage stealth and nonlethal action. If you’ve played one of the recent Far Cry games, you’ll recognize the territory; Hardline’s missions often mimic the feel of silently clearing a base of enemies.

But instead of using a machete, Mendoza packs a badge and a pair of cuffs, which he uses to freeze enemies in place before arresting them. Nonlethal takedowns like this earn Mendoza experience, unlocking weapons and gear, whereas killing enemies, no matter how aggressive they are, rewards him with nothing.

While the mechanics aren’t perfect — many of the enemies aren’t particularly smart — stealthily clearing an area is immensely satisfying. It’s rewarding to role-play as someone trying to do things the “right” way, even if everyone around him isn’t. Granted, you could charge in and fire your guns off like Yosemite Sam and still proceed through the story, but it’s good to know that the game doesn’t really reward that kind of play.

Well, the campaign doesn’t, at least. While Mendoza’s storyline is thoughtful and complex, the multiplayer of Battlefield Hardline abandons the nuance in favor of letting you blow things up. Which is why, given the current political climate, it can get a bit uncomfortable. I’m not sure a video game that lets cops use military-grade weapons is the best sort of video game to play these days.

But look past the context, and you’ll find a lot of the same Battlefield with a new coat of paint.

Battlefield Hardline multiplayer is all about cops and robbers, pitting two sides against one another in objective-based missions on massive maps. It’s similar to any Battlefield game of the last five years, but with military jeeps and tanks replaced by cop cars and SWAT vans.

Where Battlefield Hardline branches out is in a handful of modes that turn Battlefield multiplayer tenets on their ear. Hotwire, for example, has teams trying to steal cars scattered about the map, earning points for driving recklessly. Another mode, Blood Money, has teams fighting over a stack of cash, trying to bring it back to their home base while preventing the other team from cracking their vault and stealing it back.

All of the new modes in Battlefield Hardline offer enjoyable twists on familiar Battlefield territory. They never feel like they’re working brand new soil, though. For all the risks taken with the solo game, the multiplayer plays decidedly too safe. But for Battlefield veterans, it’s enough of a change of pace to keep things fresh.

A great deal of polish and thought has gone into the menus and unlock system of Battlefield Hardline. Rather than having to hop on a website to see what you’re working to unlock (an actual requirement of Battlefield 4), you can now see all upcoming unlocks within the game itself. Hardline also uses an in-game cash-based system that lets you purchase the upgrades you want while ignoring the rest. It’s much more user-friendly than past games.

It’s also more stable. After the server debacle that plagued the launch of Battlefield 4 back in 2013, we’re all a little punchy when a new shooter with a big multiplayer component is released. So far it seems that EA has learned its lesson, as the live servers are holding up well.

Battlefield Hardline wears a lot of hats. The slow-paced, story-driven campaign is the highlight, offering interesting gameplay while asking smart questions about the nature of the law and the relationship between criminals and cops. The multiplayer bails out on that in favor of the big, brash action most gamers are expecting — and will probably make some people wince at its hot-button imagery — but it plays just fine. Disparate though it may be, as a total package, Hardline is one of the best Battlefield games we’ve seen in years.

What’s Hot: Interesting single-player campaign, engaging storyline, stealth actually works

What’s Not: Overly familiar multiplayer, inconsistent tone, imagery occasionally lacks taste