You could’ve dubbed Visceral’s expansion Criminail Activity when we first talked Battlefield Hardline DLC late last week – there was certainly a touch of Black & Decker about its new weaponry. But there’s more going on with it than that: four exquisitely weathered maps, six pieces of headgear and, in the spirit of Battlefield, at least one quite silly vehicle.
Criminal Activity is the first of four Hardline expansion packs due to run into next year. As usual, premium players enjoy a two week grace period to play each of them.
There are four new maps here. One is a Floridian vision of palm trees and neon nightlife named Code Blue, while The Beat paints a grimmer, grottier picture of Miami. It’s enlivened by a car mod shop, replete with a low ride that boasts a chain-link steering wheel and extra-bouncy suspension. That’s one of two new vehicles coming in Criminal Activity.
Elsewhere, Backwoods is all tall trunks and battered buses; a southern US countryside faded like old jeans. And Black Friday weaponises the mall battles of Thanksgiving. Somewhere within, we’ll find a familiar space-engineer’s mask sitting on a mannequin.
There’ll be four police headgear options, and two Hotline Miami-style animal masks like those seen in the trailer.
But the highlight might wind up being the new Bounty Hunter game mode. In his Battlefield Hardline review, our Matt felt that too many of its modes felt more like ye olde Battlefield than cops and crims. Did you feel the same way?