And, anyway, isn't it just a rip-off of Valve's Team Fortress 2? Well, no. That's a little unfair, though it didn't stop people asking Cousins that exact question at a recent EA press show. "Everyone is asking me to explain 'What's so different between Battlefield Heroes and TF2'. But for me the only thing that's similar is that they're PC shooters," he stressed.
"Our idea was a business decision - it doesn't sound creative, but that's what happened. Some DICE guys were in South Korea, where gaming is about downloading something at an internet cafe, and maybe buying some extra bits but maybe not. Games over there are played by a very broad audience - Kart Rider has been played by quarter of the population!"
"So we said 'Let's try this'," Cousins continues. "But you need a huge broad audience to make any money, because only a small portion of the audience will ever pay any money for anything. You need a lot of people playing it. Which means you need low system specs, it has to be easy to get into, and that directs you toward the cartoony mainstream approach and appearance."
As for our worries about gameplay, it's not like DICE can't make good shooters. BF2 is one of the best multiplayer games on PC, and we're confident that this Beta stage will help DICE make Heroes a more meaty, satisfying and engaging experience.
Right now, for instance, the special powers you can select (like creating a forcefield to repel oncoming vehicles) aren't particularly intuitive in the middle of a battle, andit's hard to see the effect at times, or even work how to get the most from each power. Irks like this will surely prompt strong words on the Beta forums - these are gamers, after all - helping DICE to improve Battlefield Heroes. Which ought to turn it into a brilliant and fun online shooter, not just a free-to-play lunchtime blast.
