Battlefield Hardline

Battlefield Hardline is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Visceral Games in collaboration with EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. It is due for release on October 21, 2014.

Battlefield Hardline features a whole new variety of gameplay that breaks away from the traditional Battlefield game modes. The focus of the game has been shifted to police and the "war on crime", breaking away from the military background that has spanned the series up to now. As such, the main factions in Hardline are the police Special Response Units and the criminals. Players will have access to various military-grade weapons and vehicles, such as the UH-60 Blackhawk as well as having police equipment such as tasers and handcuffs.

Hardline also uses the Levolution mechanic from Battlefield 4. For example, in the map "High Tension", players can send a construction crane crashing into the center of the map, ripping down debris from the central buildings in downtown Los Angeles.

The new game modes are Heist, Rescue, Hotwire Mode and Blood Money.

Heist: The criminals must break packages out of armored trucks by blowing the doors off, then moving the package to an extraction point; the police must stop them. If the Criminals manage to escape by bringing all the packages to the extraction points they win.

Blood Money: Both factions must retrieve money from an open crate in the center of the map, then move it back to their respective sides' armored truck. Players can also steal money from the opposing team's truck. The Team that first deposits $5 million into their truck or the team with the most money under a time limit wins.

Hotwire Mode: Police chase down criminals at high speeds across expansive environments.

Rescue: Police Officers or S.W.A.T must try to save hostages from the criminals.

The plot revolves around Nick Mendoza, a SWAT officer who is involved in criminal activity. For the first time, in Battlefield Hardline, players can complete their objective in various different ways and paths, either silently or violently. A new gadget, called the Police Scanner, can be used to find enemies, important objects and evidences, and mark them.

Battlefield Hardline was revealed on an EA blog post by Vice President and General Manager of Visceral Games, Steve Papoutsis. The game was due for announcement during E3 2014, but information was leaked early. Unlike other games in the Battlefield franchise that feature military warfare, Hardline features a "cops and robbers" gameplay style. The leaked trailer refers to the game as Omaha. "Visceral started work on Battlefield Hardline about a year before Dead Space 3 shipped," creative director Ian Milham has revealed, suggesting that the game may have entered development in early 2012.

As of June 9, 2014, the Battlefield Hardline beta has gone public on their official website, coming after an official announcement at the 2014 Electronics Entertainment Expo that the beta would be coming to PC and PlayStation 4. The beta ended on June 26, 2014.