If you’re one of the many who’ve participated in the Battlefield Hardline beta, chances are you’ve noticed some key changes to Visceral Games’ version of the established shooter franchise.
One of the key changes players might have noticed is how headshots are handled in Hardline. While in normal multiplayer shooters, a headshot would normally equate to a “one-hit kill,” meaning that one hit would down the enemy and force them to be revived or respawn. This wasn’t the case with Hardline and now we know why.
In an interview, Senior Multiplayer Designer Evan Champlin explains that this gameplay change is due to “balance.”
The short answer is balance…Because the time to kill was something we wanted to make sure isn’t super short. We want players to be able to compete with skill, and the randomisation that comes from the single headshots, even though you’re putting [rounds] on target and you feel like you’re getting that shot, the randomisation creates an experience that isn’t particularly fun.
In the same interview, Chaplin was also asked about Hardline’s “time-to-kill” (TTK), which was noticeably faster than that of Battlefield 4. Fortunately for those who prefer BF4, it seems it will be close to it when the final game releases.
With some of the latest tunings, we’re probably very similar [to other Battlefield games]…A lot of it depends on range. The way that the system works in Battlefield is relatively complex because we’re modelling a lot of different stuff, [such as] the range of the weapon. I would say we’re pretty close to where Battlefield [4] is now; maybe it’s slightly longer, depending on the weapon.
Do you agree with Chaplin’s explanations? Or would you rather Visceral Games revert back to how things were in previous games in the franchise?
[Source: IGN]
