Getting my butt kicked in EA’s Battlefield Hardline: Criminal Activity expansion (hands-on video)

Electronic Arts is showing off the first hands-on previews of Battlefield Hardline: Criminal Activity, and I had the assignment of being one of the first people to be destroyed while playing it. I happened to be at the same multiplayer preview event as some of the best Battlefield players in the world, and no one told me that. The game is available for early access on EA’s Origin digital distribution service soon.

Still, it was privilege to play the first expansion for Battlefield Hardline, the big EA cops-and-robbers shooter game that debuted in March. The expansion brings a lot of new features that will keep players busy, including four new maps, two new vehicles, two new ammunition types, a new gadget, three new weapons, six new masks, and a new Bounty Hunter mode. I played for a few hours and captured some video of my game play on all of the maps. One of the coolest new weapons is the Thompson submachine gun, a throwback to the 1920s weapon popularly known as the Tommy Gun. EA actually has to call it the M1A1 for licensing reasons, but we know it’s a noisy and crazy gun.

The backstory to the expansion is that detectives have uncovered evidence of a secret crime ring that is behind terrorizing of the population. The maps include Backwoods, Code Blue, The Beat, and Black Friday. The first time I played the Black Friday map, I came out with zero kills. I eventually got better, but just a little.

Check out our full preview story and our interview with one of Battlefield’s developers, Zach Mumbach, multiplayer producer at EA’s Visceral Games. And check out the videos of action in each of the maps below.

Black Friday was where I discovered that I was playing against some very good players. The battle takes place in an abandoned shopping mall. You can pick up a nail gun in the stores.

The Code Blue map is an street battle that converges on a giant nightclub with flashing blue disco lights. The central room is a magnet for close-range combat.

The Beat is set in a run-down neighborhood with retail locations and huge apartment complex. You can drive vehicles into gas station and cause huge destruction. This video starts out with some crazy action.

Backwoods is a large map in a logging mill in the Pacific Northwest.