Battlefield Hardline open beta starts next week

BFHL Screens Bank Heist Taser WM

The second Battlefield Hardline beta, which we mentioned earlier this month, will start next week on Tuesday, February 3rd and run until Sunday, February 8th, according to an EA press release. Most notably, the beta introduces a new mode called Hotwire. I recently stopped by EA's offices to play Hotwire, but all press impressions of the mode are under wraps until Monday (so, come back then!).

The gist is that both teams have to take control of marked cars, and take down each other's cars—it's all about high-speed chases. That'll be playable on two maps, Downtown and Dust Bowl. The other available mode, Heist, will be playable on the Bank Job map and tasks the criminals with breaking into a vault and shuttling packages to drop off points while the cops, naturally, attempt to stop them.

The beta will also include full multiplayer progression, so you should be able to unlock everything provided you can play nonstop for the six days it's running. No peeing. It'll also include Hacker mode, which is Hardline's version of Commander mode, in which a player can "hack the battlefield in different ways including hacking into security cameras, spotting enemies and specifying areas for their team to attack or defend."

Battlefield Hardline releases March 17th in North America and March 20th in the UK. It'll be on Origin, of course, and that's also how you'll get into the beta, which is open to everyone. Hey, there's a trailer, too:

Tyler Wilde
Executive Editor

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.