Battlefield: Hardline single-player campaign feels like a Miami Vice TV show (hands-on preview)

Battlefield: Hardline has a single-player campaign that evokes a lot of cops-and-criminals television dramas, with a combination of suspense, snappy dialogue, and action. Electronic Arts, which is publishing the first-person shooter game next year, previously showed off the nonstop action of its multiplayer combat. But the single-player campaign tells a story about what it’s like to be a cop dealing with heavily armed criminals in the modern day “war on crime.”

It’s a big departure from Battlefield 4, the last big entry in the military-combat series, which has sold tens of millions of copies. By moving from the military to the police genre, EA is entering the turf of titles like Grand Theft Auto, and it is doing so with a heavy investment in a narrative drama, with quality voice acting and a tight storyline.