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.