Crosshair is Battlefield Hardline’s most hardcore and competitive multiplayer mode. Traditional Conquest, of course, sees big battles with vehicles, exploding skyscrapers, and huge heists, but Crosshair focuses down, amps up the difficulty, and puts everyone at a high level of risk. Nobody respawns when they’re killed, and it makes either hunting or rescuing a VIP that much more challenging.
Two teams of five face off in standard shooter style. Cops and criminals load up with weapons and gadgets, spawn opposite each other on a map, and attempt to wipe out the other team as quickly as possible – Crosshair’s three-minute timer forces the teams’ hands in that way. Amid all this, a player-controlled VIP has to extract at one of two designated points.
Even without the presence of vehicles, his police escort means he should, technically, have the advantage -- he’s an extra gunman on the cops’ side, and his heavy-duty pistol can kill a criminal cold in just a couple shots. That said, criminals don’t need to wipe the cops – they just want to kill the snitch the police are protecting before he can get to the escape point and rat them out.
Stealth becomes a valuable tactic in Battlefield Hardline all of a sudden, and not just because you’re sniping from bushes. Playing as the VIP, I felt vulnerable at all times, but powerful enough to protect myself if a situation went sideways. I hid behind trucks to break sightlines, crouched beneath windows to avoid snipers, and rarely exposed myself on rooftops or ladders. You don’t have to put knife kills ahead of a fast-paced and loud push to the extraction point, though. Flashbangs, frags, and heavy duty guns from the police definitely do the deed. I combined these tactics a lot, too. If my cop friends started making a ruckus, I’d pull back, sneak around, and find a route where nobody was trading bullets. After all, if I’m caught out of position, my lone death earns my entire team a loss.
VIPs are valuable for cops in other ways, and in ways that de-emphasize sneaking. The VIP can lead police to heavy weapons stashes, allowing them to unload LMGs or explosives on criminals expecting the typical array of laser-sighted rifles. This puts the criminals team in the position of having to pursue their target aggressively. Hiding around a corner or mounting on a rooftop with a sniper rifle both serve as valuable tactics, but if you don’t find the VIP, you don’t win.
Why wouldn’t you throw a couple firebombs into doorways, or plant proximity explosives along suspected routes?
Crosshair moves fast, and it functions much different than Battlefield players are used to. Visceral sees it as a competitive mode for Battlefield Hardline; they’re hopeful it’ll catch on in the eSports scene, but hesitant to position it as “the eSports mode.” Regardless, it’s off to a fun start.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/01/...ta_id=16568252