The gaming public are not as dumb as you think, marketers. Right from the off, Battlefield's initial announcement as this cops n' robbers spin-off from Battlefield 4 sounded like it should've been DLC, and despite the following months featuring EA getting out there and proclaiming it was a "full game" that would offer the same sort of quality as their standard releases, Hardline felt in every single way like an add-on. The hook behind everything was that you were a cop, opening up the campaign to focus on all sorts of tactile insertion methods and ways to bring perps in without harming them. Except, once you understood that all translated into "Hold your badge out at someone to make them stop moving", every group showdown turned into an awkward situation of entire armed gangs throwing their hands up, relaxing them and preparing to fire... and then stopping again. Multiplayer was more of the same despite EA touting collapsible environments and ways to exfiltrate following some pretty neat-looking heists, and the story itself got away from trying to survive as a cop in Miami pretty fast, making the fact you could still hold your badge out to arrest guys incredibly dumb.
