Remember Battlefield: Hardline? EA swore blind it was "far more than an expansion pack". For months they trotted out the same rhetoric to a public fully aware they were treating additional content for Battlefield 4 as an entirely different (and far more pricey) game. Come release that proved itself at every turn, as although they'd drafted in some actors to bring a box-ticking cliché-fest of a story to life, outside of that it was business as usual. Gorgeous graphics, lighting effects and weapon sounds were present as usual, but the big 'innovation' in gameplay was - wait for it - showing your badge to people. If you've ever played Last of Us-style indie title I'm Alive (where you threaten groups of survivors in an apocalypse with a gun to keep them at bay) it was exactly the same thing. Awkwardly positioning yourself between any number of perps brought up timed meters that showed they were about to attack, which simply resulted in looking between them and repeating the same thing until you could get close enough for a takedown. That was it, it was terrible, and we all moved on; still patiently waiting for the next proper instalment in an otherwise landmark franchise.
