Battlefield Play4Free

Battlefield Play4Free is a free to play first person shooter and is the tenth game in the Battlefield series. It uses the Refractor 2 Engine used in Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142, supporting up to 32 players online in large-scale battles featuring jets, helicopters, and tanks. Battlefield Play4Free went into a closed beta on November 30th, 2010, and went in to open beta on April 4th, 2011. Battlefield Veteran players were granted access to the open beta four days early on March 31st, 2011. Facebook and Twitter fans were granted early access on April 2nd.

Setting
Battlefield Play4Free takes place in a contemporary modern warfare setting, during a fictional war between the United States and Russia in war zones originally featured in Battlefield 2.

Gameplay
Battlefield Play4Free features only an online mode similar to Battlefield Heroes, albeit much more resembling Battlefield 2. Up to 32 players can simultaneously battle in maps from Battlefield 2 such as Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, and Sharqi Peninsula in a modified version of the classic Conquest game mode, using weapons, vehicles, and equipment from both Battlefield 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The launch trailer, featured below, also shows off Operation Road Rage as a playable map, but it is not included as of yet.

There are four kits featured in the game, much like in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. These are the Assault, Medic, Engineer, and Recon kits. Each has its own specific weapons and gadgets it may use to contribute to the team effort, but every class may acquire a shotgun, similar to Bad Company 2.

Since Battlefield Play4free is developed by Easy Studios, the same developers of Battlefield Heroes, it uses a similar system of player customization. Players may acquire these customizations through Credits to own them for a shorter period of time, or Battlefunds to own them longer or permanently.

Battlefunds can be used interchangeably in both Play4Free and Heroes. These customizations have purely aesthetic effect and have no impact on gameplay whatsoever. However, like in Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield Play4Free will have new weapons in the Play4Free Store in-game.

2011/02/14 Web and Game Update
A forum post was made by Silvanoshi (Chris Murphy, the community representative for Battlefield Play4Free) on the Battlefield Play4Free Official Site concerning what was changed in this update, fixing server connectivity issues that players were having during the closed beta.

2011/02/24 Web and Game Update
The second update, as posted in the forums by Silvanoshi, was geared towards improving the user HUD in-game and fixing some minor bugs that were found.

2011/03/10 Web and Game Update
A third update was released in preparation for the Open Beta that would start on April 4th, as posted by Silvanoshi, mainly ironing out over 85 bugs that were found.

2011/03/10 Web Update
Another post was made the same day by Silvanoshi about an update for the site, making it easier to locate friends on other servers.

2011/03/17 Game Update
A fourth update to the game was released, as Silvanoshi posted, that fixed client and server-side issues in performance that were addressed.

2011/03/31 Web Update
An update to the web browser was released, as Silvanoshi detailed, that updated the appearance to the game menu, as well as making the weapon store easier to understand. Veterans of Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 1943 were also granted access to the closed beta.

2011/04/01 Game Update - Bug crush Splatterhouse
The game was updated again to remove around 100 bugs to improve stability as the Open Beta was just days away. Silvanoshi gave an overview of the changes in this post.

2011/04/05 Game Update
Silvanoshi posted in the Forums that many updates would be occurring over the next few months as the game moves from beta to release, with this update fixing minor bugs in the site and game.

2011/04/26 Web Update
This update, as Silvanoshi noted, improved the game's store menu and added a hover effect for weapons and items in the store.

2011/05/03 Game Update
This patch improved game performance, and added in tweaks like HUD icons for player requesting service like ammunition, medkits, or repairs that would show up on player's screens that had what the requester needed and it also brought the return of the Motion Sensor's ping when enemies are discovered in its range.

2011/05/10 Game Update
This update fixed issues players were having with gaining XP in-game, but not receiving it once they exited.

2011/05/16 Web Update
This update focused on updating the menu system and store to improve its use and also to fix issues players were having with not being the correct level.

2011/05/17 Game and Web Update
This update brought in 10 new weapons into the game, including Holosight versions of the STG77AUG, the UMP45, and the M249 SAW, as well as an Enhanced Scope M95 with two magnification levels on its scope, with an addition of six regular-sighted Elite weapons including the SCAR-L, the MP5, the SVU-A, the MG36, the SPAS-15, and the P226.

2011/05/31 Game and Web Update
This update added four new weapons: the M4A1, the UZI, the M240B, and a Holosight-scoped M14 EBR. It also added new scoring functions such as receiving points for planting tracer darts, spotting kill assists, and passenger kill assists.

Soundtrack
Music for Battlefield Play4Free was provided by the Swedish metal band Corroded. After large amounts of requests from the community for a full version of the song featured in the teaser trailer, Easy Studios collaborated with Corroded to release the full version of the song, titled "Age of Rage". The song is currently available for purchase on iTunes.

Media
 Video:Battlefield Play4Free Launch Trailer|Launch trailer Video:Battlefield Play4Free Oman Trailer|Gulf of Oman trailer Video:Battlefield Play4Free - Teaser Trailer #1 (ESRB)|Teaser trailer