Once again, EA demoed its colorful and cartoony Battlefield Heroes at the EA Summer Showcase today. While the game remains in the popular Battlefield franchise, it’s a departure from games of the past in several ways. The first and biggest is that it’s free to play and will largely be supported by advertising in between games and on the web site. Second is the game’s more playful style, which also includes visuals that aim more towards fun than realism (think Team Fortress 2 and you’ve got it).

Heroes will put players in third person to enjoy their fully customizable costumed characters. It’s an easier style to get behind for players who may not want to get too serious, which EA is hoping will be a large group with the automatic game matching for skill level. The third and other biggest difference from BF games of old is the skill system. Each class will come with several skills that are activated much like they are in a game like World of Warcraft. These include vehicle repairs, healing, shields, special attacks (like grenade spamming and fiery bullets), and so on which used to be bound to equipment but now are simply activated at the press of a button.

We had the chance to sit down and get into the game again and shoot some of the beta testers (or be shot by them constantly) which gave us plenty of time to notice that tanks aren’t as deadly to infantry anymore (and each infantry class comes equipped with something that can take down a tank, like sticky bombs) and aircraft are mainly used for destroying other vehicles. It’s also definitely a trip to see the different costumes characters are wearing into combat. Bizarre for sure, but also pretty fun and setting up your character’s look is easy as pie in the Flash setup screen before play.

Though the level shown at the Showcase was the same one that we’ve seen at prio events there was some new information courtesy of DICE’s Ben Cousins. As many of you undoubtedly know, the game’s launch was delayed until later this year. The good news is that this is giving the team plenty of time to fix any problems and iron out any balance issues resulting from the distribution of weapons and MMO-like skills given to each of the character classes.

The beta testing process began this summer in closed form, and it recently began to open up to friends and family to test a lot of the items and customization. But those eagerly anticipating their chance to play the cartoony shooter will have wait till this fall when the test opens up this fall.

Finally, Battlefield Heroes will release to the public this winter. Once again, this is a free-to-play game that EA and DICE are hoping will turn into something bigger, as it will be paired with a Web presence that is designed to replicate the experience that Facebook and MySpace users get on a regular basis. This isn’t just stat tracking, but the chance for players to show off their customized characters, join groups, even comment on each other’s "walls" for a little smack-talk or simply to say hello. It’s certainly not unheard of to have this kind of focus on community as interest level climbs in this, our favorite pastime.

Source: IGN