‘Battlefield Hardline’ Suffers DDOS Attacks And EA Access Technical Problems; Devs Poke Fun At ‘Advanced Warfare’

Big multiplayer games often launch with a host of issues either caused by buggy software or the huge numbers of new players all trying to log in and play the game at once. Following the botched release of “Battlefield 4,” EA promised that “Battlefield Hardline” would launch without problems. Unfortunately, a spate of DDOS attacks and an unusual bug related to EA Access subscriptions have marred an otherwise smooth launch.

Gamespot notes that the DDOS attacks were directed specifically at the Xbox One version of the game. A now deleted tweet from the official “Battlefield” Twitter account confirmed the issues, while promising gamers that the dev team was working hard to fix them.

“We’ve identified the connectivity issues on Xbox One are due to DDoS attack and working to resolve. Apologies for the inconvenience,” read the tweet.

Eurogamer reports that despite the intermittent issues, “Battlefield Hardline” seems to have experienced a relatively smooth launch, particularly when compared with that of its predecessor. “Hardline” likely benefited from a staggered release, which allowed EA Access subscribers to gain early access to the game.

The EA Access program gave gamers access to up to 10 hours of the “Hardline” multiplayer mode as well as the first two missions of the cop drama-themed single-player story mode. Unfortunately, Videogamer reports that a technical issue affecting the Xbox One version (the EA Access trial was Xbox exclusive) prevents some players from progressing past this point. The fix involves replaying the first episode in its entirety in order to progress with weapons and rankings intact.

Despite these problems, it’s clear the developers at Visceral have a good sense of humour about the game itself. As noted by VG24/7, the team added a scene to the second section of the “Sovereign Land” mission, near the burnt out house. The player comes across a shallow grave with a shovel stuck in the earth. Analysing it with a cell phone allows players to walk up to the grave, where a prompt appears urging gamers to press the “E” key to pay respects.

A video uploaded by YouTube user DANNYonPC shows gamers exactly where to find the homage. The scene is in reference to a much-derided moment in last year’s “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare,” which saw the player press the “F” key on the keyboard in order to place the protagonist's hand on his fallen brother’s coffin and pay their respects.