With all of the action-packed FPS games available, when a brand new one is released it really needs to stand out above the rest. Something needs to give it that extra oomph so that it will move units, draw more players in, and rise above the pack.

In the case of Battlefield Heroes, EA and developer DICE are teaming up to bring a fresh new multiplayer experience without the pesky commitments. The game has one thing going for it that few games out there have--it’s free. Not only will it be free to play to your heart’s content online, but it will be free to obtain. What’s more is that this game is very light on your computer’s resources. The creators’ intention was to create a simple and fun game that anyone could pick up and play. It’s safe to say that Battlefield Heroes will run on just about any system you can throw at it, within reason.

Though the game will be free to play, EA and DICE will be making their share of money. There are advertisements and an online shop in which players will be able to buy clothing items and other bling with which to deck their soldier out with. People can pay cold hard cash to get their character looking exactly like they want. Having a shop that provides more customization possibilities will draw the loot in, so the most important part (the game) can stay free. With no fees to pay and no hoops to jump through to get up and started, anyone (even less-privileged folk) can become a great asset to the Battlefield universe. All you’ll need is your computer, your internet connection, and the drive to win.

Having been granted a look at the closed beta that’s currently online, it’s clear that Battlefield Heroes is a force to be reckoned with, to a fault. While it delivers a very fresh and easy to get into shooter experience, it also displays the ugly side of the genre.

It draws heavily from the colorful world of Team Fortress 2, with character classes of its own and scenery that looks like it was plucked straight from a cartoon. While it does lack the more strategic elements that TF2 contains, it makes up for it with its charm and humor.

First things first--when the game comes out of closed beta and it is released to the public, players will need to create EA accounts to use for the game. When that’s all said and done it will be possible to visit the official website and create a character. If you don’t feel satisfied with your first creation, you can create up to four different soldiers to switch between at any given time. You can choose to side with the Royal Army or the National Army, neither of which make much of a difference in combat. It’s all about the pretty colors and aligning with the "good" or "bad" characters.

After choosing sides, players will need to decide on a class that their soldier will specialize in. The three available to choose from are Soldier, Gunner, and Commando. The Soldier fills the "all-purpose" category in that it’s a very well-rounded class. The ability to throw more than one grenade at once can be quite the frustrating move for Soldiers to pull, since when one grenade explodes, it forces the rest to spread out and bounce away to unexpected locations. Using this can get you out of a few sticky situations or shift the balance from which team is winning. For those of you who feel more comfortable as enormous thugs with loads of gunpower to boot, the heavily-armed and well-protected Gunner is the path to take. They’re armed with machine guns and bazookas, to make up for the fact that they’re sluggish. Last but not least, Commandos are the stealthy, fox-like bunch. They’re adept with knives as well as sniper rifles.

Character customization possibilities are a bit limited. There is no option to create female soldiers, and the faces you can use for your soldiers are a bit bland. However, more parts are available to purchase if you accumulate Valor Points in-game or spend real world cash. Aside from those purchases, there are clothing items available such as hats, necklaces, different clothing, and various other articles that you might find interesting. My Soldier, Baltimora, currently runs around in tighty-whities and a very effeminate hat that I deemed worthy of the battlefield. Whatever you choose to deck out your virtual soldier in, it has no bearing on how much damage you inflict on opponents or even your hit points. They’re simply available for the sake of vanity.

As of right now there are two maps available: Seaside Skirmish and Victory Village. Out of the two I have to say that Seaside Skirmish is my favorite by far. Simply put, it’s a quiet little village by the sea that’s overflowing with vehicles and weapons with which each player can wreak as much havoc as they please. When one gets a quiet moment with which to spend looking around and sightseeing, they find that without war having broken out all around, it’s quite a peaceful landscape that wouldn’t be out of place in a quaint little RPG. While it’s built more for larger-scale battles via tanks and planes, close-quarters combat is still very useful.

Victory Village is your standard town landscape where man-to-man combat is more prevalent than vehicle-on-vehicle action. It’s chock full of houses to hide behind and scenery to explore. While both maps are fun to play on, they do not feel as fleshed-out as I would have liked. For instance, they both feel very flat and lifeless compared to environments in more graphically-intensive games. That’s to be expected, of course, since it is crafted to run on most computers.