Battlefield Hardline beta begins today for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation

The eagerly anticipated open beta for Visceral Games' Battlefield Hardline begins today, as I'm sure many of you are aware. But just in case you weren't, the open beta runs from today, February 3, to Sunday, February  8. It's available to all players regardless of platform: PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360.

The beta features three different maps and modes “highlighting this cops and criminals fantasy mode.” This includes the new Hotwire mode which brings high-speed chases to the battlefield, as the criminals attempt to steal a list of marked cars while the cops try to stop them. Hotwire will be playable on two maps: Downtown and Dust Bowl. Battlefield’s signature Conquest mode, which can feature battles up to 64 players,  will also be playable on Dust Bowl. And because Battlefield 4 players met their challenge, a third mode — Heist — is also included New to the Battlefield series, Heist sees the criminals attempting to break into a vault, steal the loot, and take it to various drop off points throughout the map while the cops try to stop them. Heist is be playable on the Bank Job map. You can find details for all of the maps and modes that’ll be available at Battlefield Hardline’s launch here.

Playable in all modes and on all maps is the new Hacker mode, which is basically Hardline's answer to Battlefield 4's Commander Mode. This new feature allows one player on each side to hack the battlefield and gain access into security cameras, providing an opportunity to spot areas and specify areas for their team to attack or defend.

In addition to these modes and maps, the beta also provides us access to "a breadth of multiplayer progression" in the game, including new weapons, vehicles, gadgets, and gear.

The Battlefield Hardline beta can be downloaded right now for PC and Xbox. It'll be available for PlayStation today as well once the PlayStation Store updates. If you plan on playing the PC version, you might want to check out the minimum and recommended system specs to ensure that your computer can run it.

Battlefield Hardline is set to release on March 17 for PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.