Ripten has posted a Battlefield Heroes preview from EA's Studio Showcase.

EA’s free-to-play online shooter, Battlefield: Heroes, hits press beta this fall, but we got to take a turn yesterday at EA’s Studio Showcase. I can tell their spin-off direction is working, because I’ve never touched a Battlefield game and I already feel inclined to spend hours running around in goofy outfits gunning down the enemy faction.

Players create a character, either Royal or National, and choose from three classes. The soldier is the medium build, whereas the beefy gunner compromises speed for firepower, and the commando compromises health for stealth sniping and speed.

Leveling up is probably the easiest it’s ever been, since experience points are 1-to-1 with damage dealt. That means it’s possible to suck so bad that you never manage to kill a single person, but as long as you’re hitting at least part of the time you can progress, unlocking new costumes (goth, ninja, underwear). You also gain experience for capturing flags, healing teammates, and winning matches.

All the battles are 8 Vs. 8 matches to keep the focus on identifying with your faction. The characters seem to run pretty slow, even the commando, but vehicle use is strongly encouraged. Not only can you motor around on the ground in tanks and jeeps, but there’s also an airplane that is so arcadey that other players can ride on the wings, even during a roll–naturally, this will be where the Ripten team position Range.) The executive producer, Ben Cousins, said that every time they add something to the game they ask themselves, “Is this heroic?” I’m guessing that airplane will feel pretty badass.

Dying seems pretty painless. A message appears stating who killed you and how, so you are never left wondering (literally) what hit you, and an arrow pops up to direct you towards the fray from your respawn point.

One thing we didn’t get to see, but that will be a part of the Facebook-like website (with player profiles and wall-to-wall posting) is the territorial overworld game. Apparently players can choose to put some of their upgrade points into map areas. Whichever faction manages to bid higher will get a pay out of extra points. I’m not sure exactly what you would need all these upgrade points for, because at first I was assuming this is maybe more of a post-level-cap activity, but if points are the reward, then maybe there are some outlandishly expensive status symbol costumes to unlock at the end.

In any case, I’m quite eager to spend more time with Battlefield: Heroes. The clean cartoony (and yes, Team Fortress 2 reminiscent) art style and forgiving pick-up-and-play gameplay should entice many new shooter fans.

We’ll keep you posted once the beta keys start coming, but expect full launch sometime this winter. There’s no reason not to try it when it’s free.