Game Reviewer: Battlefield 1943

Battlefield 1943 is a World War II-themed first person shooter developed by DICE and EA. It is a download-only game and was released on the Xbox Live Arcade on July 8th. On July 9th, it was released on the Playstation Store. It is also set for a September 2009 release date for PC (on Microsoft Windows). Battlefield 1943 launched for £9.99/€12.99/$14.99 on the Playstation Store and 1200 Microsoft Points on the Xbox Live Arcade. The game uses the same engine as Battlefield: Bad Company, the Frostbite engine, which gives players a destructible environment to play with. The game is very good, but does have some annoying little flaws and letdowns.

Map Selection

Although the game is download-only, and very cheap, 3 maps to play on still seems like too few. Although the 3 maps are very different and suit different styles of play, it does get repetitive very quickly. Even with the new map, Coral Sea, unlocked (now that the player-base has reached a cumulative 43 million community kills), there just isn’t enough variety. The maps also seem to be far smaller than those in Battlefield: Bad Company, making airplanes less effective. You really only get one small pass before you have to turn around, so your machine guns are really only useful for chasing and shooting down enemy aircraft.

Gun Selection

There are 3 classes in Battlefield 1943. These are Rifleman, Infantry and Sniper. The Rifleman carries a rifle, the infantry carries a machine gun and the sniper carries a sniper. Unfortunately, there are no shotguns in the game. It seems very odd that some of the maps have trenches, yet we don’t have a trench gun to use in them. Something else that bothers me is one of the constants in the Battlefield series. For some reason, I have to fully change kit when I pick up a new kit when fighting. I can’t pick up the rocket launcher from an infantry pack while hanging onto my sniper rifle. I have to change from one kit to another, I can’t mix and match by choosing what I want.

Rank System

I love ranking systems. I always have loved ranking systems. I expect that I will continue to, long into the future. One of my favourite things about ranking systems is the challenge of getting to the top of the ladder and the unlocks that accompany your rise. I’ve noticed that PC games generally seem to have harder ranking systems (i.e., it takes far, far longer to get to a high rank). Unfortunately, Battlefield 1943 has no unlocks associated with your rank, and you can rank up far too quickly. If you were to play the game solidly for just a few days, you could reach the top rank with relative ease.

Despite the game’s flaws, it must be remembered that this game is offering amazing value for money. The game has the visuals of a full retail game. Players also get a fully functional Battlefield multiplayer experience. In many ways, we are getting a retail game at a massively reduced price. This game is easily worthy of a 9.0 rating and should be owned by all gamers.