Review: Battlefield 1943 (Xbox 360)
As gamers, where would we be without the stories & settings to come out of World War II? It’s a time period that’s been beat to death & resurrected only to be beat to death once again so many times that many gamers refuse to play anything that has the Axis or Allied powers in it. We’ve had some bad ones (Hour of Victory) & some great ones (Call of Duty). But, the one that most people agree will go down in the gaming history books is Battlefield 1942. It was originally a multiplayer-only WWII FPS title for the PC & was an instant success. Over the years, the Battlefield brand has grown to include expansions, sequels, other platforms & it even tried it’s hand in Vietnam. Now, DICE has taken their original hit, scaled it back a bit, updated it, & brought it out for the current gen consoles (Xbox LIVE Arcade & PlayStation Network). Typically, in these instances, we wonder if it’ll be a tough sell. Will the fans of the original game accept it? Does it still have enough life in it to bring in new players? But, with the Battlefield stamp on it, the question isn’t “Will it do well?”, it’s “How well will it do?”.
Apparently, EA had some concerns about that as there were server troubles right from the start. The official word was that they needed to add more servers, meaning there weren’t enough to support the demand. But, with all the troubles I’ve seen in the last 5 days, I suspect there were other problems to plague the launch as well. From day one, gamers had trouble joining games by themselves (I didn’t get into one until late Wednesday afternoon), putting a squad together & joining a game, & a lot of folks couldn’t even download it at all. The last thing I want to do is point fingers as I’m not privy to all the things that went down behind the scenes at EA. But, what I will tell you is that now, 5 days later, the problems are just about gone. I’m able to join a game on my own or put a squad together & join a game just fine. It’s not perfect yet, as there are still some instances where I can’t get a squad into a game & the lag’s still occasionally an issue. But, overall, Battlefield 1943 is functioning as it should be as far as I can tell.
The game itself is fun, especially if you’re playing with friends. Which leads me to my first complaint about it. If you want to play a private match, you have to have 16 people. There’s no scaling back to have maybe a 4-on-4 or 6-on-6 match. It must be 8-on-8. If you do have less people & want to put a squad together, you’re limited to 4 players only. Then, once you are in a game, you can invite other players to join your game, provided there are open slots. Lastly, there is no guarantee your squad-mates will all be on the same team. The game will automatically place some of your squad on the opposing team if they’re needed to balance out the team count. I find those limitations to be completely out of place in a title that’s multiplayer focused. One would think you would have more customizing options, rather than less. I’m just going to assume the restraints are due to the fact that this is an Arcade title & not a full fledged retail release.
Just so I make this clear: there is no sngle player side to Battlefield 1943. This is a multiplayer team-based FPS. Maximum team size is 12-on-12 across two factions, the Allies (USA) vs the Axis (Japan). Your objective is to take and hold the majority of the 5 flags on each map until the timer runs out. The timer starts & stops based on who has the majority control. there are 3 maps (with a 4th one that will be unlocked once the overall kill count reaches 42 million) & each one is modeled after real battles in the Pacific Theater. Wake Island, a u-shaped atol, was one of the first places the Japanese attacked at the beginning of the war. In fact, it was attacked the same day as Pearl Harbor. This is the mainstay map in the Battlefield series & has appeared in pretty much every game. Guadalcanal was fiercely fought over during a 6 month period in WWII. The version in the game really reflects that as the map is set up in to facilitate a tug-of-war between the two sides. The last one is Iwo Jima, probably one of the most famous because of the Time magazine photograph of the soldiers raising the US flag on it. This one has the flags fairly congested, showing just how tough it was for the US to take that island from the Japanese forces.
Each player may choose one of three different classes both at the beginning of the game & each time you respawn. The Rifleman gives you a semi-automatic rifle, the alt fire is a grenade launcher attachment for the rifle, a bayonet for melee attacks & grenades to throw. This is your medium ranged guy. The Infantry is equipped with a sub-machine gun, the alt fire is an anti-tank weapon, a wrench & grenades. He is your up-close-and-personal soldier. Short ranged weapon, tank killer & repairman (the wrench allows for repairing planes, tanks & jeeps). Lastly, the Scout is your demolition man & long ranged shooter. He comes equipped with a sniper rifle, a pistol, a bayonet (or sword if you are the Japanese) & explosives. Once the game begins, you can go out on foot, or take one of 3 different vehicles. Planes have a machine gun & plus can drop bombs. Just beware of the anti-air guns scattered around the map. Tanks are slow & can shoot their mortar rounds, plus they have a machine gun nest on top (maned by a teammate). The jeep will get you there quick, but are weak armored & easily destroyed. They also have a separately manned machine gunner.
The gameplay has some differences from the typical FPS style game I’m used to. First, the controls seem vastly different. You still move with the left stick & look with the right, but the button mapping isn’t similar to the other FPS games on the market so it took some getting used to. Second, you will die. ALOT. In what I’m assuming is an effort of realism, you can only take a few hits before you die. Health replenishes on it’s own, no health packs to pick up or anything like that. Also, ammo is unlimited. If you burn up what you have, a little timer starts & once it’s done, you are back to full ammo. I rarely have to use that (pretty much only for the alt fire) as I die long before I run out of bullets. You’ll find backpacks on the ground, left over from the recently deceased, which you can pick up & change your class mid-game without having to die & respawn. Another feature (which I applaud DICE for adding) is that friendly fire is turned off. No more teammates trying (well, they still try, they just aren’t very successful) to kill you just so they can show how big of a jerk they really are.
Regardless of it’s limitations & initial server issues, Battlefield 1943 still wins the war. The reason is plain & simple: it’s fun! From the constant tug-of-war battles to the various ways you can score points (assists, repairing vehicles, etc…), it’s just a ton of fun. Each game lasts about 10 or 15 minutes, so it’s easy to just pick up & play. Conversely, you can hook up with a couple of buddies & make a night out of it without even realizing it’s been all night. The versatility of it is fantastic. My nephew happened to come over & spend a few days with me as Battlefield 1943 launched. He’s 14 & has no prior experience with the series. Here’s what he had to say (keep in mind that it’s unedited & yes, I’m aware of his spelling & grammar issues):
Battlefield is a game made for xbox live fun. This game is a game full of war, and some violence. The game is based on three world war two battles, the firs was at iwo jima, the second is wake island, and the third is guatacanal island. right before you start the game starts the map will come up and show you what it looks like and gives you a description of what happen there. Once your in you will randomly be selected on a side, then you have three different soldiers to pick from. The first is a rifleman which has a long range rifle and a grenade lancher this soldier is very effective against infantry. The next is a infantry unit hwo has a machine gun and a rocket lancher and is effective against tanks. Then there is a scout which has a sniper and a hand gun or a sword. the graphics are preaty good and the game has a real like feel to it.
Battlefield 1943 is rated T for Teen & is available now on both the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 1200MP & the PSN for ($15). You can queue up the trial version for the Xbox 360 here or make your full purchase here.
Rating: 
9 Responses to “Review: Battlefield 1943 (Xbox 360)”
Leave a Reply
Xbox 360 Gamercard
Hey man, great review. Seems like a fun game, the demo was good. You know my stance on the price however.
[...] here to see the original: Review: Battlefield 1943 (Xbox 360) | Quagmire's Kingdom Share and [...]
[...] Originally posted here: Review: Battlefield 1943 (Xbox 360) | Quagmire's Kingdom [...]
[...] Read more: Review: Battlefield 1943 (Xbox 360) | Quagmire's Kingdom [...]
[...] original here: Review: Battlefield 1943 (Xbox 360) | Quagmire's Kingdom Filed under Uncategorized, at, for, from, my, review, the « SlashGear gets a brand [...]
This was a very educational review. Very easy to read too! I like how you write with the ability to give an honest look at what we users can expect.
Great job!
This was my favorite XBLA game of 2009. I even got a pair of xbox 360 game box earrings with them on the cover!
Nice! Yeah, really enjoyed it. Fortunately it launched with plenty of time to spare before the Summer of Arcade. Gave me time to max out the chievos before games like Splosion Man, Trials HD, & Shadow Complex came out…
I have seen people swinging rifle with bayonet attached killing enemy but How do you swing the rifle with bayonet fitted i know how to stab forward with bayonet but not how to swing it.