Battlefield 1943 is an exclusively downloadable online shooter set during the Pacific portion of WWII. It supports twenty-four players and does a decent job of sticking to the Battlefield universe. It would have been tough for developers to explain a WWII tale where a rag tag group of undisciplined soldiers in the Pacific had to engage in a gold heist, so 1943 is Conquest all the way. DICE, longtime Battlefield developer, offers most of the franchise’s experience for around fifteen dollars. Although Battlefield 1943 is overall a pretty good deal and may tickle your fancy for a little while, balance issues and dull maps won’t keep you returning to battle for long.
The maps complement 1943’s setting well enough. Beaches, bamboo shrubs, and mountains all make a fitting appearance for the Pacific setting. Yep, Asia is well presented. There are four maps total. I think. I can’t remember, and I’m pretty certain most players won’t keep track either. They all look and feel pretty much the same. Yes, I understand the game focuses on a few key battles in the Pacific, but more diversity would have been nice. They each feature similar color schemes, buildings, and terrain. The major difference between the maps is that one or two (again, I can’t be sure) initially spawn players on their team’s respective aircraft carriers. You’ll have to take a boat to the main combat zone. If you miss a boat, enjoy either a brief wait or a very long swim.
The weaponry players will tote across these maps are easily the biggest letdown for 1943. There are three distinct classes, all of which on the immediate surface seem balanced and offer unique pros and cons. Rifleman have a medium range, semi-automatic rifle, and the infantryman carry a short range machine gun and bazooka. Both carry hand grenades. There are a couple of problems with this setup; neither feel like they pack much of a punch. The machine gun (ahem, A1 Garand) may as well have been an automatic sling shot. The weak damage per second (which is arguably a sore spot in the series) coupled with a small clip make for some frustrating gameplay. I guess the rifle is okay, but the secondary grenade launcher (just in case you run out of hand grenades) is woefully inaccurate and just as ineffective as it was in Bad Company.
Since the other two are limp as can be, Battlefield 1943 de-evolves to what nearly every other online shooter eventually falls ill: a boring, frustrating map full of twenty-four snipers. This game just does it much more quickly. It’s not just that the other two classes are too weak, but the sniper rifle is also much stronger! Though getting hit by a sniper isn’t nearly as unforgiving as in Battlefield 2, prepare for many one hit kills. Furthermore, the sniper’s secondary weapon is a cluster of three remote explosions. The ability to unleash devastating ranged attacks and defend flags from the other half of the map make the sniper class irresistible.
Issues with giving damage is magnified by how players take damage. Since the Halo series launched, rechargeable health has popped up in several games. 1943 supports this game mechanic rather than relying on the traditional field medic class. This omission is understandable given the smaller scope of a downloadable game, but not necessarily forgivable. Unrealistic health packs disappear, but I don’t see how Wolverine-powered healing fits in better. It’s frustrating to hit opponents several times only to have them duck behind a rock for ten seconds, pop back up and proceed to hit you with a bazooka. In addition, knowledge of instantaneous healing eliminates a lot of white-knuckled survival tension. Time really will heal all wounds.
There are a few other minor issues. Voice chat is largely ineffective. You may be able to hear fellow teammates in your immediate vicinity, or you may not. And the times you do are often a bit garbled. The weird voice chat issues can be a shame for some since the squad system has been improved since previous iterations of the franchise. Players now have the ability to create private squads that remain intact throughout the duration of a game. If you’ve got some buddies and patience, the new squad system can open up some fresh opportunities.
Obviously, the main draw to 1943 is its attractive price point. It’s a tremendous leap forward in terms of downloadable content. Even though large expansion packs and add-ons have been offered via Live and PSN, for some reason 1943 seems to be the cheerleader for the future of DLC. But that’s partly the problem. It’s only a glimpse at the future. Downloading the latest, full-fledged AAA titles is a long ways down the road. But then again, DLC is still in the eyes of the beholder. It could also be argued that games like 1943 are the sole purpose of DLC.
In any case, writing this review with honesty was pretty difficult. Scanning the review, I notice the bulk is negative. How do you judge a game when it’s blatantly not meant to sit on retail shelves next to the latest and greatest? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed 1943 - for a little while, anyways. But glaring issues popping up in subsequent installments is a real buzz kill. I hate to see stupid issues marring a great gaming template, which Battlefield certainly has. Even if it is a low priced downloadable game, most of the balance issues could have been tweaked for a more streamlined experience.
EA: "As we close in on 15 years since the release of Battlefield 1943, and Bad Company™ 1 & 2, we are announcing that their journey is coming to an end."
This reminds me... I have ME on my PS3 hdd. Never really played it, but it was free.
And it still says nothing about being able to downloaded even when it's off the storefront, that's a huge ouchie for some who somehow still have it in their backlog...
Dont make it an issue when it's not. If you haven't played it in 15 years, chances are you'll never play it.
Online game servers shut off eventually all the time. Doesn’t matter if you have the disc or not. Even if you have the disc, it’ll be just paperweight unless the game lets you connect directly to a friend or LAN play.
Read the article bro. They are delisting the games, including mirrors edge which is an offline game. Online servers i can understand, not being able to buy/download the games anymore? Completely separate issue, especially seeing as how some these games had lengthy sp campaigns and not just mp.
Some brilliant minds created servers to keep these old online games alive. A lot of ps2 and ps3 games that had there servers shut down a long time ago have been restored by fans to keep it going. Warhawk, killzone 2, socom 2/ confrontation, resident evil outbreak series, etc.
The disc still exist. I don’t understand the issue. You guys are upset about that “all digital future” yet these games are not “digital only”. Hell digital only is a minority in the gaming world and so far we haven’t moved into it, the only digital only games are games as a service or online only games, which end up failing in the end.
This is no different than a store that stops selling old games, just go and buy a copy somewhere else. So which is it, you hate all digital or you like it? Make up your mind.
Talk about missing the point entirely. I'm not going to sit here and explain it to you, figure it out.
Talk about whining about something and not wanting to explain from an off handed sarcastic original comment.
I got the point just fine. You’re literally complaining about something that has an easy alternative to it.
@ManMarmalade
No I got it, it has to do with the push towards a future of all digital and reprocussions of losing games. Something I already stayed that hasn’t happened nor is it large enough right now to cause any issues as the games that are all digital are online only to begin with or make up the minority of games
So I’ll say it again, the disc still exists for these games that are over a decade old and can still be played easily. You guys are contradicting the whole “we don’t want a digital only future” crying when the dude I originally responded to stated:
“Read the article bro. They are delisting the games, including mirrors edge which is an offline game. Online servers i can understand, not being able to buy/download the games anymore? Completely separate issue, especially seeing as how some these games had lengthy sp campaigns and not just mp.“
So again, which is it? Do you hate all digital or do you want it?
On PC I don't think it's much of a problem but I'm sad to see BF43 being shut down. I haven't played it in a while since it's stuck on PS3, but i preferred it way more over BF3. It was the lack of invisible barriers which made it better for me.
Does anyone play the last BF anymore? I searched crossplay servers and it was 20 people the most on all the servers? Can never find a game
The last BC you mean? I was still able to find 10v10 on ps3 2 years ago on NA servers during the evenings. I have all the free and paid dlc installed, but there want any matches in the Vietnam dlc.
Carlos writes: "In terms of Battlefield, the past 10 years has seen the series go from strength to strength, and whilst there will be many who would argue that the hit and miss adventures of Battlefield: Hardline didn’t quite live up to the excitement that the series is so well known for, each and every entry has at least provided plenty to shout about. Should you look back far enough and manage to take your mind away from Battlefield: Bad Company 2, what you may well remember is a small, online-only multiplayer adventure that lit up the Xbox Live Arcade – Battlefield 1943."
Great little game but yet again, no offline bots so once the servers went, so did all its players. What a waste.
Game developers should - and can - trust the player to consume their entertainment while maintaining perspective.
Howdy, good review, although you may have been a bit harsh - maybe. Anyway, you've got to keep in mind that it is a downloadable game, so you can't expect insanely good graphics, for a 565MB download, they aren't bad.
I have to agree with you on the ballance issues though. I don't know why, but starting with Bad Company, they for some reason got rid of the autobalance, why? Sure it was a pain in the arse if you got changed team, but it was neccesary, you don't even get the option to change team yourself! 1943 does tend to stack the good players on one team every so often, which gets annoying.
More maps wouldn't hurt, but Gaudalcanal is awesome, and Iwo Jima ain't bad, although they have slaughtered Wake Island, which used to be awesome in BF2 (although Strike at Karkand was better - best map ever IMO).
I disagree with the score.1943 was an awesome game
A very fair review, I liked it.
Although I do disagree with your points of view I still find it to be a very enjoyable exerience, despite these issues.