The long-running Battlefield series is back with Battlefield 1943, a download-only game on the Xbox 360 (tested), PS3, and PC. It takes players to the Pacific theater of World War II where it puts the US Marine Corps up against the Japanese Imperial Army. It’s a formula we all know well–the World War II FPS–but now we see a few interesting new maps and guaranteed action thanks to a huge release on the Xbox 360.
In fact, the release was the game’s first problem. Its servers were totally overwhelmed from the start on the Xbox 360 and players could barely get in the game for the first 24 hours or so. It was a very frustrating experience because you would try to get in a game over and over and if you finally got in you could play for a few minutes and then you would get kicked… except being kicked caused my Xbox to freeze which was more than a bit annoying. Before long servers were added and the game seemed totally stable.
BF1943 starts off with three maps (Iwo Jima, Wake Island, and Guadalcanal) with a fourth (Coral Sea) added when a particular system’s players hit 43 million total kills (this happened July 15th on Xbox 360). Coral Sea is dogfight only, so it will be a unique aspect of the game, but not a giant addition of content, unless if you can’t get enough of the planes/anti-aircraft guns.
From the start Battlefield 1943 seems sparse compared to much of the competition. You only have three classes to choose from (assault, rifleman, and sniper… basically close, medium, and far range specialists) and each person has a single explosive choice, melee, and secondary weapon. You can’t get new weapons with more experience points, in fact there seems to be no particular benefit from amassing experience aside from in-game achievement stamps and personal pride. What Battlefield does offer are vehicles and awesome gun placements. In 1943 you get a plane, tank, landing boat, jeep, anti-aircraft flak canon, and machine gun turret. The vehicles (more so than the gun placements) are the game big draw as they add a great element to combat and they allow for team action, as you can pile three guys in a jeep, two in a tank, and so on. Of course, the planes are extremely fun to use, and can be very deadly if you are good enough to use them properly, but most people can’t.
It’s hard to generalize about games with as many total players as Battlefield 1943, especially when I’m focusing only on the Xbox, but overall the combat is fast and furious but easy to follow. There are a maximum of 24 players per map, enemies and friends are clearly defined thanks to colored flags over their heads and there is no team-killing so you don’t have much to worry about while you are firing away.
Teamwork is a must because each map has five flags that have to be controlled to be successful, but a problem arises in that there aren’t any mechanics aside from the vehicles that promote teamwork. Maybe you’ll run with a group of guys to make an attack, but without anyone chatting there is little organization and the lack of cohesive groups of enemies means that often a single good player is all that is needed to take over a base. This is probably a result of the fact that the maps are large, there are multiple choose-able spawn points, and at any time more than a few players are either flying planes or hanging out waiting for a plane to spawn. So with 24 players in-game you might only have 16 fighting and those are spread out all over the maps. The result of this is you might march into a key base and see no defenders there, or just one guy that you can sneak up on. Strategically speaking, it’s disappointing.
Another shortcoming of the game is the weapon firing. The weapon models look good enough, and their firing action feels right, but the result of that firing is far from perfect. I ended up often just firing as much as possible at an enemy hoping they would die, not shooting them with a great shot and knowing that I got them or even expecting a certain reaction. I’m probably used to Call of Duty 4 which, in my opinion, nailed this aspect of the game, so BF1943 firing seems like a crapshoot compared to what I would expect from a multi-player FPS in 2009. It’s different, not completely bad, but it just never felt totally right to me. The machine gun was probably the best feeling main gun and the rifle action felt completely disconnected, turning what could be the game’s most versatile weapon into something not particularly fun to use.
The Battlefield formula tries to ensure that all these shortcomings are made up by the addition of vehicles (at least as much as that is possible). This didn’t work out exactly as well as it could have, but the vehicles are all very well done, and what’s more, they are balanced. The size of the maps makes them important simply for transportation purposes–this is where the jeep comes in handy–but they have other advantages as well. A critical advantage is firepower as the jeep has a machine gun operated by a passenger and the tank has its shells, as well as a driver-controlled machine gun and a passenger-controlled one. Vehicles are also great for making sure two or more teammates arrive at a location at the same time. While the plane, unless controlled by an expert, is only a minor annoyance most of the time, the tank is a different story. It is heavily armored, rather versatile, and has different attack options, making it the best spearhead for attacks. It is vulnerable to the assault players’ bazooka as well as rifle-propelled grenades, but it generally takes 2-3 hits to destroy a tank, by which time the attacker has usually been vanquished. So the tank is a bit on the powerful side, if it was a little slower or the shells took longer to refill it could be a bit more balanced, but overall when a single soldier has to go up against a tank, the tank usually wins.
While playing the game you will accumulate points for kills, kill assists, captures, and destroying vehicles (you lose points for suicides). Points won’t earn you any weapons but you will get post-match bragging rights and you’ll move up the ranks over time. The game has Microsoft’s standard 200 Xbox Live Achievement points, as well as in-game achievements which tend to be more difficult to acquire. These systems feel tacked on and while they are better than nothing, they left me wishing for more.
Considering the $15 price tag it’s hard to deny that Battlefield 1943 is a good game on a number of different levels. It delivers a balanced WWII FPS with polished sound and first class visuals, plus it allows for the command of vehicles that are more than just a distraction–they are a major part of the game. Those features noted, the game lacks the depth that I’ve come to look for in a multi-player FPS. The weapon options are limited, there is little teamwork amongst the players (at least so far), and, most significantly, there are only four maps. Realistically there are only three because Coral Sea is separate from the main play mode and looks like it will just end up being a sandbox/deathmatch for people who don’t feel like waiting for a plane on the main maps.
We have to make allowances for Battlefield 1943 because it is $15 and downloadable, so with these in mind the game is quite impressive. Casting these aside, the game is no COD4, World at War, or Team Fortress 2, but it’s not trying to be. The Battlefield series has its own fans and its own strengths, and if you can appreciate the game for what it is you should be able to get more than a few hours of fun out of it.
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