Just when you thought the WWII genre had well and truly passed its expiry date, Battlefield 1943 shines down on us from what we can only describe as game heaven.
1943 is such a thrill to play in fact, that I put my life on hold just to get into the action for hours on end. Without a doubt it exceeds the expectations of a series that continually raises the bar for combat orientated titles.
The game itself was developed by DICE, who as we know formerly created the memorable Battlefield Bad Company.
Battlefield 1943 was released last week as a paid download through both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the latter as soon as it released, and it only cost a mere 1200 Microsoft Points (about $20.00 NZD). Needless to say my 360 has had much attention since.
1943 puts you in the shoes of a soldier from either the US Marine Corps or Japanese Imperial Army side during the World War II Pacific Campaign. Each side consists of up to 12 online players (24-player online matches) that battle it out head-to-head to control regions or ’control points’ on the map. Controlling more regions reduces the enemies reinforcements faster, and whichever side runs out of reinforcements first loses the match. Battlefield veterans will be awfully familiar to this.
This type of gameplay is extremely unpredictable as any control point undefended is vulnerable to even one single player to capture. So if you were thinking that the same consistent game type being played over and over again would get repetitive, think again.
I find it difficult however to link content to a lack of repetitiveness in 1943 because the game is a little bare.
The content which it does offer however is superb. As of release there are only three different maps to play, all based in the Pacific Theatre: Iwo-Jima, Guadalcanal and Wake Island (all of which you may remember from Battlefield 1942). That being said, DICE/EA have a competition for the public to rake up at least 43 million kills collectively to unlock the fourth map, Coral Sea.
Having only three maps isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. You can quickly learn how to work each map so that your team has an edge, and it saves you from unfamiliar settings every five minutes.
The number of weapons is a little disappointing, particularly considering that you can’t unlock new ones like in previous Battlefield games. There’s three different primary weapons per team corresponding with the three different classes. The Rifleman class hosts a semi-automatic long range rifle, the Infantry a Sub Machinegun (SMG) and the Scout is equipped with a scoped bolt-action rifle.
To quickly explain the role of each class: The Rifleman is your standard infantry combat class, the Infantry class is like your engineer and anti-tank specialist, and the Scout is your sniper.
Each class has a miniature arsenal of reserves too, so that’s always interesting. The Rifleman and Infantry class both have hand grenades and some sort of explosive firearm (rifle grenades/bazooka), while the Scout has demo charges and his trusty sidearm handgun. All classes also have a melee weapon (my favourite being the Japanese Scouts Katana) and the Infantry’s wrench doubles as a repair tool as well.
One important thing I must point out since we are on the topic is that each weapon has unlimited ammunition, so you can reload and reload and reload over and over again. To balance this infinite ammo however, all of your more powerful weapons (the explosive ones for example) only have a limited amount of shots before they must recharge (a timer appears preventing further use of that weapon until it goes away).
Your health system in 1943 has also now changed quite drastically. Instead of constantly jabbing a health recovering device into your stomach or scavenging for med packs (as seen in Bad Company), the health system is now like that of the Call of Duty series, meaning you recover health if you don’t take damage for a few seconds. This forces you to use a lot more cover than previous Battlefield games and being a Call of Duty fan, I welcome this new system with open arms.
And yes, because I knew you were just waiting to find out, there are vehicles in Battlefield 1943 available for you to hoon around in. You’ve got your basic jeep transport and your tank for land combat, your D-Day style Higgins boats for sea and your single cockpit fighter planes for air, which are pretty much the best thing since sliced bread.
Another neat new feature in 1943 worth mentioning is the Air Raid support. It isn’t a huge game changer but can give your team an advantage in tight situations. You can call in an Air Raid triggering three bomber planes (at your control) to appear from the side of the map. Fly over your designated area and release the payload! As I said, it generally doesn’t shift the tide of battle but it can certainly help.
Battlefield 1943 is built on the same engine as Bad Company (Frostbite engine) which revolutionised online shooters with its ‘tactical destruction‘, simply meaning you could blow everything up. This has been integrated into 1943 alongside the beautiful visual display of the game. The environment has been particularly worked on to look gorgeous especially the water and foliage. All the character detail is spot-on as well, including the new weapon and vehicle models.
Everything about 1943’s visual design is stunning to look at and is authentic to the WWII Pacific setting. Although it’s not quite the Crysis of its time, Battlefield 1943 is impressive nonetheless.
To elaborate on the ‘tactical destruction‘, Bad Company featured comprehensive destructible environments. However one thing that I never got past is the fact that you could fire hundreds of tank shells into the same area on every building and just not quite demolish the entire thing, as you would still be left with the frame of the structure. This is no more in Battlefield 1943 as you can now completely level most buildings, with the exception of explosive-proof bunkers.
Sound is where I personally think Battlefield 1943 excels tremendously, adding an outstanding amount of immersion to the game. Every sound is authentic and powerful. When you fire your weapon, it feels satisfyingly realistic. The distant explosions and gunfire, the dialogue of each soldier, the planes dogfighting overhead, and the flak cannons... The sound design in the game is definitely second to none.
It's near impossible to find any flaw in this game whatsoever, so I’m going to play devils advocate for a second and be real nit-picky. There's no single-player (except for the tutorial). Players often fail to cooperate as a team. You'll experience very minor graphical glitches sometimes, and there could be a little more content. All of these issues can be forgiven however, as Battlefield 1943 is one of the best online experiences you could ask for. It is a must have for any game collection and is an excellent representation of the WWII Pacific theatre.
1943 is so immersive with its beautiful visual display and frighteningly realistic sound that you can often forget you’re playing a video game. The content is a little scarce, but that doesn’t even come close to stripping the game of all its glory. You don’t even need to leave the house to buy 1943, so no excuses! Get it and discover what a real Battlefield game is like. Semper Fi!
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