Saturdaymorning Robots

DICE’s Battlefield series has long been a huge hit on PC, but it’s outtings on console have been somewhat less successful. All that changes now with the Download only game Battlefield 1943!

After years in Vietnam, the future, and modern times, Battlefield returns to it’s WWII roots, and the simple yet visceral fun that made the original BF1942 such an enduring classic, and genre maker. Rather than a sequel this is more of a streamlined remake of the original Battlefield 1942 aimed squarely at the console market. BF 1943 Focuses exclusively on the Pacific theater, which was the more popular in the original game.  The maps are new but based heavily on the originals. Some features such as the ability to drive ships  have been dropped, as have the number of players to 24, while the number of classes has been boiled down to 3. It might seem at first that these changes are negative, but in fact the gameplay is greatly improved, and you never feel as if the maps are lacking in action.

It’s not all about refinement though. A healthy amount of features have been added. For one the levels are now heavily destructible. Now, it doesn’t even come close to the glory of Red faction guerilla, but the Frostbite engine does a good job of ramping up the adrenaline.  Another new feature is the air raid, which functions a lot like the bombardments that the commander could bring in in Battlefield 2, but in the spirit of the original BF, anyone can trigger this by going to a particular building when your team gets enough points to activate it. The air raid puts you in control of 3 bombers which rain hell across the island, It is satisfying for the bomber, and terrifying for those in it’s path. Another great feature is the HUD which shows you waypoints and objectives, and identifies enemies while flying fighters. This is the kind of thing I would have hated when I was younger, but my older less patient self appreciates the hell out of it, as it severely decreases incidences of friendly fire.

The graphics are great. It can hang with any retail game on the market, and makes the old locations look better than ever. It took me a while to get the hang of the controls being an old hand at PC BF, (a big part of that is because the controls are not fully customizable and are different from the Star Wars Battlefront games) But once I got the hang of it it worked as well as any other console FPS, and of course flying planes is a lot easier with a stick than a mouse. The classes and weapons are well balanced and I enjoy using all of them, something I can’t say about the original BF 1942. In fact the Sniper/demo class is my favorite, and I have never been able to snipe effectively in any previous Battlefield game.

I bought the Playstation 3 version, because in general I no longer buy non exclusive Xbox 360 games due to their shoddy hardware. Also when it comes to team based games the Ps3 community tends to be more mature and stick with games long term, as with Warhawk and Resistance. So far it seems I made a good choice, as the competition has been fierce, and the team play shockingly tight for drop in games. I have yet to see a single team killer which any veteran will tell you where rampant in the original BF 1942.

Bottom line, The fun is back in Battlefield 1943. BF2 was a great game, but it never had the crazy chaotic fun feel of the original, this one does. It walks the line of being an arcade game, yet at the same time being incredibly immersive, and making you feel part of an epic battle, in a way that many more realistic games never could. At the low price of $15 every FPS gamer should buy this game, and prepare to lose hours of your life without even realizing it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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