Battlefield 1943 Review
Another World War II game? Most people grudgingly sigh when they hear “World War II first-person-shooter”. For all of the great experiences had in games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, there have been a slew of horrendous games just trying to cash in on the lucrative formula. One of the more successful franchises in the shooter genre are the Battlefield games, which have a robust online community that keeps the games strong years after they’re released. Battlefield 1943, the latest installment in the franchise is a game that deserves your attention. As the true-sequel and a homage to the classic PC shooter Battlefield 1942, this game is fast-paced, addicting, and a superb value at $15.
Battlefield 1943 got off to a rough start. The Xbox 360 version in particular had server outages which did not allow many people to play through the first weekend after the game’s release. In addition, the game’s voice chat features and squad systems seemed glitch ridden. Yet DICE worked diligently to add more servers and correct some other problems joining matches with friends. Upon sitting down to play the game it seemed as though it finally gained some momentum.
Battlefield 1943 keeps the formula pretty simple—three classes and maps all built around one gameplay variant. Players will play conquest matches as members of the Japanese Imperial Navy or US Marines on three of the most iconic battlefields from the Pacific theater of World War II. Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima were sites of intense fighting during the war and are all compromised of vastly different topographies. What Battlefield 1943 is missing in numbers, it makes up for in diversity and substance. Wake Island’s unique boomerang shape, Guadalcanal’s hills and valleys, and Iwo Jima’s fortified Mount Suribachi (the site of the iconic flag raising) all play differently enough that player’s strategies will have to be significantly amended from map to map.
Strategy comes through choice of classes and vehicles. Players can choose from infantry, scout, and rifleman classes. All of the different classes have their strengths and weaknesses but certain classes seem to be a bit stronger than others. Unbalanced classes are not overwhelmingly apparent but I found that the sniper rifles and machine guns were weaker than the rifles. Players take a lot of damage before they are killed regardless of which weapons are utilized, something that leads me to believe that lower powered weapons were a design choice. This design mechanic creates a game that plays differently from other more realistic shooters but doesn’t dilute the enjoyable aspects of the game.
Where the game has a more arcade feeling among the shooting elements, the vehicles often time feel like a complicated simulator. During a loading screen, the game warned me that the planes were incredibly hard to use, something you discover immediately after takeoff. The game uses a very complicated control scheme for flying planes which will result in many unintentional suicides. Practice makes perfect but after the flying has been mastered the underpowered explosives replace the controls as the most frustrating element. Planes and tanks have explosives as one would expect, however, they are enormously underpowered when facing soldiers. The explosives small damage radius is the problem. In order to kill an enemy with explosives you have to hit them almost directly, an almost impossible proposition when facing a fast moving target.
It is important to realize that these problems do not ruin the fun. This is because there’s an entertaining experience to be had regardless of what role you take on your team. One quickly realizes that not everyone is going to be an ace pilot or sharpshooter but that every player will find a position that’s fun even if it’s derived from defending a flag. Although reviews tend to highlight the negative sides of games, I want to stress that Battlefield 1943 is one of the most enjoyable and addicting online games I have played of late. Of course, some of my enjoyment of the game is because I was a fan of Battlefield 1942 (I have to admit that I got goosebumps after I heard the theme music again) but the beauty of downloadable games is that everyone can try the trial. There are some bugs within the games, particularly in the Xbox360 version’s graphics and leaderboards, but the underlying entertainment value is not diminished. For a $15 downloadable title, Battlefield 1943 is an amazing value which will definitely provide hours of entertainment and hopefully be supported by additional downloadable content.
Интересный материал, спасибо за статью!
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