Game Details

Title: Battlefield 1943
Cost: 1200 MS Points
Developer: Dice
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Website: Battlefield1943.com
Game Type: FPS
Multi-player: 24 player (12 v 12)
Length: N/A

My Impressions

I have to confess to not being the biggest fan of first person shooters as I tend to die fairly quickly and often. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I started playing Battlefield 1943. I quickly found out that my trepidation was not warrented as the game is easy and enjoyable to play and offers a suprising amount of depth for an XBLA title.

The first thing to note is that the game is quite limites as it is just one multiplayer mode (12 v 12, Conquest) and limited to 3 maps (4 once coral sea is unlocked later this week). There are only 2 factions and 3 soldier classes, but despite this the game feels immensely varied and is one of those rare games you can either dip into quickly or play for hours.

What helps to make the game is the vehicles, weapons emplacements and size of the maps, as this allows you to adapt your play to suit the circumstances or to just do you own thing. You can go into hiding and snipe at unsuspecting victims or be a lone wolf charging into enemy bases and getting killed in short order. Play tactically in a squad capturing and holding bases, using its weapons emplacements to devastating effect, or take to the skies shooting down enemy planes, bombing tanks and avoiding anti-aircraft fire. Assault enemy bases in vehicles with your team or any other combination you can think of in the environment.

There have been some well publicised server issues due to the high demand but these seem to have been sorted. Even when these were occuring if you got into a game the servers were fairly stable with the only lag I saw affecting aircraft when watching from the ground. While Battlefield 1943 does not have a single player mode it does not need it and offers a lot of “bang for your buck”.

My Recommendation

Buy

While Battlefield 1943 is in many ways a limited game, it is immense fun to play and good value for money and I highly recommend it to all fans of team FPS games, and even if you dont normally like them it is still worth a try.

UPDATE: Find Coral Sea/Air Superiority Impressions here

Screenshots