Battlefield 1943 Review

Written by SuperKlue Monday, 13 July 2009 10:53

The Battlefield franchise has evolved immensely since its first instalment Battlefield 1942 in 2001.  Its exceptional capture-the-flag style gameplay, involving vehicles and different classes has allowed gamers to develop unique playing styles.  EA have now brought the next Battlefield chapter in all its glory to Xbox Live for 1200 points last week recreating the original Battlefield 1942 with updated technology.  The franchise made great inroads with Bad Company in June last year developing the Frostbite engine.  This engine created more realistic explosions and destructible environments in greater detail than seen on the 360 before.  Personally, I was a huge fan of Bad Company as the combination of graphics, gameplay and awesome multiplayer made it a colossal success.

The Xbox Live version features the complete Frostbite engine and looks as beautiful as its full release counterpart.  It includes 3 maps which, for the most part, are quite balanced with many vehicles, planes, and mounted weapons to keep players entertained.  There are five flags on each map for up to 16 players to contest.  The more flags your team controls, the faster the enemy loses their respawn points.  Obviously, some spawn points are more important and heavily contested than others, such as an Airfield, providing valuable air support to your team.  The selection of classes has been trimmed to the necessities.  Standard infantry (grenades), engineer (anti-tank) and scout (sniper) have clear strong and weak points.  For example, the sniper can pick off infantry from long distances, but is highly vulnerable to vehicles and close combat situation.  I feel EA have done a great job balancing the classes to cater for different playing styles.  To shake things up a little, a bunker is available to each side to call in bombing runs on the islands. 

 

However, there are some glaring problems gamers have been facing around the world.  EA claim they are trying their hardest to get these issues resolved as quickly as possible.  First off, on launch day, the lag was so poor the game was unplayable.  It has improved somewhat over the past few days but it could be better.  Unlike Call of Duty, EA host the Battlefield servers themselves increasing our experience expectations.  So far my encounters have been mixed and I hope they fix their servers/patch the game very soon.  Glitches and bugs also hamper the experience.  At one point, I fell through a bridge, I was driving across for no apparent reason, as well as clipping through rocks and walls of buildings. 

Overall, lag issues aside, the game is outstanding for such a small package.  The terrain, vehicles and weapons are faithfully recreated and the explosions and gun fire create an intense experience.   Consumers have been complaining many new releases on the arcade are too expensive at 1200 points.  In my opinion this is the best arcade game it be released to date and well worth the dosh.  We can only hope EA have set the bar high enough to encourage other developers to create more games of this calibre at this price point.  This is a must have game this winter season and will be enjoyed by many gamers for months to come.  See you on the battlefield!

TGV Score: 91/100 

The Good: 

 

• The best graphics on the arcade to date
• An intense multiplayer experience
• Great recreation of the original classic
• Ranking system keeps players interested

 

 

The Bad:

 

• Not overly innovative
• Lag issues must be addressed
• Xbox Gold only game, no single player

 

Battlefield 1943 is available through the Xbox Live Marketplace for 1200 MS points now.  Many of our members are playing the game at the moment.  Join us in the chat or on the forums to organise a party and game on.

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