Battlefield 1943 Review (360)

XBLA games are advancing!

EA have brought us another edition of the Battlefield franchise for the Xbox Live Arcade, is this game really worth the money?

If you have played any of the Battlefield games before you will know that the game throws you into huge skirmish missions in which you gun your way to victory depending on your mission objectives. The Battlefield franchise also has a lot of recognition for its online multiplayer content. Battlefield 1943 is kind of a watered down version of the other games except it is set in World War 2 and with no offline campaign featured, Battlefield 1943 is built entirely for online multiplayer.

The first thing I must say is that the game looks absolutely beautiful for an XBLA download. I could not believe the amount of detail that the game has when playing. The textures are pretty good and the lighting and shadowing effects look nice. The game never seems to have any problems when processing the huge wide open playable areas and kept it well textured, showing no major glitches when I was playing.

The game itself is based entirely on online multiplayer. with only one mode for gamers to battle it out against each other. Players will only be able to use 2 teams in the game; the Americans and the Japanese and teams take up to 12 on each side. Only 3 classes will be available for gamers to use, these are the ‘rifleman’, the ‘scout’ and the ‘infantry’. All 3 of these classes start you off with different weapons to play with as well as a different explosive arsenal. For example the ‘scout’ will have a sniper rifle and a pistol along with some C4 charges, but the ‘infantry’ class will have a submachine gun with a pistol and a bazooka. I would say that the classes are balanced nicely when in use against the enemy.
One mode, called Conquest, forces players to capture all the points on the map and make the enemies progress bar at the top of the screen deplete entirely. Once the enemies progress bar has been depleted, you win.

Using the guns in this game takes some getting used to. Sniper rifles tend to be slightly inaccurate sometimes, but the more you use your guns, the more gun efficiency you will receive which makes the firing more accurate. It’s an addictive way of play which makes you want to see how accurate you can make your aiming skills.

Embrace the amazing graphics and addictive game play within a small compact download

Vehicles have always been a traditional element to the Battlefield franchise and so proves it in Battlefield 1943 with a variety of vehicles to blitz the opponent with. Tanks, planes, trucks, boats are all present in this game and all require some getting used to in my opinion, especially the planes. Damn things go nuts when you start out! Be prepared for some irritating players on your team too, trying to drive away when you need a ride to the next capture point. It kind of feels like missing a bus.

The game uses the Frostbite engine, which allows a lot of the environment to be destructible. Trees will fall if exposed to explosions and you can put gaping holes in walls with explosives which is a lot of fun to see. Those annoying campers cannot hide!

There are a few problems with the engine though. Some of the environment cannot be destroyed such as certain buildings, this is most likely because those buildings are strategic areas to play in and provide a source of cover if everything has been demolished. It’s a small disappointment but can be forgiven quickly.

The audio on this game is superb. The guns sound realistic and explosions pound through the speakers brutally. The sound of bullets flying past your head also adds to the atmosphere as well as the air strikes which can numb your avatars sense of sound. Altogether, it’s a nice sense of immersion.

Overall I think this game is fantastic and well worth 1200 Microsoft points. It is unbelievable that the XBLA downloads are improving in quality so quickly. I remember when the XBLA downloads started as small overpriced 2-D games. One look at Battlefield 1943 and you will clearly see the amazing advances.

This is a definite download to anyone who is a fan of shooters, who should embrace the amazing graphics and addictive game play within a small compact download.