Read my review of Battlefield 1943! I'm very wise..
Title: Battlefield 1943
Reviewed By: Cameron Dupuy
Graphics: While Battlefiled 1943 is definitely not the prettiest shooter out there, there is a crispness and polish to the environments and visual effects that can go toe to toe with any big budget shooter currently out there. The water in particular is magnificent looking. Some of the other great little graphical tweaks made to Battlefield 1943 is the sound design and destruction you can cause on these lush tropical islands. From entire houses being reduced to rubble, to your ears ringing from a nearby explosion, the sound design and Frostbite destruction engine are in full effect, and put to great use. A few, smaller details I loved, is the full effect of motion blur when you zoom in on your gun's sights; the way your character realistically, reloads his weapon; and also the bounciness of your weapon when you are moving at a brisk speed. But not everything was perfect in 1943. There are some graphical glitches like some odd collision detection, and weird black lines sometimes popping up on screen when you are in the cockpit of a plane. But I'm sure Dice will iron these issues out in the coming months with some sort of patch. Overall the graphics host a wide variety of visual treats, that while at times stunning, can also make you remember, "this is still just a dowloadable game!"
Gameplay: While 1943's gameplay can at times feel very reminiscent of other shooters like Call of Duty 4; unless you've played the multiplayer in Battlefield Bad Company, the controls will take some getting used to. While the typical right trigger shoots left trigger aims is still intact, the melee system feels a bit useless unless you are behind someone unbeknownst to them. Initiating a melee attack consists of first hitting the Y button to pull out your melee weapon than pressing the right trigger. Trust me, if you're in a tricky situation that requires a quick stab or smack, than having to press two buttons is frustrating and usually doesn't end well unless you get lucky. I'm cool with the melee button being Y, but I'd prefer to just tap it to initate a melee attack. Besides that you'll have to grow accostm to the long reload times. While they are visually appealing, and look more realistic than the typical shooter, you'll need to learn when and where you should reload, because of how long the reload animation can take. I think it's cool how your character's hand always manages to missjudge the slot to put the clip in on your Thompson sub-machine-gun, but when you're getting shot, missing that slot for your clip is like the developers punishing you. Another problem that doesnt necessarily bug me, but bugs all of my friends who have this game, is that every time you fire a shot from your sniper rifle you have to cock your gun. This is more realistic in terms of reality, but brings me back to "misjudging the slot." When cocking your gun once means the difference between life or death, and you die, I could see how your death would piss you off. But besides the long, sometimes death inducing reload animations, and broken melee system, the controls are generally pretty tight and feel able enough to handle all of the chaos around you.
Concept: The setting of Battlefield 1943, is well... 1943! You play as either the Japanese or the Americans on four different maps. Three being islands based off of real locations, and one being dedicated to airplane dog fights. There is only one game type, that being a kind of capture the flag mode, where each team has to control strategic areas on the map, in order to dwindle the apposing teams life bar. If you've played a Battlefield game than you know exactly what I'm talking about. There are three different classes, one being a typical foot soldier with a machine gun and bazooka. The other being a rifleman with a standard issue rifle along with attachable grenades. Lastly there's a stealthier class that carries a sniper rifle and pistol. Let me clearly restate, Battlefield 1943 is a multiplayer only game. There is no story, no backstory, this is a bare bones, no frills attached multiplayer only game. While the multiplayer is exceedingly addicting and can provide hours of endless fun, this also leads to 1943's biggest downfall, which is it's lack of content. As I mentioned earlier, there are four maps, one game variant and three classes. While there is an experience and medal system for doing well in the field, these medals don't give you any form of reward, they just show off you rank within the game. There is a stamp system that rewards players with more experience for doing certain tasks, like killing 17 people with each class or completing a successful bombing run. But again these stamps only grant you experience which, besides a different sign next to your name in the waiting room lobby, nets you no kind of actual reward in the game.
Lasting Value: In the end what it really boils down to is how much you enjoy the core gameplay in Battlefield 1943. If you love a deep engaging singleplayer, along with a fully featured multiplayer system with actual rewards and perks, than chances are you'll feel short changed. But if you like capturing flags and the general feel of previous Battlefield games, than chances are you'll dig this one. As far as I'm concerned, for 15 bucks you could do a lot worse. Lacking? Indeed. Fun? Definitely!
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