Battlefield 1943 Review
- Posted July 16th, 2009 at 21:56 EDT by Steven Williamson
- 49 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 9.0
- Avg. user review score:
- 8.6
Summary
Great things come in small packages. The greatest shooter to hit the PlayStation Network.
We like
- The intensity of the battles
- How teamwork ultimately wins the day
- The wide range of vehicles, classes, and well-balanced weapons
We dislike
- The shortage of maps and game modes
- The PS3 voice-chat issue
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
Battlefield 1943 is a unique entry in the world of videogames. Costing just $15 USD (£10) and weighing in at a meager 565 MB, DICE Studio’s downloadable multiplayer shooter features just three maps, three classes and one game mode, yet it has the look and feel of a big budget game, playing host to 24 players online and giving wannabe-soldiers access to a range of impressive World War II vehicles. Battlefield 1943 may only offer a bite-sized chunk of the complete Battlefield experience, but it has been fine-tuned to near perfection. It may also lack many of the features that we'd see in a Call of Duty game or any other fully-priced online shooter, but in terms of entertainment value, this relatively tiny download offers the whole package. If this fast-paced shooter is a sign of the things to come on the PlayStation Network, then there’s an even brighter future for downloadable console games then we could have ever possibly imagined.
Battlefield 1943 is a typical first person shooter that pits the U.S. Marine Corps against the Japanese Imperial Army in battles across three island locations. Though kill count is obviously extremely important as it sways the tide of battle and improves your overall ranking, the team goal is to take control of five territories across the various locations. The three classic Battlefield maps offer an array of tactical opportunities. Currently, Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima are the maps available, though we’ve been promised another map, titled Dogfight, once gamers have accumulated 43 million total kills (we’re not far off that figure already). There’s going to come a time, of course, when the community yearns for some more maps, but for the time being the three brilliantly designed locations offer more than enough variety and tactical opportunity.
All three locations are graphically impressive, with each sporting a glistening coastline, highly-detailed encampments and rich foliage. Furthermore, each island has a distinctive design to allow you to experiment with a variety of tactics. The U-shaped design of Wake Island, for instance, offers an expansive area of sea which is ideal for providing aerial support for your squads, but it also has numerous hilly climbs that make it ideal for snipers. On the other hand, the smaller club-shaped island of Iwo Jima, with its hilly terrain, trenches and numerous machine-gun emplacements, is a tight map, so you experience much more action in terms of close-quarter fighting. Brandishing a bayonet close to our chests and impaling anyone who is caught wandering around the trenches is just one of our favorite strategies on this volcanic island. Overall, the three maps offer plenty of eye-candy, but they're also cleverly designed to make the most of the various classes and vehicles that can be used to tip the battle in your favor.
Though there are only three classes available -- Rifleman, Infantry, and Scout -- they all bring something unique to the table. Unless you find a firm favorite you can expect to switch regularly between them (each time you die) in order to adapt your tactics and utilize their various strengths. Each class has its own primary and secondary weapon, and switching between them is simple and intuitive. They also handle particularly well. If you have the skills, you can quite easily snipe a soldier driving along in his jeep from high up on a hill, or fire a rocket straight at a tower and send it crashing to the ground. There’s also plenty of fun to be had out of placing the Scout’s satchel charges and standing back and watching the carnage unfold, or plowing through a group of Japanese soldiers with the Infantry man’s sub-machine gun. Having unlimited ammo certainly helps to keep the action flowing, as does being able to jump into one of the vehicles and move swiftly from one end of the island to the other.
The thrill of jumping into a landing craft and darting across the water with other friendly boats by your side and storming a stronghold en masse helps to bring home the intensity of war. Equally, taking a ride in a tank and blowing to pieces an enemy stronghold, or swooping overhead in a fighter plane to unleash a barrage of bombs, makes you feel ... (continued on next page)
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Comments
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gruddy
- 5:02pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 3
Good idea Vintage.
I like this game. It's great fun and easy to pick up and play. However, there are some issues. Recently, the issues have been really annoying me. Claymores have a habit of disappearing under ground when you run and plant one (may be fixed), walls sometimes don't blow up when you hit them in a certain place, snipers suck, the hit detection could be better and many players don't play as a team.
At £9.99, you can't go wrong.
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VintageElise
- 5:04pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 4
Just thought I'd throw the idea out there as all. I mean I know writen reviews will always be better, but sometimes it's nice to see the game in action while your talking about the bad/good points.
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dirtydog1979
- 5:10pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 5
Just been playing full version and its a very good game at a great price, I was impressed with the maps and game play 8.5 in my book lack of maps dropped the score for me
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subwaydesign
- 5:15pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 6
Shortage of maps...
After paying $50 for Warhawk -which is a GREAT game- but only has 5 maps... i don't see it as a BIG problem
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TheSorrow_101
- 5:40pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 11
This is definetely one of my favourite PSN Games alongside Flower and Quest For Booty.
Anyone who likes online shooters should buy this.
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PTearGriffin0123
- 5:45pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 12
THIS GAME IS AMAZING! I have been looking for a cheap game to just sit down and play for a while. I played the demo for this and was hooked. Then I went to check the price and bought it on the spot. It is hard to get sick of. 9/10 is about right.
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edward_moffet
- 5:55pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 13
video reviews would be really cool or at least some clips of the game sprinkled throughout the review
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Brokentusk81
- 9:00pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 17
I don't see why not -- we give reviews to single player games (offline) all the time, and sometimes great reviews (Bioshock). I think the high rating for the game is factoring in, to a large degree, what you get for the money--which is a game of high quality and polish for a mere 15 bucks. I'm sure the reviews would have been much harsher had the game cost 60 bones.
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west_end_matt
- 9:04pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 18
Wow 3 maps, I'll pass. Think I'll slap In WARHAWK for some proper fun
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zombieking36
- 11:48pm EDT - July 16th, 2009
- 19
no voice chat on 360 either!
i really liked the trial, i plan on buying soon :)
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bracomadar
- 4:59am EDT - July 17th, 2009
- 23
I agree. This game is a great deal, especially since there's really not many new games coming out lately that a lot of people want to buy. If you're looking for realism, you'll probably be disappointed, but if you're looking to have a fun time, this game is for you. It has stuff for just about everybody. If you like to just go at it like a FPS, you can do that, or if you like driving around, you can do that, or if you like to fly airplanes, you can do that also.
I do hope they fix the voice chat soon and connecting to servers can be buggy at times (at least for me they are). I miss being able to captain the aircraft carriers like in 1942, and also, I miss the 2 seater planes. I also really hate that you have to have 15 people to host a private match. Who has 15 friends who has the game? Even at that, who has 15 friends with the game, that will be on at the same time? What was the point of including a private match if they're going to be that restrictive? I'd just like to get on there with 4-5 friends and have have a dogfight, or sniper match, or just practice without having to worry about other people doing other stuff to mess you up.
Still, you really get a great deal for just $15. It's multiplayer, so you know you'll get weeks/months of enjoyment out of it. Oh, and the more people that play it, the more kills are made, the faster we get the 4th map they're releasing, so have your friends get it as well.
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chilledbreeze7
- 6:16am EDT - July 17th, 2009
- 24
God I am so addicted to this game at the moment. For me it has to be the best title to appear on the Playstation Store, but like the review says, it could do with a some more maps, but I dare say they'll release more for it in the future. I just hope they don't take too long!
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geedoo
- 8:56am EDT - July 17th, 2009
- 26
The planes are not hard at all, give it a few more tries. I sucked donkeydonk when i first entered a plane, but the second time i got the controls down. This game is awesome, gave me back the bf1942 feeling with the soundtrack and all. :) BUt i do not like that you can see where everyone is when you are close.
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Bigdoggy
- 11:22am EDT - July 17th, 2009
- 28
OMG, you guys should take out the part where you say "shortage of maps" for one reason. DICE stated this a long time ago it was going to only have 3 maps + one map later one which is only for dogfights. Get your stuff straight and stop reviewing games for what it should have and review it for what it does have. This review reminds me of IGN.
However, I agree with the mic problem. DICE has done this again, they did it before with BFBC and KIND OF fixed the problem, but with 1943, they went back to ground zero. I will pick at this review for another reason, you bring on COD, any PC gamer out their knows for a fact that the battlefield series is completely different to the CODseries, yet you just have to bring up COD.
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jmiller75
- 11:48am EDT - July 17th, 2009
- 29
I love this game. It reminds me of battlefield for pc. The only bad thing is that just like any other war game on the PS3, the voice chat only works 25% of the time and the party system is flawed. I really hope they announce some DLC with a couple more maps or this game will become boring very fast.
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RoBBsz
- 12:06pm EDT - July 17th, 2009
- 30
Yeah I downloaded BattleField:1943 and it by far one of the best games I ever played.The graphics are one of the best I've ever seen. This is the action I've always been wanting to see on an online game. The epic battle scales are incredible, planes swooping by dropping bombs while a tank is downing your friends and their forced to take cover and enemy boats are just arriving on shore. You literally feel like your fighting for your life.Also the sound effects are incredible, I can't even explain it.Although there are few sound glitches here and there.Nothing that hinders the gameplay though.
All we need is some more maps and I'll be playing this game for a long time.
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iceveiled
- 2:52pm EDT - July 17th, 2009
- 31
Played for a couple hours last night. It's so so. I'm used to BF2 on PC so seeing the version of Wake Island (my favorite map from BF2) in 1943 is tripping me out. It's familiar yet not. I hope to play more but it's frustrating getting killed all the time while hardly killing anybody myself.
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chomperbull
- 6:59am EDT - July 18th, 2009
- 35
why should i get this for $15 when battle field bad company is $18 used at gamestop same shiznit more weapons
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shanking-shaun
- 3:09pm EDT - July 18th, 2009
- 37
i really love playing this game. i have 90 percent of the trophies and alot of the stamps. it isnt a very wide veriety game but its still fun to just run around and cap heads. they could have done a lot better but for $15 i think it was worth every penny
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Intervention
- 4:49pm EDT - July 18th, 2009
- 39
This game rocks, just like I knew and said it would. I'm sure they will add more maps in the near future, even so. The ones that are on it were the best ones from 1942. Except Coral Sea, I didn't care for that one at all, I hope its more fun this round.
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PSU_fail
- 7:27am EDT - July 19th, 2009
- 43
I swear I feel like the reveiwer is treating me like im an idiot when im reading, not the first time either, almost every review feels like the writer is talking down to me. Seriously, if you dont know how the primary Battlefield game mode is by now, wikipedia is your friend.
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I_am_Arsenalgunner27
- 6:00am EDT - July 20th, 2009
- 45
very good a fun game for a downloadable one at that. its great, i love the battlefield series
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bigCman123
- 9:36pm EDT - July 21st, 2009
- 46
It's an awesome game for 15 bucks. Makes me want Crysis 2 to come even faster (BattleField looks good, but Crysis is just awesome... Like Killzone 2 awesome). There's something about mowing down jungles that makes me smile (not in real life that'd be a terrible thing to say).
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stealthtrain
- 10:55am EDT - September 22nd, 2009
- 49
top notch game for the 10 quid you pay,,just (PLEASE) fix the coms,,how the heck are you expected to play as a team when there is no comunication when after all is what the game is about,,watch you7 dont get cought out by the STEALTHTRAIN lol
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