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Battlefield 1943 game review
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Battlefield 1943 was released for the Xbox Live Arcade on July 8th. Although the game was technically released yesterday, it was not playable until late last night / early today because of server issues so the game was offline for quite awhile. This disappointment should have served as a warning sign for the disappointment to come.
I was extremely hyped for Battlefield 1943's release. The Battlefield series is really popular among PC gamers and for 1,200 Microsoft points (roughly $15 USD), an awesome FPS online game was sure to be worth it. Once the game servers went online and I played my first game, I almost immediately regretted this purchase.
One of the many problems that plagues the game is random deaths. Many times I would be running to the front lines or just spawned or even simply minding my own business just exploring the map when I will suddenly explode or be shot out of no where. It is clear that this game is not for casual players as they will soon grow frustrated over repeated deaths without even knowing their cause or being able to fight back. BF 1943 could have really benefitted from the addition of a killcam.
The hit detection on the game is some of the worst I have ever seen. Sometimes you will light up an enemy and they will be able to slink away. Other times you might be shot once and instantly be killed. Or start taking fire, get behind cover or into a bunker, but then mysteriously keel over as if you had a heart attack. One comical occurence involved an enemy tank taking fire by rocket launchers so the driver bailed out of the tank and appeared next to the tank only to be hit square in the face with an incoming rocket. The game seemed to take pity on him, however, as he was able to walk through the explosion without a scratch.
Despite these negatives, the game does have some redeeming qualities. A few of the highlights about Battlefield 1943 are the realistic sound effects and the vehicles. The sounds make it feel like you're actually fighting a war. I love when a plane comes down firing at you, the bullets pinging the ground all around you and the plane swoops up at the last minute. The sound of the plane passing by is awesome! The vehicles are also pretty cool with tanks, jeeps, boats, and planes at your disposal at almost all times.
One feature that threatens to ruin the game is the air raids. At different points in the game (I'm not sure of the actual cooldown time), you can call in an air raid which consists of three bombers that will carpet bomb a location on the map. This is extremely powerful as almost nothing can save you once the bombers are called, your only hope is to have a teammate in a fighter plane to attempt to shoot down the bombers. This usually never happens, however, because the plane controls are so complicated, it will take at least an hour or two in tutorial mode just to learn how to manuever it, let alone be good enough to shoot things down. The bombers are overpowered, in my opinion, because they are available too often. It should be a feature that can be used once or twice per map. Once you've died five or six times to bombers, it frustrates you even more. Hiding in sturdy buildings will not save you as most will be obliterated with you inside. Even if you hide in buildings that can survive the blast, you will simply inexplicably die within it.
As I mentioned earlier, this game isn't for the casual player but the way the game was built hardcore players also will not enjoy it. You have infinite ammo which includes infinite grenades and infinite rockets. A lot of the features from the PC version of the game like the calling out enemies and the medic class are missing. Other features that hardcore players usually don't like and aren't in the PC version, such as regenerating health, were needlessly added. The infantry class is completely useless itself because the maps are very wide open and large so there is no point in being anything other than a sniper or a rifleman.
Overall, Battlefield 1943 is very frustrating and quickly becomes no longer fun to play. I regret spending the hefty 1,200 Microsoft points on the game as it is one of the most chaotic and inconsistent first person shooters I have ever played on the Xbox 360. The majority of your deaths are in cases where you can't even return fire and so you never have a chance. Perhaps this makes it more war-like, but it does not make for a very fun game experience. If you have 1,200 MS points to spend, I would recommend looking at other games such as Castle Crashers or spending 800 on the also newly released Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers instead.
Update: Here is a glitch for all of you still playin this that want some easy kills: If you are in a vehicle, when you get out you're invincible for about 2 seconds. There is no animation to getting into or out of a vehicle so if you are driving a vehicle and enter combat, jump out and shoot, then jump back in and keep doing it. They can't harm you at all. Using this method combined with being infantry (so you can get out an repair it), you can maintain one vehicle the entire game and never die.
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