Battlefield 1943 (Xbox 360)

Battlefield 1943 – not a sequel

While the Swedish developer DICE have created a lot of cool games they are probably most know for their Battlefield-series. It all started back in 2002 with Battlefield 1942 and since then they have released several new versions of the game including Battlefield Vietnam, Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142 as well as the spin-off Battlefield: Bad Company.

2009 is a special year for Battlefield fans as there are at least 2 Battlefield games coming out. First we have the free game Battlefield:Heroes for the PC and then of course Battlefield 1943 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC (in September). It is the latter game that we are taking a look at today.

Before we start the review let’s talk about Battlefield 1942 a bit. While by no means the first online game for the PC, this game was the game that started my fascination with conquest-type of games. As the name implies it is set in WWII and features lots of maps, lots of vehicles and several soldier classes. I’m sure I’m not alone in spending countless of hours battling over Wake Island or in tanks in the Kharkov map.

It is easy to call Battlefield 1943 a sequel but it is not entirely true. The game instead is a recreation of some of the maps from Battlefield 1942 using the Frostbyte Engine that was used for Battlefield: Bad Company. The main feature of that engine was of course environmental damage and the engine has been improved to feature even more damage over the first version of the engine.

The game is also not a full priced game. On the consoles the game is released on PSN (PS3) and Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox 360) and is priced at 1200 points/15$ and the reason that DICE did this was to “ .. offer the best bang for your buck. We didn't intend to replace the traditional, packaged game, but set out to create an action packed, multiplayer experience from beginning to end”.

The game is fought in the Pacific Theather between the US and the Japanese.

Is it possible to recreate the now classic Battlefield 1942-game on the consoles or is this just a cheap cash-in while we have to wait for Battlefield 3? Read on to find out why we love the game so much.