Battlefield 1943: Battling In The Pacific

@Yossarian:
Battlefield 2's controls where a mixed bag. On the one side, things like tanks, jeeps and boats where simply to control, yet effective.

On the flip side, choppers can be a bit tricky (landed sideways on more than one occasion) and jets... well let's just say it requires alot of practice.

At least with 1943 they offer you a simple tutorial (something BF2 sorely lacked) and I'm able to learn to fly planes fairly well, although I'm apparently in the minority in that I can only fly in first person where as flying in 3rd person will make me an unwilling kamakazi pilot.

System_Zero

I'm probably going to buy this next weekend... But I may buy Watchmen on Blu-Ray instead. So maybe next month for this.

Either way, soon. And yes I agree with driving. Tank + Infantry = Awesome times.

FYI Coral Sea (and Air Superiority) was throw into 1943 after it had pretty much been completed. Consider it a bonus, not an actual item you payed for. Because you didn't. It would have been $15 if only 3 maps were in.

MrKlorox

@AnonUserAnonymous: Thanks for the tips. I've been giving it a little more time today and it's getting better. I'm finding out what works best for my style of play on this particular game. At the moment I'm enjoying defending bases from incoming enemy players.

I also enjoy sometimes just sitting in the gun nests on the aircraft carrier / plan map and just doing that the entire game. It's fun to me for some reason. On the PC version there were enough players in one match that it made sense to play more defense and it wasn't near as boring I think.

The vehicle control is unforgivably terrible. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally thrown a grenade when I thought I was doing something else. The graphics are great though. I just hate the control.

ppppp

@Spacecataz: DC was classic! Many wasted years on that mod.

Countchokeula

love it but the FIRST thing i would patch is splash damage. you literally need to shove the tank round or the air bomb uP the person's ass to kill em

liquidmonk

Is it just me, or do the tanks seem relatively harmless against infantry? You really almost have to have a direct hit with the cannon to kill a soldier; splash damage seems a little too weak. The machine gun isn't exactly a pillar of precision either. I've lost count the number of tank duels I've experienced where the driver gets out of his tank, equips his bazooka, fires and destroys the opposing tank, and then gets back in his original tank.

@Neocorey: Oooh, feeling a little testy are we?

Maybe reread my post and realize that I was basing what I said off of the fact that I've play quite a few other FPS.

I didn't realize that there was one called "REAL" though. Is it PC only?

Seriously, if you prefer your mouse, then stick to mouse games. Why bitch about console shooters if you think that they automatically suck because you don't have a mouse?

@Neocorey: Did you double check the "fixed sensitivity" statement? I'm certain I turned mine up.

@Yossarian: Your post wasn't funny to begin with. It isn't that it's hard to get used to, they are just inconvenient. Also the "actually makes me aim" comment serves no justice to the fact that the game offers a fixed sensitivity which is excellent if you love being able to make a complete turn in 3 minutes. Maybe you should play some real FPS, you know, the ones with the mouse.

@Countchokeula:

i was about to say you're wrong, but i just remembered it was in the DC mod cause thats all i ever played... well damn, still there needs to be one.

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: For the Rifle? Oops, my bad, I didn't mean the sniper rifle. I misread your last paragraph and thought you were comparing the Sniper Rifles range to the regular rifles range. Lol.

The plane controls felt a bit stiff at first, but after flying them for a while, it got easy

TalekAetem

this is such a joke of a battlefield game. Yea, i know its supposed to be dumbed down and all. But, this game is way too dumbed down for my taste, and you can see that as this is aimed for the console users. Unlimited ammo, cut down of classes, and regenerating health bar??

And this game basically feels like playing on a 24 player server, but in a large 64 player map. So the fun isnt really anywhere. The action is thinned throughout the whole map.

So for those of you who are still playing BF1942 on the PC..just stick with that. You are really not seeing anything worthwhile with 1943

wahrugene

@BigWyrm: who seriously likes stripped content? theres something wrong w/ kotaku reviews as of late.

though i dont know if i would agree w/ the balanced thing. health regen is generally implemented to hide some rather nasty unbalances or so they dont even have to try to balance the game. i remember the good ol days when health regen was only in rpgs and it had a mana cost!

abort_user

Good thing it's coming out for a proper platform where it can be fully enjoyed soon enough. Console FPS, an abomination.

Poul Wrist

@ToastyUterus: I think he's probably complaining more about the fact that you have to actually line up your sights and aim.

That and the tracking/rotate speed is a LOT lower than most other games. It almost *gasp* feels realistic.

@kylenalepa: Sadly no, and my post was a lot less funny because of it :(

@AnonUserAnonymous:

Theres 'reloading'. You have to constantly click a new bullet into place.

@BigWyrm: I find a lot of games these days are too blatantly balanced. I realize its a neccessity but when it is blantantly obvious it takes the fun away.

You want to believe that your class is an individual, and that you might be able to find some secret advantage. When everyone is basically the same, that disappears. Might as well be classless like Halo in that case.

Agumen

@Tannrar: A ton of people, like me, who aren't much in to online gaming but like to give it a try sometimes, have no intention of talking to strangers. Or even of co-operating. I always think every game should have a division between mic-ed and non mic-ed players, or between team and lone wolves gametypes.

Because my room-mate is like you, and it drives him wild to not be able to formulate strategies. It takes away half of what the game should be about for him. I don't know what the solution is, but I'll keep playing how I like to play until segregation.

Agumen

i liked the demo ... but they said PC gamers will get it 2 months later with a little surprise, i'll wait to see the PC version ... or, well, so many games are coming out, doubt i'll have time to play this remake of 1942

HeavyMental

I need to get around to playing the demo. Maybe that will push me towards a purchase. Thanks for the review though.

@Neocorey: people say this., but i dont see how they are horrendous, you aim and look with one stick, and move with another, fire with r, aim with l, jump with a, right click to crouch left click to run, reload with x enter and exit things with b. use grenades or tnt with left bumper.


pretty standard. only thing off is right bumper to switch main and secondary, and y to melee. but i dont see how two buttons make the whole scheme horrendous

The possibilities are just endless in such a small game for a great price. Once I was up in a plane and took out two other planes then dive bombed at a boat full of enemies in the water and parachuted to safety while the 4 in the boat died! ITS JUST TOO FUN TO PUT DOWN!

Anthony Dahmane

@Yossarian: Strikethrough doesn't work?

EDIT: Guess not.

kylenalepa

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: Yea, the range on the rifles with no reloading between each shot can be pretty dangerous, my favorite class.

@-Skyline-: Don't you remember what happened with Enemy Territory *shivers* the PS3 version was alright at least but the 360 version was horrible.

@Adam In Texas: I know what you mean bro. Spotting an enemy in this game can sometimes be a hassle, but once you're familiar to it, and generally know some "hot spots" that are normally traveled/camped, you will run into more enemies than you could imagine.

One of the best, and my current favorite map Gaudal Canal is a good map where you can generally see most people from the center flag on the map, that spot has a lot of open area around it.

Try guarding more also if you generally move around more. Enemies are always on the move trying to take your camp, which would lead them directly to you. Hope that helps a bit.

@Tepoz: Thanks! I'll try that when I get home.

The thing I love most about BF1943 is how satisfying the shooting mechanics are, similar to that of the older BF games. Something that I felt was lost with BF:BC. Not to mention Conquest has always been a mode that keeps the action moving around the map.

its fun

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: Hehe nice work Kayce. This is one of my favorite past times. Heres a couple similar things I like to do when i'm bored shooting people (Battlefield style games, I haven't played this one yet) FYI this is probably tl:dr status sorry!


1. This one requires a passenger plane. Wait for someone to hop in and fly off towards the action. Head directly towards their spawn flying at a high altitude. As you get near head the plane up even higher then bring it straight down flying max speed. Try to pick out a target best you can like planes tanks or spawn points and aim for that. Wait till the last second to hop out and activate ur parachute. The passenger will either plummet to his death or most likely jump out with you. A rocket launcher makes a good weapon if you survive the landing so you can try to take out vehicles or people. I have done this with a friend, 2 planes 4 people total. We blew up a plane and 2 vehicles, killed a couple people and caused enough of a distraction that it seemed to allow our team to push up and win but who knows, we coulda been winning already lol.

2. Get in a vehicle with a spot for a teammate to sit or operate a gun and wait for someone to hop in. Start to drive toward the war but take a detour somewhere and begin joyriding around the map. Wait till he finally gives up and decides to jump out and foot it to the action. Immediately stop you're vehicle and drive past him the direction he was headed.

3. As people have mentioned everyone loves planes so that means I love to make sure they don't get into the air. This one works best with a friend but can be done alone too. Get a decent sized vehicle with some handling like a big jeep or something. Drive up near a plane and wait for a teammate to hop in. When someone gets in drive right in front of their tires before they can get moving. He will try to maneuver around you so he can take off so do ur best to stay in front of him. The best part is watching them struggle to find a way around you only to have their plane and usually you're vehicles destroyed. Even if they do make it in the air it's in such bad shape that it doesn't last them long.

omfgh4x

@mossiprose: If "the rest of the world" means "mic-spamming prepubescent idiots", PC wins in my book. I'd rather have a harder time finding people to play with (which I don't) then get on a console and play with screechy-voiced assholes. I haven't touched my 360 in 3 months because of the douche-baggery that is so very prevalent in consoles.

Korurinu

@Adam In Texas: I had the same problem as you. Bought it on the first day without a demo having been a fan of Battlefield; except I think I was a lot more disappointed than you seem to be. There's really... nothing to it. The classes are way too limited and could use some upgrades and the maps are terribly lacking any sort of cover, leading to countless spawn kills. The only pleasure I got from this game was the plane map. I love that map; it's all I play now.

NeoStarr HD

@Adhominem: The hell are you talking about man? The XBLA version is 500 something megs. What size limit are you talking about? I know of a few games that are on XBLA that are over 1GB. Saying the PSN version is gimped because of XBLA is fucking stupid.

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: I think he is speaking of the size restrictions that XBLA was scrutinized for a while ago. I don't know if those restrictions are still in place though. It would be pretty sad if Microsoft refused to sell a game coming from DICE because it was too big.

@mossiprose:

He also doesn't seem to realize that there hasn't been size limitations on Arcade Games for a while, with something like the Watchmen game clocking in at around 1gb.

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: he thinks it was xbox's arcade size rules that prevented them from adding more than the three maps. Unfortunately, he didnt realized that the game originally had 6 maps but was reduced to 3 to allow a lower price point and to focus on quality not quantity, not to meet xbox live requirements. If this game had to meet microsofts requirements it would have to be waaaaay smaller than it stands right now. just misinformed thats all.

mossiprose

@joncoffee:

Well, it could be argued that those people are ruining it for the rest of the team who are trying to invade and take the island by just being 'dead weight' hanging around, waiting for a plane.

Its one thing when you see one guy waiting for a plane.

Its another when you see 3-4 guys standing around being lumps because they all want to fly planes.

If you start playing the game for any length of time, you'll know sooner or later, theres an opportunity to fly a plane. It might be that abandoned one sitting in a base, it might be later into the battle, when none of your soldiers are on your aircraft carrier, so you can choose to spawn there and take one.

Or, on the Xbox version, just play air superiority, and voila, theres a plane.

First timers can even go to the tutorial and fly one there.

My point is... get your ass moving and stop waiting around to fly planes, soldier, or I'm just going to contribute to the problem of dead team weight by ruining everyones day myself! :P

Why is it that no one uses their mics? I've been in two squads so far after 13 hours of play that used them.

Also, has anyone else had their 360 freeze up on Guadalcanal? I sometimes get weird graphical glitches on the map.

It's a shame that I can't convince any of my friends to buy it.

It's really weird that no-one uses melee except for the Japanese snipers. (Swords are fucking awesome, though.) They're one hit kills and are much more effective close range than a gun (except if you're infantry). I've found that my most effective class is the rifleman. It's well-balanced and feels like a mix of the two other classes.

PROTIP: You can open holes in the chain link fences with one hit from a knife. Very useful when trying to sneak into the base with the airfield on Iwo Jima.

@troopzor: Oh and I dont know if someone let you know this already, but the PC is dead, go buy a console and play games with the rest of the world already.. or you could go play the cartoon version. you know the browser one,,,heroes.. let us know how that works out for you.

mossiprose

@Yossarian: Nice I've had similar experiences with ace heli pilots, you know it's too bad BC didn't have a tutorial level like on 1943 where you can practice your flying without worrying about people.
If this is a sample of what is going to be with BC 2 the game is going to rock! It's like Dice is teasing us with 1943.

Countchokeula

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: Your BF 1943 dynamite = my Warhawk landmines...terror in the skies, jeeps, and tanks!

@Adhominem:

What limitations do you speak of?

You actually like how the game is stripped down...err...streamlined? I think it severely limits the freedom players had in the original BF1942. You like 3 classes instead of five with no medic class? You like having the amount of vehicles more than cut in half and no true naval combat? You like having only four maps? On the original Coral Sea, each side spawned six aircraft on their carriers. It just seems like the game is dumbed down.
Also, the rock/paper/scissors feel is gone because everyone has regenerating health and the explosives to take out any unit or vehicle on the battlefield.
This game is too balanced imo.

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: So what about people who want to legitimately fly a plane, maybe even for the first time? Wont that just be unfair to them if your douchey ways spoils their fun and part of the reason the bought the game for?

Where does it end?

joncoffee

Brilliant game, has made me want to re-buy Battlefield 2 (that game ruled) I really really want them to do a proper BF game on the xbox 360!

It would sell sooo well!

@SecCom: That's it I think. My PC has never been a hardcore gaming machine so I'm used to playing them with low details and have never been able to set them to max quality on any PC I've owned. The landscape has always been minimal and trees, rocks, etc were either barely there or almost non existent.

I do like being able to see someone with the scope on the other side of the island though (like was mentioned above) that can be fun. :)

@KillerBee: omg this is my favorite PA ever! The "Go Allies." at the end had me crying, good stuff!

omfgh4x

@troopzor: Don't you love that the REAL fans have to wait another month for it to come out. I WANT PC VERS. NAO TOO

I just wish there was less ocean and more ground area.

Oban

Bought it, love it, suck at it most of the time. Here's my real problem, though: there needs to be some type of notification when your driver gets out of the Jeep/tank. Seriously, if I get taken out one more time because dude behind the wheel drove until he saw somebody ....

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: Thats not necessarily true you still have to take flags that the ultimate goal. BF Modern Combat had a 1 shot kill sniper and while it did happen that you would get killed from an extreme distance it was rare, and not many people could make those kinds of shots anyway. So you still had a good mix of player types.

It doesn't really bother me that the 1943 sniper isn't 1 shot though still fun to nail people from a distance.

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: I miss being able to pilot the carrier itself. I was on a great server once in 1942 and the entire time I simply kept the carrier from getting sunk by being an engineer and keeping the carrier moving. I would use team text chat and act as air traffic control and letting people know where the carrier had gone for repair and rearm. They really need to bring back the naval warfare.

@Countchokeula: Ahh the memories....

Ran across a guy at one point that was an absolute ace in those things. I gunned for him one the big port conquest map when it first opened up... 28 kills in one helo.... the guys was just super smooth, could fly fast, always had me lined up targets, and he could knock out AA with his rockets.

Haven't seen anyone that could fly it that well before or since.

A shame really.

It's hilarious how bad people on the 360 are at this game. It's as if everyone is fresh off of Call of Duty and has never played a battlefield game before.

I topped the best player of the match list primarily by grace of actually capturing flags. No one on my team seemed to know the bombing run even existed. My mouth was agape as people actually ran passed jeeps and tanks to move on foot.

I expect the PC experience to be vastly superior, if only because people on PC actually know what the hell they're doing.

@armchairnixon: No he is saying that on each carrier once a plane moves a new one is spawned instantly so once the first two are gone two more spawn, but that only happens once before there is a spawn delay and you have to wait a bit for a plane.

So given the two carriers a max of 8 planes can take off in a relatively short time.

I'm loving this game. It is exactly what I needed to get my multiplayer shooter fix over the summer.

That being said, I do have one curious inquiry about the design of the maps.

I thought BF:BC excelled in part because the Gold Rush mode really forced the action into nice tight areas. Not to mention it let them put out huge maps that made a match feel like 5 different matches as you progressed through all the gold points.

BF1943, however, uses the conquest mode on these basically elliptical maps. It just seems like it spreads the action way out and you lose some of the intensity.

In BF:BC if you had decent defenders a little town/base would be completely leveled by the time you finished off the gold boxes. In 1943 some of the destructible terrain goodness is lost because there just isn't enough concentrated fire and action at any given point.

Greatest xbla game hands down

Horrible game. Less is the theme of it. Less players, worse graphics, less vehicles, less weapons, less options, and way less fun.

With unlimited health and ammo, the entire game is a $15 version of hide and seek.

ShekharStheno

@Yossarian: It's fun to be the gunner when you meet one of those "3 or 4 guys" that know how to fly them, but like you said the controls are terrible. I just love the intensity of the planes dog fighting above you or bombing, it makes the game very intense at times, whether your flying or not. 1943 is a must have for anyone familiar to the franchise.

Countchokeula

I still can't believe this much fun can be had for only $15.

@KingDavid73: It does stand on it's own though. Maps are completely different and laid out in a way that is very unlike BF:BC. Guns and classes are very different, and they don't translate exactly between the two games.

And then there are the planes and airstrikes... both fun and both different.

Thanks in this are very tough, but not the real killing machines they used to be in BF:BC for some reason.

Still haven't picked this up yet. I loved BF1942 and remember having a great deal of fun with it at lan parties and such. I suspect if BF1943 is even remotely close i will definitely have to pick it up.

logikil

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: That made my day.

SadAstronaut

@Neocorey:

The controls for this game [are horrendous] take some getting used to, I'd be better off [running around as infantry with a scroll ball] playing Uno instead of a shooter that actually makes me aim...


FTFY

@DwarfyP: Two aircraft carriers, and two planes on each aircraft carrier. Since you can't cross from one to the other carrier, it really doesn't matter if those other two planes spawn, since each player only has access to (at most) two planes at any given spawn. So, technically, yeah, you're right. But it doesn't matter since you can't get to the other two.

armchairnixon

My favourite XBLA game. Just pure fun.

SadAstronaut

I finally had a chance to play the demo a couple days after it came out. It was pretty good. It felt a lot like Battlefield: Bad Company... which is one of the main reasons I didn't buy it. I LOVE Bad Company... so I figured I'd just rather play Bad Company than play a game that feels like a stripped down Bad Company.

@Gyaruson:
Gotta remember that 1943 was made with an existing engine(IE they didn't need to fund it or license it), simple game mechanics, and it doesn't have any single player component. That is how they can make it so low cost.

Now if you look at Modern Warefare 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 where they are putting some development into engines as well as single player/co-op and in-depth game mechanics they will be more expensive.

As far as downloads...this has been happening way before 5 years ago. It might be new to consoles but not for computers and we all know consoles are always trying to catch up to PCs. Anyone with a brain could predict games(digital content) being downloadable since the first mp3 was pirated :P.

distaste

@DwarfyP: Yeah I agree I have not had any issues finding a plane in Coral Sea.

@troopzor: You might get lucky, but don't hold your breath, didn't you know PC is unpopular? Get with the times and buy a shitty console!

@Gyaruson: But it's NOT happening. This is an underfeatured, not fully built multiplayer only shooter. It wasn't released to retail, it was never designed to be, and that's significantly because it's not a big enough game. (Disclaimer: I think it's great) Certainly, we are seeing much bigger downloadable releases than we had in the past, but I don't see how this is any different from, say, Warhawk- a download title that was released quite a while ago, that was multiplayer only. With more content, too, I might add.

I would love to see the gaming world go digital, if only for developers to get the money for their titles instead of Gamestop's used car salesman bullshit. But though it's cool that this game is taking this path... it's hardly a trailblazer, and I think it's exaggeration to even call it a sign of things to come.

Games like Call of Duty, Halo, Metroid, Bioshock... big, triple A titles... none of them have announced any kind of move toward digital distribution. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The controls for this game are horrendous, I'd be better off running around as infantry with a scroll ball...

One thing I found and I hope they address is the breaking up of your xbox live party/ squad. I've pretty much been playing with only one other person in my party and we seem able to get through a couple maps, but then matchmaking seems to put us on opposite teams. I don't know if this is by design to keep teams fair and would understand if you were in a squad of 4 but 2 people shouldn't be able to throw the balance off that much.

Pornosaur

@Adam In Texas: You'll get used to it, I feel like old-school battlefield games just didn't have as much "stuff" everywhere (trees, rocks, bushes, etc) so people stuck out easily on the flat terrain. Guadalcanal is the only map you can really camp one spot the whole time and be successful, the others you need to get your butt moving if you wanna see some action!

@troopzor:

Its coming

"Those used to typical console shooters with forgiving auto-aiming might need to re-calibrate for 1943. Those that do will find the effort well worth the trouble."

i hate when games have auto aim it takes the fun of being skilled.

and this new comment system is slow ass hell!

@Clatu6:

And it shouldn't. It does for headshots, but for non headshots, it would be stupid to have one shot equal one kill when you're able to hit someone on the other side of the map

Now before someone says 'Oh, you exaggerate', I do not. And before someone else says 'Oh, well, thats just the way it should be...' no. If I were able to one shot every player with my rifle (I'm fairly decent with it) the game would be absolutely balls. Cause it just means it would be an endless stream of people playing snipers and not moving to take each other out.

@Adam In Texas: Really? I feel I see the enemies a lot easier for some reason, those little triangles above their head if a team mate spots them really help rounding up snipers sneaking back and forth behind a ridge line.

Pornosaur

I would also add the destructible environments to "The Things I Loved" section. It's a blast to use a tank or RPG to ferret out enemies hiding in buildings and seeing the aftermath of a bombing run is impressive!

Queasy

@Adam In Texas:

Could be because the uniforms are green and brown

On yknow, green and brown landscape

But thats not necessarily a bad thing. Works both ways. Means you can sneak around easier, too.

To any other riflemen out there, you might notice that it gets super-slow when you go to iron-sights, which is great for picking people off. However, if you shoot from the hip, there is basically little to no penalty in recoil or accuracy, so you can easily kill people at distance without aiming.

@Adhominem: I'm not sure what limitations there were in this case, its over 500 megs. I think some of the other games coming out soon are nearly 1 GB, like Shadow Complex. Microsoft basically said awhile ago that they'll let you have as much space as you want now, only it might keep some people from downloading it.

I think they wanted to keep it super simplified with lost-cost of entry and possibility of DLC later.

@Gyaruson: I hope this is the future. The real question is if there is more money to be made at this lower price point, i.e. how elastic the demand is. I know I never would have bought this game, even with more content or single player, at $60. I also bet there are a lot of kids out there who can buy this with their lawn mowing money at $15 and not $60. Let's hope they make lots of money with this.

Another model I like, which Steam is exploiting, is having sales, an example of price discrimination. People who really want the game buy it the day it comes out for $60. People not willing to pay that wait for Steam to have a sale at some unknown time. They make more money and I buy more games, both good things.

jetRink

@DigitalHero: It's funny... on the 1943 Forums there is an endless stream of complaints regarding sniping. They mostly complain that one hit does not equal one kill.

Clatu6

i dont like the gernade throw, its like the guy has a cannon for an arm. and also explosions dont really kill people. there should be a blast radius for gernades, artillery, rockets, and bombs. those are my big complaints. played it yesterday, and i managed to take a bomb from a fighter plane right in the bread basket and it didnt kill me. thought it was funny but i also remembered that i always toss 2 gernades into that damn lighthouse and the opponent always, come out unscathed!

MariaCalydon

@CMcCon342: I wouldn't agree with better, both are amazing multiplayer games that I would play any day. Something about BF just keeps me coming back though.

@troopzor:

Out in September I believe.

@octalass:

Its also fun to drive your plane to the end of the runway, stop, and get out.

Then its got no room to take off and anyone getting in and trying will just plow into the water, lol.

@ VXXXJesterXXXV

Np dood. Sometimes being douchey is an appropriate way to play. You're not teamkilling, you're just showing people who want to sit around sipping tea and waiting for airplanes that you can, and will, ruin their day.

Anybody else having any trouble logging into the game right now?

@Spacecataz: Anti-air guns are abundant, and I take people out with them frequently. I was initially disappointed by many of the things excluded, but the arcade-like nature of the game makes it so much more fun in the long run.

I went ahead and picked up the full version before I even had a chance to play the demo (since it was all messed up the first night) as I've always had a great time playing the BF series. From 1942, Vietnam, BF2, etc.

For some reason this game is still throwing me for a loop when I play. Right now I play more of the air superiority match than anything else because something doesn't feel right on the other maps. I wish I could pinpoint it. Maybe it's the total number of people on the map throwing me. I feel like I'm having a very hard time seeing an enemy when I play. They are tucked away and they don't stick out like I remember them doing in the past. I get pretty much owned on any map but the all plane map.

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku:

You sir may be my hero. Thanks for all your gameplay enhances, slightly douchey, but totally funny tips. I will likely use some of those going forward....lol

VXXXJesterXXXV

@aw3str1k3r:

I jumped in a plane as soon as a match started and didn't take off. 6 people (I counted) started jumping on and shooting my plane.

So I started to take off while two people were on top of it, the bailed out at the last second so the plane, with my teammates landed in the water stranded.

I want a PC version Noaw!!! >.

troopzor

@-Skyline-: I forget which level, but there is one jeep which can't even drive up out of its spawn area. It's stuck within 30 feet of a flag. They do need to fix that.

jetRink

It seems to me like this game came a little close to the official roll out or Battlefield Heroes.

I realize that they have a slighty different target demographic, but I can't help but feel like they are cannibalizing their user base. Esp. since both games appear to have stripped down options in order to allow for quicker play.

Am I wrong about this?

skarecrow13

@Countchokeula: There is a helicopter that even seats two available in BF:BC, you know :)

Granted the controls suck, which limits the effectiveness, but for the three or four guys that *can* fly it those things are super deadly.

You just don't see them nearly as often as you do the planes in BF:1943.

Coral Sea spawns FOUR planes each and not TWO as the review says. They spawn two planes then when they move another two appear. The planes are shot down frequently enough to keep a good cycle of people in planes.

DwarfyP

@MisterSquared: For 360 owners: Play the Fight Night 4 demo to re-setup or create a new EA/Live association. If you can't get Fight Night 4 demo to run, delete all music from your drive and make sure your media server can't connect to the 360. Fight Night 4 demo does not like music that's local, streaming or otherwise.

Simply an amazing game. Your get alot for the $15 this game cost. And the fact that it's download only makes it easy to pick up and play.

The game is more fun than I expected. My favorite moment was hiding in a patch of jungle with enemies running literally right next to me left and right without seeing me through the whole game.

I got 18 kills and almost 400 points without getting killed once because no one ever spotted me.

@Spacecataz: Your mixing up your battlefields, there was never an anti air bazooka in bf 1942

Countchokeula

@KillerBee:

Thats the first time I've just about peed myself from a PA strip in a loooooong time.

ahahahahaha. ahahahaha

ahahahahaha

@R0EK: I agree, the controls are top notch, and i was really surprised on the flight controls especially, since i was an avid pilot for BF 2. I actually enjoy the console controls as much as my flight stick.

Countchokeula

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: You shoulda played BF Modern Combat on the console all that stuff you described was there except more maps and more vehicles.

i played the demo, and after having played 1942 for a VERY long time, i was immediately turned off. no anti-air bazooka? easily one of my favorite things in a game and its gone...

@aw3str1k3r:

@pukellunkett:

Lol, thats pretty funny. I usually tank drive in third person, myself, so chances are he saw some body just plummet from the sky and splatter all over him, haha.

@all

Hey! Don't you buggers be stealing all my ideas! Ah, well, who am I kidding, its more fun when people start getting creative when fighting you anyways.

A good trick, if you want to be a douchebag, is to find an enemy base that contains a plane. Do NOT throw your Dynamite onto the plane. Instead, throw two dyanmites onto the spot where the plane spawns, or in front of it (like in a line). You can usually see where this is based on the oil slick on the ground.

Throw your third dynamite onto the tail of the plane, so its out of the way. Do NOT fly the plane away. Then go hide somewhere, just far enough that you're hidden, not too far that the little white plane disappears off your radar.

The moment that little white plane disappears off your radar, it means an enemy just hopped in it. Cause it would turn blue, if a friendly was in it.

Press detonator. Laugh and laugh and laugh when you see the kill come up on your screen and realize you just killed some poor schmoe who was getting ready to dogfight in the air and didn't even leave the ground.

(Yes. If you play with me, I'm a complete asshole, lol)

@DigitalHero

For reals. The bullets take a really long time to travel (as they should) but yeah, the rifles have some insane reach. I'm glad the accuracy at that range isn't 100% or it would be retarded, but its still fun to ping someone across the map or hope for a lucky headshot.

Took me awhile to warm up to this game but I love it. My only gripes are the party system is total crap. Seems like even when in a party with my friends every third game or so one person gets dropped and put on the other team. Also there are still the occasional failure to find a game.

@SaanZ: Bad Company is great, but it's missing the airplane, which adds another element to the game. And the squad markers for defend or attack is very cool as well. For multiplayer FPS there is no other title that comes even close.

Countchokeula

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: *tries that*

-Skyline-

@-Skyline-: Why did this end up here? o.O

-Skyline-

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: I like your sense of justice, sir.

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: I hated the Jihad Jeeps in BF2 but i do like the idea of your kamikaze style..hmmm i will see you on the battlefield

Countchokeula

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku:
...and that's why you're my friend. :)

@pukellunkett: Speaking of first favorite moments, in one of my first games I was screwing around with the bazooka, saw a landing boat just sitting there with a guy in the turret shooting at people. So without really knowing the curve of the rocket drop, I took a guess and fired off a single shot. 10 seconds later, I got a vehicle kill bonus! Hell of a shot!

Now, if only I could connect to EA's server to register an account...XC

"Behind the Wheel: Simply put, driving is fun. The jeeps and the Japanese sedans in 1943 drift a bit, which makes zipping around the island a blast."

Sure they're a lot of fun other then the fact that they're practically constructed out of Plywood, and can't go up hills.

This is the way Devs should bring PC games to Consoles. Strip out the less important stuff, but keep the fun there.

-Skyline-

@Betman: Don't hate on RFG, the game is pure genius. The multiplayer is considerably better than BF1943 (having played both). I'm hooked on RFG, just wish more people would give it a chance.

Isnt Bad Company $20?

How does it compare?

Great game. I wasn't to sure about it until I heard all the xbox players rave about it.

BONERJAM

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: I think my favorite moment in this game so far came from my first game, first spawn. I jumped right in to an airiplane and took off towards the first enemy base I saw. I jumped out of the plane and I hit every button but X to pull my parachute. I landed right on an enemy tank and died. I can only hope that the guy driving that tank had it in 3rd person mode so he could see a dumbass falling to his death on his tank...

lol

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku:

Sniping is awesome. The range is incredible and the best I've seen in a recent fps.

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: Thanks for that list, you just gave me some ideas to toy around with in the game!

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: Uh oh. This game is training future terrorists!

@aw3str1k3r:

I have fun with those idiots who just sit around waiting for planes. I just throw a dynamite onto each plane spawn spot, and the moment the planes respawn, blow the planes up.

Then they shoot at me and I laugh and laugh at the lack of friendly fire damage as I put two more dynamites down and wait for the next plane spawn.

If you're going to fuck around, I'm going to fuck around and make sure nobody gets what they want.

@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: Great idea on the kamikaze ride. I'm going to do that when I get home tonight :-D

OtisElevator

Two of my favourite things in the game come in the form of the same class, the Sniper.

1. Being able to see, and shoot to, the other side of the map. I've sat on my aircraft carrier at the beginning of the map and sniper headshotted some guy on the other aircraft carrier who was stupid enough to not get off their anti aircraft gun.

Seriously, most epic hilarious moment for me ever. I didn't get any points for it because he was in their 'base', but it was still pretty funny. I can only imagine his reaction like 'Did I just get shot from the enemy aircraft carrier?'.

2. Throwing three dynamites onto a jeep and driving it helter skelter towards the enemy base. Seeing a tank come over the hill and fire at me. I drive my jeep straight towards the tank, jump out, let my jeep crash into the front of it while he's reloading a shell and jamming on my detonate button.

Tank removed.

Also... throwing a bunch of dynamite onto a plane you're about to fly and then using it to kamakazie an enemy bunker as a Japanese soldier is pretty epic, lol.

Bought it on PSN.
Great game.

And it seems the only Native Bug is that Mic's don't work half the time. But in a game like this it's not really a hindrance.

CraterMaker

@aw3str1k3r: Ah, I see that the line break problem has been resolved. No more HTML junk!

@Fatty Shcock:

The XBLA limitations screwed over the PSN people. Should've had 2 separate versions. I would mind paying 30 dollars for the game if there were like 6 maps for the PSN version.

Adhominem

At first I didn't think I would care for this game but the more and more I play it the more I like it. For some reason it does make me want to help my team and it seems that many of the players feel the same way. People stop to let you get in a jeep or a tank often. I would definitely recommend it.

Jason Morgan

Gah, I hate those people that just sit around the plane spawn point. DO SOMETHING LOSERS!!!

I like to capture bases far behind enemy lines. No one is ever home!

Needs more xp/unlockables.

ShoopDaBoofs

Is this the future of gaming? Releasing games on the XBLM/PSN that are multiplayer heavy and low cost? If so, then sign me up. Think about it: most games don't keep our attention for longer than a couple weeks, that includes multiplayer. There are exceptions, but for the most part 2-3 weeks seems to be the sweet spot for game time. With this in mind, spending 15 bucks on a fun - albeit lite - MP title really doesn't seem that bad at all. CoD4 and L4D are really the only games that I can consistently play, so this seems very intriguing.

Also, this only affirms my position that next-generation every title will be available for download (perhaps as well as in physical form). I predicted it five years ago people, and now it's happening!

PA Agrees on that Negative

The Forgetful Brain

Let's give the makers some credit here. I had a chance to play this yesterday and it was a blast. Not as functional as other FPSs, but had a lot of fun with the pick up and go nature of this game.

PicknFlick

I was wondering whether I should get this, but now it's looking like I'm going to. i need something to hold me over when I'm mad at RF:G.

I understand this is a revamp of 1942 based in the Pacific, and that it's sized down with only a few maps because of limitations due to XBLA/PSN, but I really wish they had Stalingrad in this, as well as a couple of others to start with.

" Those used to typical console shooters with forgiving auto-aiming might need to re-calibrate for 1943. Those that do will find the effort well worth the trouble. "

It's very much worth mentioning that Battlefield 1943's controls are well-calibrated from the get-go, as they don't feel too slow or too fast, at least not to me. The zoom option also slows things down drastically to get pinpoint aim. In my eyes, this is a feature that many FPS games fail to achieve on consoles, with Halo and Call of Duty being the only other notable series that seem to make an effort to just feel right all the time.

Dear EA/DICE:

In BF42, your game engine had some momentum issues with moving objects and detached players...who can forget spending 5 minutes trying to climb a ladder on a moving aircraft carrier? You fixed this problem in BF2 by disallowing free-riding on moving objects. While this removed the foolishness of 6 people riding on plane wings, it removed a lot of tactical flexibility in other scenarios.

I never played BF2142, so I don't know if you reintroduced this ability to your game engine with the giant floating bases. I'm hoping you did, because I ask that you port whatever code allows that into your BF1943 engine, if it isn't already.

What I'm trying to say, DICE, is that I will pay you good money for a Midway map that will let me pilot the Yamato again. The most fun I ever had in vanilla BF42 was during naval battles. One captain, two gunners, and two engineers for repair, and I never felt the need to step on dry land again.

Please think about it, because I have money.

Thank you.

PS: The new Coral Sea is okay, but I do miss trying to sink the enemy carrier. I understand if you feel this version works better for your goals, though.

@KillerBee: Haha XD On my first game on trial I found airplane in enemy camp, went in to shoot them from the sky, but I couldn't control it XD

I flied out of the map and the plane exploded counting as suicide xD But at least I stole the plane from the enemy!

Areinu

Battlefield 1943 is one helluva fun game and all newcomers and veterans should buy this one.

@Neocorey: I have to agree. Any game that doesn't let you at least choose Legacy-controls, have horrendous controls.

Gringorilla

@troopzor: You could try BF: Heroes in the meantime.

Honestly, BF 1943 might be too console-specific to work on PC. It's very simplified, which works on a console where coordinated teams are more rare and controls are more basic. I don't know if it's meaty enough for a PC audience.

Heroes is by no means the same game, but there's another layer of complexity to Heroes that makes it interesting enough for PC.