[Official] Battlefield 1943


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Developer: EA Digital Illusions CE

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Distributor: Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network

Designer: Gordon Van Dyke

Engine: Frostbite Engine

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows

Release dates:

Xbox 360 - July 8, 2009

PlayStation 3 - July 9, 2009

Microsoft Windows - September 2009

Genres: First Person Shooter, Action

Modes: Online Multiplayer

Hands On

by Tom Bramwell

27 March, 2009

Never mind Bad Company - welcome to Dimwit Company. Nobody's talking to one another - hardly surprising, since the guys to either side of me are Italian, French and Spanish - and once the landing craft hit the beach, we've all regressed by about seven years. Italy's landed a biplane upside down on an anti-aircraft gun, and I'm stuck fast in a trench. In a tank.

Battlefield 1943 may be simplified - three maps, three classes, one objective - but the key word is accessibility, not casual. There's a tutorial this time - the first in the series, rather unbelievably - that introduces you to the concepts offline and then lets you practice in planes and tanks unmolested by hostiles. There are facilities for private matches, clans and squads, and there are levelling and reward systems (Achievements/Trophies and a broader range of honours beyond that, although no unlocks), but for the majority of people approaching the game from scratch, it's a one-click process to start playing, and it's not difficult to understand what's going on. You pick an infantryman, rifleman or scout class and then choose where to spawn. But it's still Battlefield, and it still punishes you for pratting around.

There are five control points on each map, like the one we're seeing today - Iwo Jima, after last month's reintroduction to Wake Island - and the European press gathered at DICE's wind-battered Stockholm headquarters have more difficulty negotiating the keycard door to the balcony than they do contesting the territory on the second map's thin, turbulent sliver of Ogasawara. Fighting seesaws between an airstrip at one end through trenches and over grassy hills past a lighthouse to higher ground at the other, and while all the vehicles are present and correct, it's an infantry war; automatic weapons, bazookas, sniper rifles, pistols and - gloriously - katanas doing the best of the killing.

Yet there really is a lot to it, just as there should be, and it's been tweaked smartly. Snipers blink - a well-judged stab of disorientation - into their telescopic sights and trace anyone daft enough to wander around out of cover; bazookas eviscerate the arrogant tanks; and the new bomber wings are repelled by anti-aircraft fire (another clever bit of balancing - rather than an unavoidable artillery strike, when a bombing run is called in from a special shack the team in the crosshairs now has a slim chance of repelling the onslaught).

DICE has played around with these maps, despite their heritage, and the results appeal to old and new. Senior producer Patrick Liu tells me that the small team deliberately reorganised them symmetrically. "Wake Island used to be one team defending the island and the other team attacking it. Now we've made it so there are two carriers and both teams are attacking the island, just to make things fair. Otherwise, for a total newb, it's extremely hard to get into asymmetric gameplay."

There's also a squad command system, similar to Battlefield: Bad Company. Commands are context-sensitive, so if you're staring at an enemy flag and issue an instruction, your comrades are told to attack; if you're staring at your own flag, they're told to defend. You can also spawn next to anyone else in the squad, rather than just the squad leader, so if he's a sniper hiding out in the distance, you can pick someone closer to the action and materialise there.

Continues at Eurogamer...

Images

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View more here & watch the trailers

BF1943Achievements.jpg

Price

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Slimmed the format down seeing as this is only a XBLA/PSN title.

See you on the Battlefield men ;)

Edited by DrunknMunky
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I swear to everything holy, if they cancelled the PC version or delayed it even more, DICE can suck it and I'll never buy any of their games ever again. Period.

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I swear to everything holy, if they cancelled the PC version or delayed it even more, DICE can suck it and I'll never buy any of their games ever again. Period.

I have an innate need to comment about Swedes and sucking but I think I'll pass.

Seriously though, they'll still be making Battlefield 3 for PC so I doubt it would that much of a loss.

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When g4 did a slight profile on it at e3 I had a few questions about some things. Is it only 3 maps total or 3 zones with multiple maps in them? and when they say they will unlock the 4th map when the community reaches 43mill total kills, does that mean it's going to be free or you're going to have to pay for that zone too? if anybody knows plz enlighten.

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http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/28/ea-revea...3-release-date/

:D

edit: very odd, you can't have two capitals one after the other in titles now?

Update: DICE producer Gordon Van Dyke said today on EA's UK forums that "We are close to confirming our dates (Xbox 360 date & PS3 date), but still need to settle a few minor things." Looks as though the release date listed in the newsletter is still unconfirmed, unfortunately. Sorry, folks -- and thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Ok so once again...a date, but not a date??? :angry:

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Ok so once again...a date, but not a date??? :angry:

DICE & EA suck at release dates for their BF games, useless lot, still waiting for the patches for 2 & 2142. ffs..

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I swear to everything holy, if they cancelled the PC version or delayed it even more, DICE can suck it and I'll never buy any of their games ever again. Period.

Yeah true but if Battlefield 3 is going to be awesome then I will juist have to buy another one of their games.

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I swear to everything holy, if they cancelled the PC version or delayed it even more, DICE can suck it and I'll never buy any of their games ever again. Period.

+1

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Let me make myself more clear as to what I meant when I said I'd not buy another DICE product if they cancelled or delayed 1943 more.

1943 is on the Frostbite engine. They've said MAYBE they'd increase the playercount to 32 or whatever for the PC version. BF: BC2 will have 32 players I'm sure on the PC. Battlefield 3 will have at least 64 if not more. So, your telling me they will delay the Frostbite powered 1943 or cancel it outright because they can't get it to support 32 players properly on PC, but BC2/BF3 will support more and out of the box for PC? Yeah, double talk if you ask me, and thus if they do cancel or delay 1943 again, I won't support them anymore.

That's just the way I feel about it. Like the rest of you, I CAN'T wait for a proper Battlefield 3. But screw em if they go the other route.

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I swear to everything holy, if they cancelled the PC version or delayed it even more, DICE can suck it and I'll never buy any of their games ever again. Period.

So a arcade style with simplfied game play would keep you from buying the awesomeness that will be Battlefield 3?

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So a arcade style with simplfied game play would keep you from buying the awesomeness that will be Battlefield 3?

It has nothing to do with 1943 being arcade style or not. I said why I wouldn't support DICE anymore in my last post. Unlike most hardcore PC players I'm quite looking forward to 1943, as like many I've been wishing they'd just redo 1942 on a newer engine - and we're kinda getting that with 1943.

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Battlefield 1943 is being released on Jauly 8th for XBLA and July 9th for PSN! What an awesome birthday present for myself!

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Well, if they release in early September for PC, it's not so horrible. That'll only be a 2 month delay over the console versions. Certainly better than the late May early June everyone thought and the 3-4 month delay it was originally looking like. Ah, rumored launch dates for games, so much fun aren't they?

I wonder how the XBLA/PSN demo will work. It has no single player at all, so will they let demo users only play with demo users on one map (technically either 25% or 33% of the game as is, lol) or let demo users play online with everyone for a limited amount of time or a limited kit selection or what?

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Well, when I say demo, I don't mean an actual demo. You know every XBLA has a "playable" version, some with multiplayer, most without. I'm sure it's the same on PSN. But yes, every XBLA game has a "demo" as it were. I just wonder how they are going to handle this one, since it's online only.

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