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Generally favorable reviews - based on 65 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 122 Ratings

  • Summary: [Xbox Live Arcade] Using the Frostbite engine, Battlefield 1943 takes players back to WWII. The game offers hours of 24 player multiplayer action over three classic and tropic locations; Wake Island, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. Delivering the award-winning through-the-gun and vehicle warfare online experience DICE is best recognized for, Battlefield 1943 has players battling in ruthless aerial dog fights and intense trench combat. [Electronic Arts] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 65
  2. Negative: 0 out of 65
  1. Even with the barest bones of a Battlefield game it's utterly complete. [Sept 2009, p.102]
  2. Let’s cross our fingers that EA and Digital Illusions are already hard at work with new maps, vehicles and classes for downloadable content. We can’t tell you a reason not to pick up Battlefield 1943 via the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the ultra-low value of 1200 Microsoft Points; it’s available now.
  3. Despite a lack of depth found in other full-fledged FPS offerings (even from what's found in the Battlefield franchise itself) and a number of initial coding missteps, Battlefield 1943 is an arcade offering you really shouldn't miss. The $15 price tag and the overall quality make this a great purchase for anyone interested in shooters.
  4. This is definitely a good-looking $15 game, but there's just not enough meat here to sustain it for a long period of time.

See all 65 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 48
  2. Negative: 7 out of 48
  1. DaveLeverton
    10
    This is basically a cut down version of a full battlefield title, with the full frostbite engine which was used for Bad Company without a single player campaign. It may only have 3 maps (4 when 43 million kills have been registered) but the ranking system will keep the game fresh for months to come for me.

    For the price you can't argue... i think its around £9 which is a steal! If you liked any of the battlefields before this then it is just as good only without the campaign.
    Expand
  2. This game was great and definitely worth the cheap price tag. I've gotten many hours of enjoyment out of this game. The only complaints were that the game was EXTREMELY laggy online when I first played. It since seems to have been fixed however, so that's not an issue anymore. Another complaint is that there are not enough maps to choose from. Overall though, a most enjoyable game available for a low price. Worth a purchase. Expand
  3. This game is a remake of the old game, battlefield 1942. There is a level progression but only 3 classes. This game is good but gets boring fast. whicg is why if you are reading this at this point you should get battlefield bad company 2. Much better game. Expand
  4. SteveR
    1
    After an abortive attempt to play BF1943 on the day of release, (where I ended up playing the tutorial all night), I went back to it this evening and invested a few hours. I can only say that I bitterly regret wasting those hours of my life as I found it to be the worst experience I've had on an Xbox 360 - the controls felt like I was trying to run up a down escalator...through glue and the targeting / hit recognition was terrible. Unless I've been extraordinarily unlucky on around 50 or so consectutive headshot attempts, I've sniped people directly in the face from mid to long range, only for them to shrug it off like I was flicking them with a wet towel / handful of daisies / a stick of candy floss. And then they brutally machine gun me to death / snipe me once in my little toe and kill me outright. I thought that was bad, but then decided to have a try at flying again after darkly muttering my way through the tutorial on the night of release. Let me just say that I can't adequately express how fucking atrocious these controls are. I've you've ever played any kind of flight sim or have been lucky enough to fly a real plane, the controls are totally counter-intuitive and suck any element of fun you might have expected out of the experience. Regardless of how you set up the controls for flight you're lucky if you manage to find the fucking island the action is unfolding upon before you're blown of of the sky... I can't see me ever returning to this steaming pile of shite and really feel as though EA have violated me in some perverse and dirty way. To think I spunked 1200 MS points on this pile of tripe makes me feel physically ill. I knew there was a valid reason why I usually wait for demos before spending my MS points... I'd just like to add that I played BF1942 and BF2 to death on the PC and whilst the controls were never the best, I could live with them. This on the other hand is unbelievably bad. What I can't understand is why there are so many people out there who apparently love the game... On a happier note, I downloaded Monkey Island and Worms for my iPhone this evening and loved them. And the pair cost less than this pile of dung. Expand

See all 48 User Reviews