This week marked my somewhat ambivalent return to gaming. After trying WOW for the first time, activating my Dungeons and Dragons Online beta account, and watching my productivity nosedive while my self-loathing spiked, I decided I needed a game that would lead me towards the lifestyle of a "casual gamer." My friend told me he was going to pick up Battlefield 1943 from XBOX Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft points and I decided that I could afford twelve-fifty to avoid spending ten bucks a month on WOW. It wasn't just spending money, it was an investment in my future.
Despite the fact that I own a used copy of Battlefield 1942, I have never played a "legit" battlefield game before -- I 
suffered an unfortunate condition known as "weak computer syndrome." It's a problem that all too many children in the world must deal with daily. I had however played Battlefield Heroes in beta so I kind of knew what was going on.
I should mention at the outset that BF1943 is a "domination" type game based on capturing and holding flags. Just like Battlefield Heroes, the aiming system is unforgiving. I like that though, assisted aim makes for lazy players and all sorts of bullshit "spray and pray" scenarios. Here, you quickly figure out that you're going to have to do more than unload a clip while strafing an enemy and chalking it up to odds. As frustrating as it is to feel like you should be hitting someone only to die yourself, there is a certain satisfaction that comes with knowing that you deserved your fate and were solidly outplayed. It also makes you feel that much more successful when you do finally start to get the hang of it and rack up kills.
The radar system is also crafted in a way that encourages more thoughtful behavior from players, (although it doesn't always succeed). Instead of the sound of your gun or physical activity revealing your location like in Call of Duty or Halo, you will only appear as an icon for your enemies if one of the enemy spot and fire on you. So, if you're using guerrilla tactics and popping up from the side of the road and retreating you might escape detection completely.
Article comments
1 - DW
Sounds like you played this on a PC, can you also play it on an Xbox? Can Xbox players play with PC players in the same session?
2 - bloomacncheez
guiz!
view mah youtube channel
3 - Thomas Dunlap
This is actually the first console exclusive Battlefield title they've released and it is only available as downloadable content for XBOX 360 and Playstation 3. The version I reviewed was for the 360.
4 - Bdub87
First off no this is not the first console exclusive Battlefield game. Battlefield bad company was the first and this isn't even console exclusive, the pc version was supposed to be comming out in september but got pushed back to Q1 2010 because of issues porting the frotbite engine to pc. Also the game isn't 12 dollars, it is 15.