Battlefield 1943

Battlefield 1943 is the eighth installment in the Battlefield series developed by DICE. It wad published by EA Games on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on July 8, 2009 for 1200 MS points and on the PlayStation Store on July 9, 2009 for $15 USD. It is not considered to be the "sequel" to Battlefield 1942, but more of a "revisioning" of 1942.

It utilizes the 1.5 version of the Frostbite Engine, improving upon destructible environments and allowing entire buildings to be destroyed, albeit without rubble - unlike in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. On August 31, 2010, it was announced that Battlefield 1943 would be bundled with the Ultimate Edition of Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

On February 3, 2011, it was announced that the development of the PC version was finally cancelled, along with the development of Onslaught for Bad Company 2 for the same platform. This was done to concentrate all work on the release of Battlefield 3.

Setting
Battlefield 1943 is a World War II addition to the Battlefield series for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but unlike past WWII Battlefield games, this game takes place only in the Pacific theater. Battlefield 1943 features three classic maps from Battlefield 1942, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Wake Island, and a new map entitled Coral Sea. The maps allow a maximum of 24 people, 12 on each side, to fight online as the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) or the United States Marine Corps (USMC).

Gameplay
Gameplay is similar to DICE's previous game Battlefield: Bad Company. The player can drive/pilot four vehicles: a jeep, landing craft, tank, and airplane, all which are type-specific to the side that is played. The jeep and landing craft are transport vehicles that have mounted machine guns. The jeep can seat up to 3 and the landing craft can seat 4-6. Tanks have two seats as well, and planes are single seated. Players can chose to play as one of three different classes, which each have specific weapon loadouts. A new feature called "bombing run" allows the player to directly control three medium bomber airplanes (American: B-25 Mitchell, and Japanese: G4M Mitsubishi) that can be guided to an enemy area to conduct Carpet Bombing.

Battlefield 1943 originally featured only Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima. The fourth map, Coral Sea, was unlocked after the community reached a collective count of 43,000,000 kills. The Xbox 360 community unlocked Coral Sea after just under a week of the game's release, while the PlayStation 3 community unlocked it a few days later.

Soundtrack
The Battlefield 1943 theme is the only music track in-game and is the same as the famed theme to Battlefield 1942 with only some minor differences as it is an updated and orchestrated version. Jeeps can play the theme on one of the radio stations during rounds.

Reception
Battlefield 1943 has garnered positive reviews from industry critics. On Metacritic, the game has metascores of 84 for PlayStation 3 and 83 for Xbox 360. On GameRankings, the game has a scores of 85.90% for PlayStation 3 and 84.90% for Xbox 360.

GameSpot gave the game an 8 out of 10, saying that "The balanced classes, diverse vehicles, and dynamic maps provide the kind of variety and replayability that is the hallmark of the most engaging online shooters, making Battlefield 1943 well worth the $14.99 asking price."

IGN gave the game an 8.5 out of 10, saying that "You won't find anything new in terms of gameplay, but the seven-year old Battlefield formula remains a lot of fun today. This is a streamlined game that does one thing and does it well: online multiplayer battles."

GameVortex gave the game a 9.3 out of 10, saying that "The guys at DICE have taken what could have been a full priced retail game and offered it as a digital download. I think it paid off big for them because now that it sits on my XMB every time I turn on my PS3, I have to fight the urge to jump right back in. Battlefield 1943 follows in the footsteps of Warhawk and any fan of shooters on the PS3 needs to own this game."

PS3 Owners vs. EA Lawsuit
At Sony's E3 2011 press conference, EA announced that for all PlayStation 3 players, each new copy of Battlefield 3 would come with a free code of Battlefield 1943. This resulted in many to buy/pre-order the game, greatly boosting the game's overall sales. It was later revealed that EA and DICE had decided to retract their offer, stating that many of those who had pre-ordered Battlefield 3 already owned Battlefield 1943 and had been playing it for years. To compensate for this, EA and Sony announced that all PSN users would get a week early access to Back to Karkand. In spite of this, several PlayStation 3 owners filed a class action lawsuit against EA. Edelson McGuire, head of the group, alleged that EA ”misled and profited from thousands of their customers by making a promise that they could not keep". EA has since apologized for this and later issued codes for PS3 users to download Battlefield 1943 (now expired) in response to the lawsuit, and also kept the one-week early access deal for not only Back to Karkand but all future expansions for the game as well.

Trivia

 * At E3 2011 it was revealed that Battlefield 1943 would be bundled with each copy of Battlefield 3 for the Playstation 3. DICE later talked to SONY and EA and decided to give all PSN players a week early access to Battlefield 3's first map pack, Back to Karkand because many players had 1943 for years and not many people would want another copy. In spite of this, some PSN players sued EA by saying the company lied about giving PS3 players 1943 for free and instead gave them content that everyone else would eventually get.
 * On Iwo Jima, a small drawing can be seen saying "Haggard was here", referencing the character from the "Bad Company" series.
 * On each map (excluding Coral Sea) a sandcastle can be found with a Swedish flag at the top.
 * The reload animations for both factions' weapons are exactly the same, except for their submachine guns.
 * When you start up the game, on the Electronic Arts logo the date "November 16, 1943" is written on it. On that day in the Pacific theater of WWII (the setting of Battlefield 1943), a Japanese submarine sunk the USS Corvina, another submarine, near the Chuuk Islands.