Oh my. VG247 have the news over here. “1943 features 24-player action over three locations; Wake Island, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima.” There’s also a video (thanks Joystiq, love you!) which I’ve posted after the jump. I can see the “omg nerf bombers” forum headline from here. It does look like the game intends to revisit the World War II vehicular combat found in the first game with little change to the formula, and that’s a good thing. It will apparently arrive on PC “this summer”. Fantastic news.
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Where was the amazing theme tune?!
Large failure.
Confirm: 12 vs 12 or is it 24 vs 24? 12 is a bloody sorry number for a battlefield game.
@Springy:
True to a degree; there’s something appealing to joining a large scale battle. There seems to be some momentum to our actions, and our orders being drowned by the surrounding chaos, along with never being able to predict how things turn ou, certainly evokes the tension of combat.
But it’s also the chaos that sometimes wears me down (after all, I was talking what works best for me), with waves of screaming deaths, annoying giblet showers and a higher rate of being fragged because you just respawned at the wrong place. I feel incredibly frustrated with the latter one; an enormous battle raging and all I’ve been doing is getting bazooka’d to death the last minute because there’s so much chaos I get caught in the crossfire without having a single chance of defense, retreat or counter-attacking.
Oh yes. Bots. Must have bots. BF2 was worthless without bots. We all bought it and fired it up and looked at each other with looks of shock, sadness, anger and disappointment, making BF2 into one of the worst initial gaming experiences I’ve shared with a group of gaming friends. I still can’t believe that game was released without bots. Yes, Please to bots.
Still. WTF are they thinking? A game known for its epic battles made smaller? A reissue of environments? No mention of new features any word on a console release?
My excitement quickly turned to cynicism:
Looks sweet, but 24 player Battlefield? More like Battlegarden.
32 could be fun on some maps, but 64 was always the best hands down. You could get a group of people together and play cohesively within the battlefield knowing that there were other people doing what needed to be done. If you wanted to plan a long-way-round boat attack you could do that knowing that other people would be flying the planes, and defending the villages with tanks etc.
24 players on Wake Island would either have to be a cut down area of the map where planes dominate everything (more), or whack-a-mole chases back and forth defending cap points on the full map.
Also 3 maps? Gosh! Really? All for me? So generous.
I guess we get all the other old maps re-skinned in pay-for DLC!
It uses Frostbite so its a Bad Company reskin if its anything.
I am now awaiting a news report stating that EA has been dissolved by a disillusioned lead director and the only quote available is from the Something Awful forums stating “CULTURAL VICTORY”.
Seriously, this can’t be real or right. Perhaps while Mirror’s Edge was been worked on they had a small group working on BF3 and this is all they could come up with. Since money is tight and ME didn’t do as well as they hoped, they’re just rebranding it BF43 and trying to make a quick buck.
Way to fail EA. Fire more staff than expected, get your share prices up, intend to focus on key franchises and then spoonfeed us this tripe. If this doesn’t come with some obscene form of SecuROM on all formats, I’ll be surprised.
I agree Jim, i find the 24 servers in BF2 have the most balanced teamplay, instead of just a hughe frag fest.
Got to say, as a battlefield fanboy, that i already love this!! I hope its nothing like 2142, but more like 1942 mixed with the best from bf2. Especially BF2, not much on just pub, but it rocked when played with clanners. Oh how i long for the long evenings playing through all the addons, shouting at eachother over the teamspeak channel, hearing the frustration when your team mates are being blown to smitherseen by the bombs you just dropped on the flag they were capturing, and how they wished me the most horrible diseases…. Do i sound old now?..
You need more than 24 players if you want epic combined arms battles. That’s where Battlefield 1942 excels. Every FPS and its brother has infantry combat, but only Battlefield, specifically ‘42, has subs and bombers and battleships, controlled by players, all on the same map.
12 vs. 12 on Midway would suck; 1/3 of your team would be needed just to fully man a battleship.
In other words, large-scale battles with vehicles require lots of players.
If you want infantry combat, play DoD or any number of other FPS games. If you want combined arms warfare with huge battles, play Battlefield. That’s the series’ competitive advantage and EA just got rid of it.
I presented the same arguments years ago on the PlanetSide forums when it became evident that the devs were turning the game into a crappy Unreal knock-off through the introduction of insta-kill weapons. Why play PlanetSide if it doesn’t focus on the teamwork, command structure, and combined arms battles, things which are largely nonexistent in most FPS games. I haven’t played PS in 4 years, but I imagine the community never recovered from the BFR fiasco.
EA also has a sordid history of ruining franchises. Guess Battlefield can join the club.
You got a point there, midway and guadalcanal had the kind of battles that ive never seen in any game after that. Which is a shame for i loved hunting carriers with a submarine, and launch cruisemissles from it in DC..
i like the way the trees fall over
So, EA re-release a game most of us allready played to death a few years back. New graphics aside, I see no reason to buy this.
No even a re-release, look up how many maps and players there were in the original =)
@ Stuk
The theme music is there using the Asian instruments. It’s more recognizable the drums/wind instrument being the only audio at the end of the trailer when they splash “1943″ up.
You know what could make this really cool? A New Zero-style total darkness.
Do you mean mods? I admit I lost what little interest I had, but I thought in terms of expansions there was only the Batrope-and-jetskis one. What are the awesome addons you played for BF2?
I’ll forgive the 24 player cap if they let the PC version use dedicated servers, but I have a bad feeling the cap is there precisely because of their absence.
They did release those godawful “booster packs” as well, though I can’t think of much fun to be had from them.
Wait we buy this! I thought it would be free
Biting satire!
What!? Again?!
Can’t we have a new game or something?
@Rich P
I absolutely agree. The large servers on BF42’s naval maps were great because they gave you the option to join up with a squad in an assault craft and teamplay to your heart’s content OR just hang out in a carrier AA gun, eat dinner and wait for the zeroes to come in OR solo your way to a point where you could snipe all the “If You Let Me Fly We Will Win” losers as they stood around three deep waiting for planes. There was nothing more fun than being on a smart, cooperative team, but the large numbers made it possible to find at least one or two guys who “got it” or, if that failed, have fun anyhow.
I also agree that the engineer could be the most fun. Mining the gate to the point, and manning/fixing the AA gun, once you got really good at throwing flak and jumping out of the gun just before the bombs got there…..one could become soooo hated, sooo fast….
I haven’t played for years now, I guess, but would totally pay for a reskin, as long as thats all they did. I have a hard time seeing smaller servers being the future for this type of PC game.
I’d agree with those prefering larger maps and player numbers. That’s what BF is about. If I wanted 12 aside I’d play CS or CoD4 etc etc.
If we can’t play battle of the philipines it’s not worth it.
That map was just amazing escape from reality. In a good way
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Damnit EA, why do you have to consolize and nerf all your games now?
We want a REAL, new, high quality Battlefield game that will shine on a modern high end PC.
How anyone can complain about this release is beyond me, 1942 was such ownage and dragged me away EASILY from the clutches of Delta Force : Landwarrior and it’s crappy sequels.
Wasn’t too fond of 2042 or whatever the futuristic one was though, Vietnam was good though. Much prefer machineguns and tanks/planes to laz0r beamz and Robocop machines.
CAN’T WAIT. I wouldn’t even care if it was just a graphical/physics overhaul to be honest. Game was great as it was and as long as it got a new breath of life and popularity (IE – The servers got full again) then i wouldn’t mind at all. =D
It won’t be hard for the servers to fill up AMIRITE?
People seem to be reading this news all wrong.
The point is to update the graphics and release (a portion of) Battlefield 1942 on the console download services. The PC version is pretty clearly an afterthought.. this is not Battlefield 3.
Everyone goes off on an AIM rampage, but everyone knows they will try it out regardless :)
laz0r beamz in bf2142 dont remember them
I have been waiting for years for an updated version of BF1942 (yes, I am one of those that likes the WW2 setting as much as the modern day one) and I think it is a big disappointment if the new game is seriously one theatre, three maps (a quarter of that offered with BF1942) and only 24 players. At least make it a max of 32 players.
Hopefully it’ll be as mod friendly as BF1942/2/2142, so at least people who care about the game can fix the POS that EA release. Never really cared for the original games half as much as Desert Combat and AIX.
Bah still not Codename Eagle 2….
Yeah, this sure looks and feels like a Bad Company reskin.
And I’m refering to destroyable buildings and Frostbite.
Your game is nothing compared to Codename Eagle 2!
Sign me up for the big battles please (64 players etc.).
Those epic wars are my best memories of Battlefield.
Yah, when publishers pull this crap, it is seemingly ok. When we – the elitists (ha!) do it, they accuse of us making the same damn game. Bastards.
This is the same damn 1942 game with a different skin. Typical EA. They must be hurting real bad to go digging this deep into the barrel.
I hear it only has 3 classes, every class capable of doing everything (like anti tanking..), infinite ammo and recharging health.
So.. are we allowed to complain about it yet?
3 classes, health regen, infinite ammo… you’re joking right? I heard someone say that somewhere else, too. It can’t be true, can it?
It is true. 3 classes, all can do all, infinite ammo, health regen.
It’s gone fucking insane. I’ll just sit here and wait for BF3, and in the mean time, play BF1942.
If everyone can do everything, what are the classes? Different “outfits”?
If everyone can do everything, what are the classes? Different “outfits”?
No, you’ll have to pay $1 for unique outfits.
(I kid, I kid, but that’s totally what they’re doing with Heroes.)
Theres something about their new engine (frostbite?) that I dont like visually, it might be that they need new explosion textures. It just looks like Bad Company. I’d prefer to play 1942. This doesn’t excite me at all, and i was a huge 1942 and BF2 player.
I’m waiting on Battlefield 3, hopefully on an improved engine :P
20$ for 3 maps, 3 classes, infinite health, infinite ammo?
Keep it, EA. I still have BF42 and DC installed. They are still fun and I can knife someone to death if I want to.
And in the game?
Uh, a remake with a fraction of the players, only 3 maps, and it will go for full price? Doesn’t sound right to me.
Not full price but still expensive for only 3 maps….
Ok……….ANYBODY FEEL A BOYCOTT COMING ON!!@#@!#???
Seriously, if they want to release a game that was already good, why the hell would they take what was good out of that game ???? Only 3 classes?? regenerating health, unlimited ammo????
Are you sure this is a battlefield game? Cause this sounds like shit to me
very lame. EA you have failed PC gamers again with your pathethic attempt at resurrecting what is for many, the best game ever made. Whos idea was bf heroes and this 3 map piece of crap? fire that Ahole.
The $20 price point is ridiculous because you can buy BF1942, its expansions, and BF Nam for $10 at Best Buy or Amazon.com. Plus you get Desert Combat!