A reader is upset EA has shut down the servers for Battlefield 1943 and looks back at 14 glorious years of first person multiplayer action.
By the time you’re reading this, it is already too late, as it has already happened!
A time I never thought would have happened has arrived. Whether it’s on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, Electronic Arts have switched off the servers for Battlefield 1943 (and many other games of that era) after 14 years, on Friday 8th December 2023.
And as regards Battlefield 1943 (which will be the only focus of this feature), what a time it has been, with many ups and many downs. I’ll come back to these later.
Even as the minutes were ticking down before server shutdown, you could still get full 12v12 on any of the three maps (technically, there were four maps but no one really played Coral Sea which was aircraft-only).
Three weapons on three maps with four vehicles during the game’s 14-year lifespan, in today’s gaming age, would’ve been seen as a disgrace. But not this game. There was something about it. And after many hours traveling around these medium-sized maps, I put it down to its simplicity.
There are no side quests or unnecessary side missions to take you off the path. The player just has to capture bases.
Oh, and stop the other team from doing so.
This was done by using one of three weapons, starting with a sub-machine gun, which was deadly at close range – this soldier also carried a bazooka to take care of tanks. The rifle was longer range but slower. These (hated, in my opinion) guns could also fit a grenade launcher on the end and because of that, it became known as the noob tube; this was because the splash damage it inflicted was an easy kill, hence why 90-95% of players used them.
Finally, there was the sniper rifle, which was my personal favourite and for truly skilled players who liked sneaking around. These soldiers also had a pistol in case they were confronted up close and dynamite for passing cars or tanks.
Players in planes are the bane of this game. If said players were good in them, they were deadly. And I mean deadly. (I’ve already had an issue with a pilot before.)
To be fair, using the planes is a skill but one I wasn’t too good at.
Finally, either team could call in an airstrike to completely demolish the other side and to utterly destroy the map.
One thing Battlefield games in general had over Call Of Duty, or any other game like it at that time, was the destructible scenery, which was unseen in games back then and I thought to be amazing back when I first started playing in either late 2010 or early 2011, on my brand new charcoal PlayStation 3 Slim.
And that, dear readers, is Battlefield 1943.
It sounds so simple on paper and reads like most other games but there is something about this game that keeps calling players back. Most players are level 50 and have traversed the three islands so many times, myself included, and with nothing to unlock (apart from Trophies/Achievements) why do we keep coming back?
Because this game is so much fun regardless of which soldier type you play as. Also, it comes from a time of no paywalls or fake timers or the other rubbish put into games these days.
And, as mentioned near the start of this feature, you could still find yourself in full servers, 14 years after the game first launched. I don’t know any other game that still has a following like that so long after it was first released.
So, with this in mind, I don’t understand why EA are shutting off the servers for this game in particular. Surely they can see how many are still playing? No doubt it comes down to money. Someone has to pay to keep the servers up and running and EA don’t want to pay for it anymore. Considering how popular this game still is, should EA charge the player a subscription to continue playing it? I’m not sure if I’d be happy at now paying for something that was previously free for many years, but I think most would pay it – as long as it wasn’t too expensive.
It’s a shame really. One of my favourite games of the PlayStation 3 generation, and of all time, is no longer able to be played and I can’t ever see it ever coming back. Updating it with better graphics, controls or gameplay just wouldn’t be the same. And with no way to play this offline (though you can play the tutorial but you’re completely alone), I think this game will be lost to time.
I’ve always thought online-only games that are about to end should come with a mandatory mode where you can play against AI bots. It might not be the same but it’s something to scratch that itch.
I will have plenty of good memories of this game long after the Xbox One I’m playing this game on has packed up, with some of these memories being 10-second recorded clips, thanks to the Share ability of modern consoles.
I’m not the best player at this game, far from it. There have been happy-giddy times where I have stopped a marauding tank in its tracks, thanks to well-placed but unseen explosives, head-shotted players from across the other side of the map or have just hidden in bushes or trees in wait for some unsuspecting player about to capture a base I just captured.
And even on the day it was to be shut down, I was able to take sweet revenge on a sniper who had been taunting me in a Facebook group I’m in the day before. I’ll always fondly remember that.
But there have also been some terribly bad memories. Of being completely WREKT (as the kids say these days) by one player – usually the same player per round on the opposite team or being out-sniped by someone more secretive than I.
And I’ll be honest. I know I’m not the only one who does this following behaviour, but in polls I have conducted across various sites gamers do not admit to it (maybe due to embarrassment) but I have absolutely raged at the above bad memories.
So much so, along with shouting various X-rated words in the middle of the night, and waking up my very miffed wife, I would eventually throw and break two DualShock 3 control pads. The original one the console came with and a glittery/metallic blue one my wife bought me as a present. I will never forgive myself for the latter breakage but since then, I’ve not broken a control pad since.
All-in-all, for the £17.98 I paid for it total (£7.99 on the PSN Store and £9.99 on the Xbox Store), this game has been value for money 10 times over, maybe even more. I think at this point with the hours played-to-pounds ratio, I should be paying the developers!
(There is a petition to get this game back online but whether EA listen or not is another thing.)
A friend at the time introduced me to this game when he got his phat PlayStation 3 in 2009 and I thought it to be a Call Of Duty wannabe.
I will miss Battlefield 1943, I really will. I have played nothing like it since and not even modern shooter games like Fortnite, Warface, or Vigor can stand shoulder to shoulder to it.
So, here’s goodbye to sunny Wake Island, summery Guardalcanal, and muddy Iwo Jima.
I’ll never step foot on those places again but I’m sure I’ve left my mark.
Aaah, Battlefield 1943, you were a little too good…