Battlefield 1943 is a smaller version of the PC hit 1942. It takes three maps from the previous game and adds one more specifically for air fights. It even has destructible environments like in Bad Company: not as good, still a nice touch. There's only one game mode. Both teams have a meter on the top of the screen, and the objective is to drain the other team's meter. To do this, you kill them, obviously, but that's not all. Each map has bases you can take over. The more bases you hold, the faster the other team's meter depletes. Some bases have perks you can get like planes, tanks, and even airstrikes. There are 3 classes you can chose from (rifleman, gunner, and sniper), and each one is balanced nicely, so snipers can't come in and dominate unless hidden extremely well. All in all, it's a nice size game for $15.
If you played Battlefield before, then you know exactly what to expect. If not, then let me tell you, this game is hell, in a good way. In a game full of people, you have gunfire in every direction, tanks rolling in to establish dominants, planes doing bombing runs while shooting it out with other planes and avoiding gunfire from turrets, snipers dueling from across the map, and a lot of dying. If you don't think that's fun, why even bother playing video games? I still have some problems with it, though. When a bomb is dropped from a plane, it doesn't do enough damage. I've have bombs blown up in my face with no consequence, which is funny because grenades can kill you from a farther distance. The sniper rifle sucks balls. If you don't get a headshot on a guy, then you might as well say fuck it, and move on to the next target because you will not kill him. Now, that's normally the course with snipers, but this one is so fuckin bad. Even if the reticule (which is small as fuck) is dead center, if the guy is moving, it won't connect. The bullet will hit the ground a second after you pull the trigger. That's bullshit. A bullet connecting is suppose to instantaneous with the pulling of the trigger. I shouldn't have to wait for the bullet to connect. Most of your targets will probably be snipers or just people generally standing still, so its a small problem, especially if you're not the sniper rifle type, but still worth mentioning. Besides, the good players somehow find a way to adapt and rack up the kills, anyway.
All in all, this gets my stamp of approval. It's a fun shooter, even if the feature set is limited, but hey, what did you expect for 15 bucks? Besides, there's always room for downloadable content. Now to move on to the Dishwasher.
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai (that's the full name by the way) reminds me of the good old days of the side scrolling beat em' ups for Sega Genesis and Nintendo mixed in with a little flair you would find at newgrounds.com. The story isn't really that great, but it was created by some guy in his basement, and since he's not an expert, I can forgive a poor narrative. It's not really poor per say, but it's hard to care about it, especially when there's a lot of slashy slashy do to. You play as a guy working as a dishwasher when his heart gets ripped out of you Mortal Kombat style. He's still alive, but don't know why. Meanwhile, cyborgs are coming after him for reasons he's not sure of yet, but he knows they're the reason he has no heart. So, not only is he out for revenge, he needs to figure out just how da hell is he still alive. You know, upon retrospect, the story is a lot better than I gave it credit for.
This is one of those games where button mashing is fun as all hell. Going through wave after wave of enemies with a pair of meat cleavers just never seems to get old no matter how long or how many times I do it. Don't think this game is easy, though: not by a fuckin long shot. Trust me, there's nothing wrong with putting the difficulty on easy. This game reminded me just how frustrating the 8-bit/16-bit game were except the Dishwasher thankfully has a difficulty setting that can be changed in the main menu no matter how far along you are in the story. As for the gameplay, mashing buttons is fun, but you better learn how to avoid attacks because your health goes down quick as hell. It's also a good idea to figure out the quickest way to kill people because the numbers can fuck you up. You know what, forget what I said about button mashing. Unless you're playing on easy, you better know what the fuck you're doing. Boss battles are a bitch, but once you figure out the most effective way to deal with them....okay, they're still a bitch, but at least you have a chance. Despite the difficulty, everything is setup so nicely, it's a rewarding experience when you come out on top, and not frustrating when you don't. It's like N++: it treats you like scum, but you keep coming back for more. When you do learn how to fight effective, it is such a kick-ass experience bouncing around the screen killing everything that moves. There's even an arcade mode dedicated to just that.
Both games are pretty fuckin awesome, and proved to me that the Xboxlive Arcade may actually be worth a damn. Now, if only that TMNT: Turtle in Time remake would come out already!
Rating: Fuckin Awesome
NOTE: In NCAA Football, I'm using Rutgers for season mode. I gotta go against Florida, then Oklahoma, then Texas, and after the bye week, Penn State. If I go undefeated, I better get a fuckin BCS Championship breth.
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