Battlefield 1943 and a little Magic go a long way

I admitted being wrong about first-person shooters when I got Call of Duty at the beginning of the year, but never did I think I would find a new, decent shooter for under $20. But wait, there’s more! I have actually found two great games, both under $20, which to me is the cheapskate gamer’s breaking point. I figure just about any game is worth $20 if you play for more than a weekend. With $40 spent and Battlefield 1943 and Magic: The Gathering now in my game library, I can once again kill time properly.

Battlefield 1943

I had read about Battlefield 1943 a couple months ago and how it was going supposedly going to be a “retail game” on Xbox Arcade game, which typically means a lower price point. Usually those claims fall flat but BF1943 lives up to the hype. For a mere $15 you get what I can only call a “full game” experience. Battlefield is an on-line only game, there is no single player campaign here. But considering it took me less than 48-hour to complete the solo mode on Call of Duty 4 and have since just played it on-line, I forsee these types of “light” multiplayer games being more and more the norm.

In many ways BF1943 is just another WWII shooter. You’re fighting in the Pacific Islands and you’re either a US Marine or a Japanese soldier. There aren’t a lot of options in this game, you pick one of three classes and then run & gun playing capture the flag. But where Battlefield hits the sweet spot is the integration of vehicles. From boats to tanks to jeeps to airplanes, you can hop in any of them and tool around the island shooting and running people over. And just about every vehicle has multiple slots so you can have more than one person - one driving, one shooting.

There are only three maps in the download but the game promises to unlock a fourth when the community as a whole (all players) reach one million 43 million kills. I really like the idea of a community goal that then benefits everyone. I’ve never heard of that before and while it sounds unspectacular, I think in some ways it is more motivating than personal goals. It actually echoes the idea of WWII quite nicely - do you part for the war and we’ll succeed!

Graphically BF1943 is on par with most other current shooters. It’s real enough without going into too much detail that doesn’t get noticed. Sounds do there part but aren’t particularly outstanding. This is a game where you die a lot. It’s hard. Because your arsenal is pretty basic and you don’t have perks to help you out, you just gotta keep playing to get good. Out of all the matches I’ve played already, I haven’t seen anyone with a kill count higher than 15. If you’re looking for tactical strategy and the slower pace of say Call of Duty 4, this is not it. You won’t find any good sniping ledges here - well, you might, but it’ll probably get bombed quickly.

Some of the vehicle controls can take a bit to get comfortable with but soldier controls are par for the course. If you come from CoD or other shooter you’ll be right at home - except when it comes to the tanks, they’re a bitch to drive but boy are they fun! Some other points of light are unlimited ammo (but you still have to reload), air raid bombings, and the fact that just about everything can blow up and fall apart - and it stays that way. By the end of any given match just about every capture point will be a smoldering pile of rubble.

If you’re not a first-person shooter fan per se, or have wanted to join the club without having to go balls to the wall, Battlefield 1943 is a good entry point. And for $15 there’s not much to complain about.

Magic: The Gathering

Magic is one of those games I’ve always wanted to learn. A lot of friends play (or have played) and those collectible card games intrigue me. I like the idea of the customization combined with randomness along with a little bit of strategy. But as even after watching the “How to Play Magic” videos on YouTube, every time I’ve played there are rules you skip, miss, forget, or make up. It makes it hard for new players to get the complete picture - thankfully the Xbox Arcade translation solves that problem.

As I don’t have anyone on-hand that will play Magic the card game, having a console version is just what I needed. A quick $10 download and I was summoning goblins and invisible swordsmen with ease. This version of game is great for new players too because it obviously follows the correct rules consistently. It does a good job of providing you tool tips when playing while taking you through each step without fail. Since you are prompted for each step it makes it much easier to focus on learning about the cards and each of the possible magic types (colors).

Playing through a single player “campaign,” which is really just a bunch of AI battles, will unlock decks and cards and does a good job of ramping up your skill level without getting too crazy hard too soon. Magic also plays over Xbox Live but I have yet to play another human yet. Right now I’m about 75% through the campaign and I’m not quite confident in my card knowledge to possibly face someone that has card game experience. What I need is a Magic mentor…anyone game?

Despite the wonderful $10 price tag, I can see a future when there are countless, cheap downloads for this game. Card packs, full decks, limited time sales…and all under the $10 price point. And once they get to that point it would be a neat idea if you could trade cards with people or friends. There are a lot of possibilities here and I think this game will need them. As I said, I’m still new, but so far you can’t mix decks. You have to pick one color per match and play it, even though the computer will get a mixed-color deck from time to time.

Even though I had not played Magic: The Gathering for any length of time prior to the download, nor do I consider myself a Magic fan, the $10 download was too good to pass up. Magic is a fun game if you like strategy and the simplicity of cards. And if you’ve ever wondered what all the Magic hubbub was about but didn’t want to walk down the slippery path that is collectible card games, this arcade version is a good test of the waters.

Bite-sized gaming at it’s best

One thing both Battlefield 1943 and Magic: The Gathering have in common is quick, chunkable gaming. Neither game requires super gaming sessions to have fun or get anywhere. You can sit down with either game, spend 30 minutes or less and get your fill. Just don’t be surprised if that intended half hour gaming break turns into a few hours. And when was the last time $25 got your hours worth of enjoyment? It certainly wasn’t at the movie theatre.