If you've been looking for a time to get your feet wet with the Battlefield series, there has never been a better time.
To quickly sum the game up though, It's Battlefield: Bad Company with minor tweaks at a great price. I will list the minor tweaks below.
1. Only 3 classes
-Infantrymen (Submachine gun, Bazooka)
-Rifleman (Semi-automatic rifle, Rifle Gernades)
-Sniper (Scoped bolt action rifle, self detonated charges similar to C4)
2. A brand new spotted system. In BF:BC, once you were shot a big red dot showed up on you showing the enemy exactly where you were even if nobody had a line of sight on you still. The new spotted system makes it to where the enemy knows you're last known position. However, if the enemy loses sight of you, they only have a very general idea of your location. It's a big improvement.
3. Planes and Parachutes. Two things that BF:BC vets longed for now make an appearance for the first time on the console Battlefield series. The planes are easy to use but difficult to master which is just the way I like it. The bombs the planes drop sometimes tend to do a small of amount of damage. However, the dog fights are fantastic. The only problem I have with the planes is that if any smuck hops on the anti-air you are screwed. The AA does a massive amount of damage in a very short period of time sometimes bringing intense dogfights to a anti-climactic end.
4. Regenerating Health System. Love it or hate it, it's making an appearance in the Battlefield series. It takes away from the class system and teamwork to a certain degree by not having a class there to heal you. I find the class that suffers the most from this change is the sniper class. If you're not consistently pulling off hand shots, it's possible for the enemy to just run inside and wait till he's at full health than pop back out only to repeat the same scheme.
5. Control over a Bomber Squad. One building on every map allows you to call in a squad of 3 bombers. You have limited control over these bombers and can only move them slightly to the right or left so you have to plan your bombing location ahead of time. The bombs are much more effective than the ones the fighters drop and will typically drop and will devastate anything in the area. It's a cool idea, but it's ruined by the community. I have palyed this game around 30 hrs and besides the tutorial I haven't gotten to use it once. The initiate the bombing you must enter a building with a spinning radar on top. There is always someone camping outside the building waiting to use the thing much like the Artillery or Helicopter in BF:BC.
6. No friendly fire. You'll specifically notice this when you're teammates are shooting the heck out of you as you run to enter the nearest plane or wait outside the building to call in the bombers. Just thank God it's not like the artillery in BF:BC
Overall, I'm enjoying the game. However, I am a die hard Battlefield fan. It would be difficult for me to recommend the purchase to anyone who has already bought Battlefield Bad Company, because 1943 is essentially a watered down version of that game with planes in a WWII setting.
Some notable frustrations include the inablity just sit down and play the game consistently. The quick match system always tells me a game can't be found. However, I usually find one within the first 2-3 minutes of spamming it. The game freezes and disconnects me from a match quite often. The grenades still feel very floaty as they did with BF:BC which is really frustrating. The melee system is still broken since there is not even a slight lunge towards the enemy. You literally have to be on top of the enemy to hit them and even then it's questionable. The tanks shells are effected by gravity a little too much for my liking and an extremely small amount of splash damage. Lastly, the submachine guns are very underpowered. I would rather of had Dice up the dmg and down the range.
I don't want to end it on a bad note so let me sum it up a slightly more bright point. Battlefield 1943 is a must buy for anyone who did not play Battlefield: Bad Company or to anyone who has been curious about the Battlefield series but hasn't wanted to drop $60 on one. For $15, it's a steal of a deal, and a standard for Xbox Live Arcade games. If you're still on the fence, I recommend playing the trial version over Xbox Live.