Apparently during the battle of Iwo Jima, Marines would shout "Gotcha!" upon gunning down a member of the IJN.
The vast majority of first person shooters are released for the former crowd. Any old chump can hold his own in a FPS's singe-player campaign, but it seems that these days the real meat of shooter titles lies with the online components. So if you're a member of that latter group mentioned, it stands to reason that you're going to have a tough time getting the most out of any modern shooter you buy.
Admittedly, you could purchase the hot new online shooter du jour and consent to having your ass kicked for five online hours before you finally get the hang of things. But what fun is that, really? Is somebody who's not that into FPSs really going to consent to throwing their time down a well in an attempt to be good enough at a game to have fun with it? Probably not.
Enter Battlefield 1943.
It's the kindergarten of shooters, a cheap, relatively simple FPS which, whatever the developers intentions, is the ideal title for those who want to get into the genre but are scared crapless by Modern Warfare players who are sporting 100,000 kills and have played for thousands of hours. It's small, accessible, and easy to pick up and play.
With only three maps and three classes, even complete FPS newbies will find it easy to get into the action. The fact that there are only three maps might be a turn-off to some, but it ensures that you'll very quickly learn the ins and outs of each environment, so you can focus on the shooting and spend less time getting ambushed from spots you didn't know existed. Each of the three classes have their own strengths and weaknesses, and as you'd expect there's plenty of fun to be had with each class in each situation.
And that's really what it comes down to: Battlefield 1943 is an extremely situational game. There are only three maps, but nearly everything on each map is fully destructible. This means that you can play fifty matches on a map and never have quite the same experience. Honestly, I'm obliged to think that situationalism is the highest attainable goal for any multiplayer game: getting past the mechanics and the rules and being able to effortlessly, intelligently adapt to whatever the game might throw at you. In that respect, Battlefield 1943 shares company with games like Super Smash Bros. and Warhawk. It's difficult to think of higher praise for an online game.
After just a few hours of online play, you'll find yourself at the very least competent at Battlefield. It takes a little trial-and-error, along with which comes frustration, and you'll most likely gravitate toward a particular class, which sort of renders the different classes' strengths and weaknesses irrelevant. But frankly, it's worth these slight frustrations/disappointments to be able to enjoy such an accessible shooter.
After eleven or twelve hours with Battlefield and very little prior experience with online FPSs, do I feel like I'm ready to take names and kick some ass with Modern Warfare or Killzone 2? Certainly not. But do I feel like I could at least hold my own in these games, adapt to the new weapons and maps, and have some fun? Definitely.
Battlefield 1943 provides plenty of fun, but in a larger sense I think it plays a more psychological role. It gets you ready for bigger, meaner FPSs, ensures you that you'll be able to deal with them. If the FPS genre were a multi-course meal, Battlefield 1943 would no doubt be the appetizer.
But of course, Battlefield 1943 is not solely populated with FPS newcomers; there are some undeniably good players out there. But while Battlefield 1943 gets a wholehearted recommendation for anybody new to the genre, it's a bit tougher to extol its praises to those with significant experience with shooters. The limited options in terms of weapons and maps might be a little disappointing, but Battlefield 1943 nonetheless possesses some tangible depth.
The biggest deepening factor to be found in Battlefield 1943 is its vehicle selection. Jeeps are easily used as transportation devices, but tanks take a little more finesse and skill to correctly utilize. And at the most complex end of this spectrum we have airplanes, which are annoying as hell when you're playing as an infantry but are undeniably powerful. Naturally, then, they take quite a bit of practice to master, and it's a safe bet that the majority of really experienced players will be taking advantage of the game's airplanes.
Even in a game that's so (unintentionally?) learning-oriented as Battlefield 1943, there are still people with astronomical scores and thousands of kills. But the thing about these stats is that they have two different origins: on the one hand, you need to have played enough to possess some sort of mastery over the game. And on the other hand, you just need to pump time into the title. Luckily, the learning threshold is quite low in Battlefield 1943, meaning that if you give it a few hours, you're in a position to have tons of fun with this game.
The flipside to this is that there might not be a whole lot of incentive to really keep playing once you do possess the skill required to hold your own. Battlefield isn't the most long-lasting FPS out there, precisely because of the incredibly gentle learning curve that makes it so good in the first place. But even if it only lasts you fifteen hours, the fifteen dollar price tag means it's definitely worth the money you'll spend. And more importantly, after your time with Battlefield 1943 you'll certainly have been bitten by the FPS bug, and you'll likely go out of your way to check out more complex, difficult online shooters.
Welcome to the jungle, baby.