It always feels like a shame that the excellent Battlefield 1943 never made it to PC. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 FPS game was a fantastic follow-up to DICE’s Battlefield 1942. It landed right between the two Bad Company games as a digital-only release featuring just three classes and three maps, but proved hugely popular, becoming the top-selling Xbox Live Arcade game of 2009. Servers were shut down at the end of 2023, but now a group of dedicated fans are paying tribute to the beloved classic in an unexpected place – Fortnite.
The team behind Battle43 describes it not as a direct recreation, but rather maps inspired by the classic FPS game built in the Unreal Engine for Fortnite. It’s completely free to play – the developer states it “will never charge or ask you for money” – and will continue to grow and evolve as additions to Fortnite Creative roll out. Its initial arrival in July featured just one map, the iconic Wake Island, but a new update has introduced Guadalcanal alongside a wealth of additional upgrades to the game such as a scoreboard and minimap, as well as a new, smoother round system built from the ground up.
Battle43 is an impressive testament to the power of Fornite’s Unreal Editor. The look of the maps, the first-person action, and the layout of the UI are close enough that you could almost mistake it for the real thing at a glance, although the presence of the Fornite fonts will give it away to an eagle-eyed player. There are tanks, planes, and environmental destruction – buildings can be blown apart or crashed through in a way that feels like a true throwback to the original. You can take a look at it in action below courtesy of YouTuber Jack ‘jackfrags’ Mason.
The feel doesn’t 100% match the original, but it’s a pretty impressive approximation, and overhauls to both on-foot and in-vehicle action are planned as Fortnite Creative evolves. You can even pull off the classic Battlefield strategy of strapping C4 to the front of a car, driving it into the enemy stronghold, jumping out, and hitting the detonator. If you prefer, there’s also the option to jump out into third-person. It’s almost reminiscent of the free-to-play Battlefield Heroes, which arrived at around the same time as the original launch of 1943.
Battle43 is a really charming project – a true labor of love to a game lost to time. With the Battlefield 1943 servers no longer online, this is a comfy home that fans who loved it can share together. And to celebrate the festive season, a special Christmas Celebration event is also live – enemies drop presents when you eliminate them, and if you manage to pick them up they’ll add to your total tally, which you’ll be able to show off on your profile in the future.
Battle43’s Guadalcanal update is out now. You can play it for free in Fortnite – simply head to the browser search tool and look for ‘Battle43’ to find the map. For the time being, maps will rotate between three rounds of the new Guadalcanal map and one of Wake Island. The Iwo Jima map is under development and is planned to arrive in a later update. You can learn more via the community Discord [invite link opens in a new window].
We’ve got the latest details on the Fortnite map for Chapter 6 Season 1, along with our pick of the best multiplayer games on PC that you can play in 2024.
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