Quick fix

Here comes what will hopefully be the final late insert of my Battlefield-review marathon: Battlefield 1943. DICE's console-exclusive team shooter was released in 2009 between Bad Company and Bad Company 2, but did not feature its own campaign. Instead, players got to shoot each other in three maps set in World War II. Battlefield 1943 was therefore basically a modernized version of the original Battlefield 1942.

The score

So, a lot of familiar stuff. Musically, too, the console latecomers were offered little in the way of innovation. Ian Livingstone delivers the absolute minimum in the ten tracks of the OST. His works include the theme Battlefield 1943Ian Livingstone4, a Battlefield 1943 Menu ThemeIan Livingstone4, one theme per faction (Battlefield 1943 Japanese ThemeIan Livingstone3 and Battlefield 1943 American ThemeIan Livingstone3), and the two short pieces Battlefield 1943 US WinIan Livingstone2 and Battlefield 1943 US LoseIan Livingstone2.

Other entries in the Battlefield -series

Soundtrack

Battlefield 1942 (2002)

Soundtrack

Battlefield Vietnam (2004)

Soundtrack

Battlefield 2 (2005)

Soundtrack

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (2005)

Soundtrack

Battlefield 2142 (2006)

Soundtrack

Battlefield: Bad Company (2008)

Soundtrack

Battlefield Heroes (2009)

Soundtrack

Battlefield 1943 (2009)

Soundtrack

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010)

Soundtrack

Battlefield 3 (2011)

Soundtrack

Battlefield 4 (2013)

Soundtrack

Battlefield Hardline (2015)

Soundtrack

Battlefield 1 (2016)

Soundtrack

Battlefield V (2018)

Soundtrack

Battlefield 2042 (2021)

Soundtrack

Battlefield 6 (2025)

Anyone who is good at counting will have noticed that this only adds up to six tracks. This is correct in the sense that two of the remaining tracks are from Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Heroes . If we leave these out, the already short score comes to a length of just under 13.5 minutes. This is disappointing, because Livingstone was actually a very experienced composer working on the project.

However, he apparently had to reduce himself to fan service for this work. He repeats the series theme known from Battlefield 1942 over and over again, which makes the track Battlefield 1943Ian Livingstone4 a variation rather than an evolution of the main theme from the series' progenitor. The menu theme is a shortened alternative to Battlefield 1943Ian Livingstone4, while the Battlefield 1943 American ThemeIan Livingstone3 (Hawaiian vacation surf version of the motif) and Battlefield 1943 Japanese ThemeIan Livingstone3 Theme (Asian sounds) come across as beautifully clichéd. The two US-tracks (unfortunately, Japan is missing) celebrate or mourn the outcome of the match as a performance by a large marching band or as a fatalistic final vision.

In addition, there are the original Battlefield 1942 IntroIan Livingstone4 and Battlefield 1942Ian Livingstone5 by Joel Eriksson, as well as Battlefield Heroes IntroIan Livingstone3 and Battlefield Heroes ThemeIan Livingstone5 by Marc Canham. Why? No idea. But since we already know these pieces, I'll leave them out of consideration here. Thus, the score for Battlefield 1943 remains primarily one thing: below expectations. If you can't get enough of the familiar Dada dat da dat dat, you can get a quick fix here. Unfortunately, that's all it's good for.