Current generation consoles in the online arena have brought with them many new features that will continue to be a benchmark for many years to come. Friends lists, cross game party chat and rapid online matchmaking are now facets of play which most of the user base have quite rightly come to expect as a de facto standard.

Public communication on the other hand is at best scant and at worst non existent. To me as a console owner for the past few years their seems to be an inherent aversion from players to communicate with people they don't feel comfortable with. Ordinary statements of intent or basic plan hatching can quite often be met with derision by immature players looking to impress friends with the amount of put-downs they know. In smaller scale games like Halo or COD Modern Warfare where the game play is much more intimate and focussed this is less of a problem. I dont wish to sound like I myself am the most talkative of people over the network, I'm not, in fact I often mute myself.

I take cover from enemy snipers behind the statement that not one single death of mine in online team based shooters has ever been my own fault, colourful language is a borderline necessity in such "teammate failure" situations. Language I don't feel should have to be endured by anyone.

In Battlefield 1943, released on July 8th, It could be argued that communication is paramount to success.

I personally had never played a game in this long running series and when Edge magazine gave it a strong review with 9/10 it seemed like an ideal time to jump in, especially with its attractive £10 price tag and digital distribution only model meaning I wouldn't even have to put on underwear to buy it. But in my own personal view, the game fundamentally falls down in large part due to its reliance on co-ordinated play. In BF 1943 their is very little room (outside of the lag prone sniper class) for the solo soldier intent on turning the tide of battle single-handed, yet with the very nature of the way most people like to play the games they paid for, and more specifically console minded players, this is all too often what results.

I'm not by any means claiming that BF 1943 demands military like precision and cohesion but it does require looking at the map and making a judgement about which point to capture, which battle to reinforce or point to defend. What seems to happen all too often is that team-mates can be seen waiting on the carrier for the planes or using boats and vehicles without waiting for passengers, nullifying any more substantial contribution they could have made on the ground. Frustrating to say the least.

I fully accept the possibility that I'm expecting too much, too soon from players used to run and gun type shooters, I'm one of them myself but I don't think it takes a genius to realise this game is a bit different. I don't disagree with Edges 9/10 because for me their isn't very much technically wrong with it. Maybe in time things will even themselves out.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing changes in player mindset as the game matures, as it stands now though I'm not fully convinced Battlefield 1943 was a good fit on 360/PS3.