“Battlefield 1943″
Genre: Multiplayer online shooter
Developer: EA Digital Illusions CE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC (Download only on all platforms)
ESRB rating: “T” for teen
Price: Varies
Grade: A

World War II in the Pacific certainly wasn’t the art-house wonder as depicted in “Battlefield 1943.”

But then, who had the chance to take in the scenery and jot down notes? Blood, bullets and shrapnel were flying everywhere. The heat and bugs and smell of death were infernal, and fear was a constant. In all the first-person accounts of the war, nobody describes the sun-scarred beaches as vacation retreats.

The stories might be different however if EA’s Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment had choreographed the war. In “Battlefield 1943,” every bullet is a flaming slash across the landscape, every plane and tank gleams in the digital sun, and every shell burst is a simulated symphony of bright light and flying debris.

In short, a beautiful little first-person, multiplayer engagement. And that’s saying something when you consider “Battlefield 1943″ debuted as a download from PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace — no DVDs were burned, etched, stamped or otherwise harmed in the making of this game.

Sure, downloaded games generally lack the muscularity of their brethren on media, and “Battlefield 1943″ does not differ in this regard; it’s an abridged version of its predecessors. A few minutes into the game though, you won’t notice or care.

“Battlefield 1943″ sort of picks up where “1942″ left off but features only the Pacific theater. Players fight as infantrymen, riflemen or scouts for either the Americans or Japanese to control the regions depicted in maps outlining three famous battles: Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Wake Island. (Later, there will be an unlockable dogfight-only map titled Coral Sea.) The players who capture the most strategic points gain not only a battlefield advantage, but also more energy as their opponents’ “life bar” drains dry.

Yes, “Battlefield 1943″ that simple. It’s a download, after all.

It just doesn’t feel simple. The Frostbite engine driving the game means explosions are glorious and attacks are vivid. Ammunition is abundant and reloading is a snap. And because team play and strategy take precedence, there’s no such thing as swooping across a map to victory in 10 minutes; unilateral engagements are limited, making most battles close right up to their conclusion. Of course, you could mismanage resources and send the bulk of armor into hopeless encounters on purpose, to end a battle quickly.

But when war looks this pretty, you won’t want to rush through it.