You can't go anywhere without hearing that digital distribution will be the future of the videogame business. GameStop better watch out, pundits say. Brick-and-mortar establishments where people buy games will soon be selling exotic flowers, high-end chocolate or imported beer.

So, EA's announcement that Battlefield 1943 would be coming to consoles only via download seemed like a significant step on the evolutionary pathway from discs to digital. But don't go singing any hosannas yet, hombre. The glitchy rollout of Battlefield 1943 highlights the issues that'll only become more prevalent as digi-distribution becomes the norm. At first, the game was essentially unplayable because of server gridlock.

This was a nice vacation spot until this damn, senseless war spoiled it all.

The game itself is a sprawling real-time battleground in World War II's Pacific Theater, with soldiers fighting to capture and control the enemy's bases across gigantic maps. For $15, three locales -- Iwo Jima, Wake Island and Guadalcanal -- are available at launch. You'll get to choose from three classes: infantryman for short-range, rifleman for mid-range and scout for shoot-you-from-way-over-there duty. Period-accurate vehicles are yours to pilot as well. The steep learning curve on the planes will be off-putting at first, but a few hours' dedication to mastering the controls will have you raining death from above. You'll earn points as you play, which will cause you to rise in rank.

The levels have been designed to offer each class ways to play -- there are towers for crafty snipers and trench entrances for ballsy infantrymen. A tug-of-war dynamic governs the strategy. Each side has a health bar that is constantly in flux. As you conquer and hold bases, the enemy's collective health dwindles faster. Good defense or offense can change the tide of battle.

I spent a total of five days trying to connect to a game via Xbox Live with no luck. Then I jumped onto the PlayStation Network, where I finally could play the game. There weren't a whole lot of folks around. (PSN's got less people than Xbox Live. I don't care what Sony says.) It's here that players on the PS3 will have to reckon with another fact of Battlefield 1943's stuttering launch: You spend a lot of time waiting for people to show up.

No hiding spot's ever really safe when the environment is so destructible.

Because there's no single-player, you also don't have the chance to learn skills in what would normally be a safe place. (This especially matters if you've never played a Battlefield game before.) I spent a bunch of time in the seat of an anti-aircraft gun, ineffectually lobbing shells at enemy planes.

My lone moment of glory came on the American side. Bored, I jumped into a boat and steered it to the far end of the island. I disembarked and stumbled onto one of the hardest-to-drive jeeps I've ever encountered, which I steered with reckless abandon over trenches and ditches into the enemy camp. I screeched to a halt next a bewildered Japanese player, and rat-a-tatted him to a messy, ragdoll end. Then I climbed up on top of a tower, the only person in the base far from the frontline and king of all I surveyed. Twenty seconds later, I was shot dead.

The vistas in Battlefield 1943 look beautiful, but they feel lonely. The world never felt populated enough to deliver the kind of roiling, continuous action with which EA is banking on hooking users. What makes that gamble even riskier is the fact that DICE isn't reinventing the Battlefield wheel with 1943. Once you get the feel for playing specific roles in the battles, you'll realize that the title, though well-executed, isn't a groundbreaker. It is a safe bet for dipping a corporate toe into the waters of direct download.

Jarheads and Japanese can duke it out in land, sea and sky.

The most interesting aspect of Battlefield 1943 is its aggregated-progress dynamic, where maps will become available as players on each platform hit certain milestones. For example, the Coral Sea map will open up once the number of kills on PSN or Xbox Live reaches 43 million.

Almost a week after the game was released, I finally connected on Xbox Live. The difference was immediate. Dozens of players took down each other, and it felt like a true war was being waged. As with most online videogame ventures, the game at launch is not yet what it will be. The problem is whether players will stick around as the experience mutates into a better form. In a slow release period, Battlefield 1943 is enough of a bargain to warrant your money. But, if you're telling yourself that you're helping pave the way to a splendid future of digital distribution with your 15 bucks, be mindful that you might be paying for a shaky present.

This review is based on downloadable copies of the Xbox 360 and PS3 games purchased by the reviewer.