For the unaware, Battlestations Midway is an action strategy title. The game includes both a single player and multiplayer mode. You can actually choose from five different options in single player: the US campaign, Naval academy, a Ship challenge, Plane challenge and a Submarine challenge. If you want the storyline, then the US campaign is the way to play. The single player mode follows the story of naval recruit Henry Walker, whose first assignment as a gunner at Pearl Harbour is the beginning point for the single player mode. Eventually you'll end up at Midway, for one final showdown.
How scenic.
Each mission starts by informing you of your objective, with FMV sequences that drive the story. In total there are eleven missions in the US campaign, and upon selecting a mission you'll be shown a map of your objectives. For every mission you can also read a little bit about the history behind the battles. There are three difficulty levels, and you can tweak the difficulty for each mission.
It's when the mission begins that things really heat up, mind. You'll take control of three different fleets; ships, planes and submarines, and you're able to switch between these fleets on the fly. You'll also need to issue commands, which can be done by pressing back and bringing up the map. It's as simple as pointing to a destination on the map. Whilst the single player is engaging and epic, the online play also promises to be rather enjoyable. Unfortuntely, there's no-one online yet, so we were unable to test the multiplayer fully, but the idea of having dozens of units all battling it out for supremacy has us very excited indeed.
Now shoot some planes down.
The years of development do show through when it comes to the visuals for Battlestations: Midway. The game really does look a little bit dated visually, especially when your planes get up close to the land - this despite the fact that the game world isn't all that large. Positively though, the frame rate was solid and didn't stutter at any time, even when there was an epic battle in progress.
Overall, Battlestations: Midway appears to be shaping up rather well indeed. We're always hesitant when a game has undergone so many changes, but it appears that Battlestations: Midway will be the exception to the rule. Battles start off rather quietly, but soon escalate into epic situations and, when you've just shot down an enemy plane and you're doing a barrel roll to celebrate, you just can't help but smile.
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