Once in a while there comes along a game which really changes your view on the type of game you like, for example, I have never really seen myself as a fan of the flight/war sim genre, as I am more used to using my console for roleplaying/sports games, however having played for the first time, Eidos’s Battlestations Midway, I now class myself as hooked.
The single player mode of this game has you working your way through famous battles from history, starting with the battle of Pearl Harbour, at the beginning of these missions you command only one vehicle, however as you progress through the missions you will then find that you start to take control of multiple units and this is where the game gets more complicated, in one mission for example, you have to destroy the attacking battleship, thankfully you are controlling a aircraft carrier packed with airplanes, you then have to decide which aircrafts to launch and which weapons to arm them with and once they take off you must then control them and attack the enemy, but if you don’t get your strategy spot on you will soon find that your aircraft carrier is sinking before you get the chance to do the same to the enemy.
As you can imagine, it does take a bit of getting used to, when it comes to controlling different units and working out the exact strategy needed to win, but hey what did you expect? war isn’t easy after all, but to help you along there is an included tactical chart that displays which vehicles have advantages over others, this gives you an idea of the best vehicles to use/combine to sink those nasty enemy battleships.
After a bit of practice you soon get used to what you need to do and this is where the game becomes more fun than frustrating and the reward for all this hard work is the fact that you will gain experience which will help you later in the game.
There are at least 60 vehicles for you to control and they all look fantastic, not only that they handle brilliantly too, from the speed of the fighters to the diving power of the bombers, you really can’t fail to be impressed, the flying controls really are as good as any other on the Xbox 360, and if that isn’t enough to keep you busy you also get to deal with damage control onboard the ships, meaning you can put out fires and repair the engine while under fire.
The single player mode really is fantastic and will keep you playing for countless hours, but there is more, oh yes, a Xbox 360 game isn’t really complete after all unless the developer decided to add an Xbox Live mode and in Battlestations Midway you can find one of the best examples of how this should be done.
Online you can play with up to eight players, in which you have a 4 vs 4, battle and the units are divided between each player, or if you are feeling brave you can play by yourself, which means that you can control all of the units, which in some ways is more challenging. Most of the missions are based along the lines of destroying enemy targets, such as ships or land based installations, but you need to be ready to stick it out because these battles can last from as quickly as 10 minutes to a couple of hours depending on how competent your opponent is.
The graphics on Battlestations Midway are pleasing to the eye although you get the feeling they could have been better, while the clouds in the sky look good and there is no slowdown even when the action gets heavy, the water doesn’t have that reach out and touch feeling to it that a lot of the other Xbox 360 games now bring, there are some nice cut scenes though but these tend to drag on a bit to much for my liking. As far as the sound goes. this does what it needs to, with the bombs and artillery sounding realistic enough and the musical score not interfering with the game, which is the way it should be.
Eidos have given us plenty of options with Battlestations, you can control aircraft, ships, submarines and with the added bonus of being able to do this on Xbox Live, this isn’t just a game for the strategic amongst us, this is a game for people who like their games to offer them the freedom of choice to win their way, it makes you think rather than holding your hand and showing you the way and is certainly a game that I personally would recommend that you add to your collection.
