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Battlestations: Midway (X360)

• Developer:
• Publisher: Eidos Interactive
• Genre:
• Official Website: http://www.battlestations.net
• Score: 5 of 5: Purchase

Battleship and submarine games are getting rarer and rarer, and are nearly nonexistent on today's consoles. Having played so many naval games over the years, I was eager to test out Battlestations: Midway, which is something of a ‘pseudo-simulator:' a title that evokes a range between dumbed-down simulator and a game that is merely halfway between action and sim. While that may sound a bit condescending, the blend of action elements and faux simulation is really what makes this game uniquely enjoyable.

The essence of the game is naval warfare. Players engage in battle with a variety of ships and carriers, and can man bombers and fighters as well. All of this is done through a fairly intuitive interface which allows players to move units about a map, to fire, and to man an individual unit. This can be done from the map interface itself or in the three-dimensional view merely by pointing the camera toward an available unit and pushing one of your buttons. All of this is explained through the tutorial missions which are actually a lot longer and more involved than they need to be - players are given a lot of options in Battlefield: Midway, but none of them are terribly hard to understand or figure out in the course of gameplay.

Of course a player can only man one ship, sub, or plane at a time, but as they can freely jump into any controlled unit at any time, or simply choose not to, players are able to act as commander to any level of micromanagement they want. They can actively direct a ship-to-ship battle, they can command each attack between two ships, or they can direct one ship to target another and flip some of the artificial intelligences on to enable the allied unit to make intelligent decisions about how to sink the other ship. The same goes for subs and aircraft, and again, the options are not too varied or obscure here: players can prioritize defense, offense, and so on. The allied artificial intelligence is rather good, but so is the enemy intelligence.

Another simulator hallmark in Midway is damage, which can be seen as something of a minigame in modern terms, but is actually necessary upkeep when commanding a very tight group of ships. As ships are attacked by the enemy, their decks will catch on fire, they will collect water and begin to sink, and their systems will begin to malfunction. This is a problem when the system is either the engine or the weapons, because the ship becomes useless, and fire can spread. If a hull breach goes unpatched, the ship will continue to collect water. Each ship has a number of maintenance men that can be applied and spread to the damaged systems. Of course, damage cannot be fully repaired while out on the sea, but the critical and immediate danger will be averted and will keep the ship in relative usability.

Included with the game are tutorial missions and challenges as well as a campaign. The challenges range from frustrating to difficult; even the easiest one is rather draining. Each unit type - plane, ship, and submarine - has their own specific challenges, and they are rather fun. The real meat of the game, though, centers around online play, and I'd say that the difference between ‘rent' and ‘buy' really depends on this. The single-player content, while ultimately enjoyable, is not as robust or even as fun as pitting yourself against another human being.

So, in the end, Battlestations: Midway doesn't hold up on its own as a real simulator, but it does water the genre down (forgive the pun) to the point where it can be palatable for those that might want a little simulator mixed into their action. The beautiful graphic and aural aesthetic of the game, and its historical perspective (scant as it is), are two other key features that may make this a worthy purchase. The game is enjoyable, and with more downloadable content on the horizon (including new scenarios) I'd say this is a title that may not keep people playing every day, but is worth keeping in the library to pull out every once in a while and test your naval strategies online.

Mar 26, 2007 | 0 comments
Roger Helgeson