Battlestations: Midway Review

Nearly two years after it was first supposed to be released on Xbox, PlayStation2, and the defunct portable platform Gizmondo, Eidos' Battlestations: Midway finally makes its appearance - albeit dropping all three systems along the way. Now setting sail on Xbox 360 and PC, the game takes place between the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and the Battle of Midway the following June, and tracks the story of Naval recruit Henry Walker, as he climbs the ranks during the Pacific Theatre of War.

Around a dozen missions take Walker from the Day of Infamy on the Hawaiian island of Oahu (yes, the same island that Atari's Test Drive: Unlimited is set) as a PT Boat gunner, to commander of a small flotilla of US Navy ships. Despite the gameplay focusing on the wider scale of battles, by following the progression of the war in the Pacific through Henry's eyes, the developers at Eidos' Hungarian Studio have managed to inject a personal perspective into what would otherwise be a series of sea-based conflicts. It's a way of linking the battle together, making them less anonymous, and at least creates a sense of progression as the game goes on.

If you're not a fan of tutorials in games, then a quick word of warning: avoid the Tutorial Mode in Battlestations: Midway. Broken into eleven chapters, this epic tutorial describes every element of gameplay in the Campaign, but at the expense of turning your brain to mush...literally. I had to invest in a bucket just to collect all the grey matter as it drained from my head. The root cause of such a dull and mind-numbing Tutorial is the Naval Instructor, whose slow southern drawl accent extends the length of the 'lessons' ten-fold, who takes minutes in describing the basic controls to move a ship (here's a hint, it involves shifting the analogue sticks). Obviously, players don't want to be thrown in the deep end of a strategy title such as Battlestations: Midway, but at the same time, it's not a good thing if a tutorial mode pushes you to the brink of coma.

This strategy-come-action title stands out for a number of reasons, not least -because of its ability to create a tense and busy battlefield at what is ultimately a sedate pace of gaming...at least in the build up to the full-scale sea-battles that occur. Perhaps best likened to a game of chess (or even Battleships), especially in some of the later missions where players command ports, airfields, and an entire naval fleet of units, there's a definite and tangible escalation towards to the action. Whilst this won't be ideal for everybody, it's the patient build up of positioning units before launching batteries of artillery, torpedoes, and AA flak against enemy units that gives Battlestations: Midway an edge.

Something that'll blunt that edge for some gamers is its learning curve, which begins at a shallow pace, before rising pretty sharply later on. The first few missions are not only straightforward enough to complete on the first go, but can also be accomplished in quick succession, making the inevitable collision with the steep learning curve several levels in, all the more dramatic. Luckily, Midway does balance the frustration of defeat with the desire to give it one more shot pretty well. Even when you're shot to pieces in the first couple of minutes for the tenth time (something that does happen on occasion), there's a pull towards coming up with a better strategy to guarantee success...a strategy that seems to work fine until you realise that it in fact guarantees another defeat. Becoming doggedly determined to win the day does however prevail, and after a few goes, even the toughest missions can prove to be achievable.

Players have the opportunity to take direct control of any single unit, or take command of the fleet like an armchair general, and issue commands to the entire force. A full-screen map, stylised to resemble a naval map, offers players an over-arcing look at the battlefield, displaying the positions of all known units. From here, it's easy to issue orders to engage with specific enemy forces, or jump into a unit to take direct control. A more gamer-friendly way of switching between units would definitely be welcomed however, as some of the more massive attacks on the Japanese war machine can make it difficult to highlight a required unit. With so many units under the player's control, the map can quickly become cluttered with everything from PT boats and Landing Crafts, to Aircraft Carriers and B-17 Bombers, the result being a cumbersome and unwieldy system that cries out to be streamlined. The interface could also be improved for issuing orders from the Navy's ports, aircraft carriers, and airfields. For instance, if a B-17 Flying Fortress has dropped its payload, and is holding its position, there's nothing to distinguish it on the airfield interface from a second squadron of B-17s that hasn't dropped its bombs - both units are displayed at the airfield with an 'In flight' symbol, making it difficult to choose the correct squadron to call in. Of course, ditching the plane without the 1000-pound bomb directly into the ocean is one way to do it, but then, that doesn't exactly look good on the post-mission statistics page...

But it's not even the creation and execution of a strategy that sometimes makes Battlestations: Midway a deceivingly manic title to play. Certain units in the game, namely the numerous ships that form the US naval fleet, have their own damage systems, which have to be balanced by the player. Water, fire, and the loss of manoeuvring and weapon systems can quickly spell the end of the mission if they're not carefully looked after, which can lead to frantic jumps between the action and the damage screens, as players desperately try to prioritise the ship's repairs. If a strategy sinks faster than a damaged submarine, then the sedate action of the Pacific War can all too quickly become crazy, as players jump from beleaguered vessel to beleaguered vessel, assigning repair tasks to engineers before another unit is lost.

Besides the Campaign, Battlestations: Midway features a Challenge Mode, where players take command of either a ship, plane, or submarine, and work through a dozen missions. These are a little more immediate than some of the scenarios in the Campaign, and closer to the Instant Action modes that feature in any number of games. More often than not, players are given control of a single unit, and given one objective to complete. Such missions can be as 'straightforward' as running a gauntlet of enemy ships (which turns out to be a more challenging than you'd anticipate), to identifying and sinking key units. The mode also puts players in command of Japanese as well as American units, so you'll be able to experience what it's like to come under attack from a US Battleship group. Let's just say that it be nicer if the Japanese fleet could move that little bit faster...

Both the Campaign and the three mini-Challenge modes are a pre-cursor to what ultimately fuels Battlestations: Midway's bid for longevity - the Online Multiplayer over Xbox Live. Up to 8 players (four on each side) can take part in any of the 9 maps available from release (no doubt Eidos is already hard at work and developing further maps to sell via Xbox Live Marketplace), with each player assigned a variety of craft according to the scenario. In a direct contrast to the likes of current Live king, Gears of War, the multiplayer experience in Battlestations: Midway is seriously epic, with battles that can last nearly as long as the war itself - as long as kamikaze assaults on the enemy aren't enacted.

Despite adding a few graphical tweaks, including the option of bloom lighting, Battlestations: Midway betrays its humble current-gen beginnings quite blatantly. Unit models don't particularly standout in terms of detail, aside from the crisp lines of a higher resolution PC title; whilst the waves effects above the water have a fairly realistic dynamic to them, there's very little going on below the surface that screams next-gen- especially the harsh straight-lined 'God rays' that cut through the deep blue like a sharp knife. The explosions that occur when a unit is critically damaged do little to stand out when you consider what the likes of Ubisoft and Epic Games have been doing in some of their titles, and the damage modelling is practically invisible. The ability to see some member of the crew walk along deck is a nice detail, which at least makes it seem you're not just playing toy boats in a giant bath, but the fact that they don't run away terrified at the sight of several torpedoes heading their way, quickly lowers the curtain of any sort of realism.