Customer Reviews

Battlestations Midway

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just installed this yesterday and started getting into it. Installation itself went smoothly. The game tells you upfront what kind of performance to expect given your computer's capabilities. As for the game there's 11 training missions that cover the controls, although since they teach the keystroke commands I forgot some of them quickly. The best thing so far is that the interface is quite simple to control all the different vessels. For someone who is interested in playing a submarine game but doesn't want to spend 40 hours learning how a real sub works (e.g. Silent Service III) this is the game for you. What can be considered both a plus and minus, an example of this approach is that the sub has 4 choices of depth: surface, periscope, deep, and too deep to spot but too deep to stay long. Bombing has been simplified as well. However, as a real-time strategy game I expect some learning curve involved, although it seems straightforward.

The realism is there. You get vivid depictions of ships, planes, and islands. There are crew members milling about your ship while you blast away at the enemy. The rudders and ailerons move on your plane.

I haven't played multiplayer but I am concerned that we have to use Gamespy exclusively. Also, there's a third party service that keeps the game updated. Not thrilled about installing that either. We'll see how it goes.

I was expecting a more open ended game not a scripted campaign. I would rather this game be a little more like the silent hunter game or like pacific storm in that there is a strategic mode and more open ended engagements. Also, the interfaces are over simplifed and using main guns on ships is very tacky, that interface really needs to be rethought. Dogfighting and bombing is fun though. The graphics are superb I just think they should have put more time into the user interfaces for the ships and subs, it seems to be more intended for kids and the xbox, the pc version really should have more to it.

[...] I'm here to clear some things up.
It's your fault if it doesn't load. Your system must be capable of handling it. Read the required specs before buying. My computer is 2 1/2 years old and plays it just fine. I did put in an extra half gig of RAM and a $[...] (at the time) graphics card in it when I bought it. Still, it's 2 1/2 years old. Any "state of the art" computer should be able to handle it, if mine can. If you're still not sure, download the free multiplayer demo to try out your system's ability ro run it. I was unsure about mine, so that's what I did. My computer handled the demo just fine, with medium to high settings. I bought the game and have had some rare, minor stuttering but nothing more.
There's a profile you can enter to play all the levels, if you suck at the game. It's not too hard to figure out what it is but a Google search will dig it up for you, if you have no sense of the obvious.
The game is short. However, it's done well and you can ramp up the difficulty if you like. If you breeze through it on rookie, don't go thinking you've accomplished anything. There are also awards, in the form of virtual medals, to shoot for. Furthermore, the challenge missions will give nearly everyone but warfare strategy masterminds a hard time. It can be fun facing seemingly insurmountable odds. It can also be very frustrating. Sailing right into the heart of a carrier force, commanding the mighty Yamato, is a fun excercise. I only wish you could command some American Iowa Class battleships.
Using the main guns on capital ships is fun. I'm not into excessive micromanagement. If I was, I would have joined the Navy and had a go at this stuff firsthand. I am somewhat interested in the Pacific Theater of WWII as my father served in the Pacific just after WWII (in the Army Air Corps Engineers). As a child, I was fascinated by his stories of the aftermath wreckage he saw. It's nice to have a game based on the Pacific Theater that doesn't completely stink. If you're into micromanagement to the point that you wish to control everything, down to making sure every sailor has a fresh pair of underwear, don't bother with this game. If you like action games with a decent, but not overwhelming, dose of strategy, this game is for you. If you're remotely interested in both the Pacific Theater of WWII and video games, this is pretty much a must-buy. There really aren't many other good options.

And you have the opportunity to do all. A scripted series of missions that have you commanding a PT boat at Pearl Harbor to managing a fleet of ships and carriers at Wake. All the while you can bounce back and forth between operating a destroyer, a sub, fighter, bomber and torpedo planes, carrier and in seperate ship/plane sub challenges commanding the same for the Japanese Navy.
The graphics are very, very good and although the controls take some getting used to they come with ease after a short period of time. The game can be repeated on three levels of difficulty. The scenarios all remain the same but naturally are more difficult to complete and the AI takes on a more agressive approach with each notch up. Medals are awarded for both single and multiplay, multiplay being one aspect I can't rate because I haven't any interest.
Interestingly enough, if you're flying a bomber or torp plane and hold the shift key down while firing your secondary payload, the camera follows the bomb straight to the deck of your target ot the torpedo straight to the hull of your target ship.
The more ships and planes you end up commanding the more you'll be required to multi-task and jump back and forth between them. You can stick with one vessel to command and set waypoints for your additional ships and planes. This works well while you manuaver your vessel you're commanding however even though your uncontrolled vessels and planes will attack they run a bigger risk of being lost. Best to hop in (or aboard) make your attack, pull back or manuaver and flip back to your main vessel. One thing that requires some real attention on your part is that your vessel(s) take damage and you have to assign its crew to damage control. They repair weapons, powerplant, fires on board and taking on water from hits. Ignore this and you may end up dead in the water or sinking. The real danger is uncontrolled fire. Let a fire rage and your ship's magazine might protest.
Lots or replay value with this game and every so often I uninstall it and re-install a couple of months later and start again.

Word to the wise. If you're looking for Silent Hunter III or IV this isn't it. The game is not as in depth as they are. But it is an enjoyable game and who wouldn't like to be in charge of those main guns on a battleship or shell a Navy base with your own, personal destroyer?
If you're looking for

Battlestations Midway

I am, without a doubt, a WWII combat game addict! This little piece of work is not at all bad for the occasional battle fan, however; it takes more than a little getting used to in order to play it well!

I figured this more for a load and play fun game. Not so, with many different ships, planes, ground troops, etc. each area has to be learned from the ground up.

Fairly good graphics, cool water images, reasonable ship and plane rendering.

Over all, if you are willing to spend a fair amount of time learning the ins and outs, I'm sure you will enjoy this game.

Quick review. This game is OK. The gameplay is fun and you get to switch between any unit in the game, however there are a LOT of things goiong on at once and usually you end up staring at the overview map. The game is incredibly short -- I finished the campaign in about 4 hours. Then all that is left are the challenges. Worth it for $10 in a remainder rack. Not at full price.

I bought this game because it had submarine combat which is rare. The battleship and air combat is kind of lame, but the submarine combat is great. You have all aspects of submarine warfare, ie. sonar, periscope, air supply, forward and stern torpedoe tubes, etc

Yes, The game is really fun, but no, its not really worth it: go after battlestations pacific if anything: multiplayer is way better.

getting back on topic, BSM is fun because it teaches a little about WW2 in the Pacific, which is usually never covered in most WW2 games. One reason because of this is that very little people in America really look at WW2 and think of it as hostility from Japan, but rather the Nazi threat and genocide. Japan had a lot of bad things going for it, but it wasn't looked down upon as much as the German's threat. Has a very difficult system of controls that requires the use of tutorials to get through, but is worth it in the end. This is the embodiment of US and Japanese navy fights, and is very epic looking and playing with. While having a one on one ship fight is lame, add in a carrier or two on both sides and an airfield, you have got the makings of a game. you can be one of 8 naval vessels: Patrol boat, submarine, cargo ships, light cruiser, destroyer, heavy cruiser, battleship and carriers. using these (and the abilities of the airplanes aboard the carrier) you attack each other using RTS and tactics to your advantage. Of the airplanes, you can be any one commander of a squadron, usually this isn't the best of ideas. there are also land installations, like airfields, jetties, and shipyards, where you can recruit other ships you can't get on a carrier.

historically, this is a very accurately told tale, even if the story was fiction.

The story is absolutely pathetic, but what should one expect if its all about the game play??

multiplayer: ewwwww!!!!! its got problems, mostly because no one plays this anymore, but also because the patches don't work on my win 7 machine.

gameplay: very interesting: its a cross between a see navigator, airplane simulator, and sub commanding minigames all packed into one, and the look of it makes it seem very intense.

great 1 player game, sucks on multiplayer

The Good:
I bought this game last week. Installation went smoothly no problems there. I played a few missions and the hints that popped up were very helpful on teaching you how to play. The graphics I thought were excellent and the little movies of the war before every scenario were very engaging. Also, seeing sailors walking around the decks of the ship seem to give it a little more realism. You actually feel bad when you blow the ship up. LOL

I actually went online one time, waited a few minutes and someone joined my game. We had a huge ship battle, he beat me every time, but it was a blast.

The Bad:
Absolutely no joystick support for flying the aircraft. At least I couldnt find it. I have an X52 joystick and throttle control and there was no option to configure it. The only option was an XBox controller config. Go figure, its a microsoft game. There is a program called Xpadder that I heard you can download and configure your joystick. I will check it out and report back in.

Overall, it's a fun game where strategy and first person fighting goes hand to hand. I cant wait till I get better so I can play online more.
Very enjoyable game except for the no joystick support.

I highly recommend this game if you like strategy and fighting together.

So you don't make the mistake I did, this game is a SHOOTER, NOT a stratedgy game. As a shooter it is fairly entertaining and the graphics and battle engines are good.

What I was hoping for (and what some of the product info I read said) was that it was partly a strategy game. This it is not. I was hoping for something on par with Avalon Hill's "Midway" board game (only for the PC) where you can setup the war in the Pacific using the same historical units and strengths. Sort of a "Medievel Total War" for the Pacific theatre of WW2.

I'm now going to try "Pacific Storm" and see how that will fare.