A game that I was looking forward its release, Battlestations: Midway comes in with the story of the Pacific war between the US and the Japanese. Developed by Eidos Studios in Hungary, a full mix of naval warfare and air combat is greatly reproduced, beginning with the japanese attack on Pearl Harbour to the great battle for Midway. During the game, you play as Henry Walker, a fresh recruit that is about to get promotion after promotion, raising through the US Navy's ranks, finally becoming the captain of an aircraft carrier called the USS Yorktown.

 

If you really want to know how to play the game you should go through the Naval Academy. I'm talking about the Naval Academy from the game, that acts like a tutorial. This tutorial is divided into 11 chapters, that will bore and make you feel like giving it up, but in the end you'll find out all there is to know about controlling airplanes, submarines and ships, repairing damage and how to use the tactical map.

The single player campaign features 11 missions, some can be completed in 15 minutes while others in over an hour. Although the game can be challenging, this campaign doesn't take too long to complete. The real pleasure of the game is that you can control any vehicle in any moment. So, if you're in a battle where you must destroy an enemy battleship and you have in your fleet an aircraft carrier, a submarine and a cruiser, you can send your planes and the cruiser to attack the battleship, controlling the submarine yourself and later, jump into the cockpit of a plane at any moment of the battle. The aircraft carrier can send out planes like fighters, dive bombers or torpedo bombers. Depending on what you need to destroy, you can select what type of planes to deploy. For example, if you need to sink a battleship it's better to deploy torpedo bombers but against a submarine you would want planes equipped with depth charges.

Battlestations: Midway has huge battlegrounds where you can control over 100 units providing unique gameplay which, can seem a bit shallow in the beginning but will catch your attention when things heats up. If you want to play it smart, you will want to make use of the tactical map at your disposal. The tactical map shows every unit, friendly or enemy. From here, you can command your fleet where to go, who to attack or just keep an eye on the situation. You'll find yourself spending a lot of time here, but don't abridge yourself from the action. Personally, I launched 90% of the torpedo's from submarines and torpedo bombers, instead of letting the AI do this job.

During your play, you will unlock achievements. Piloting a plane or using a sub for a certain amount of time, killing a specific number of planes, these all will get you rewards. Also completing the sub, plane and ship challenges will win you veteran titles.

Online, the game supports up to 8 players that will battle, 4 on the side of US and the other's on Japanese's side. Each player has his own role in the battle, controlling planes, subs, ships and the aircraft carrier. An increased level of team tactics and teamplay can decide the fate of the battle.

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