Eidos is at it again with the 2nd game in their WWII series: Battlestations Pacific. Just like their 1st game, this game is bound to keep you playing for hours with the many different game modes. You could pick the Japanese Campaign and bomb Pearl Harbor, or the US Campaign and become the hero for your country. In addition to the well-crafted story, the 5 different modes of online play will make this game a must-have. Whether you want to be in control of a submarine, battleship, or kamikaze, this game will be nonstop fun for all ages.

Product Description

BattleStations: Pacific is the immense sequel to the critically acclaimed Battlestations: Midway. The innovative franchise returns to complete the entire Pacific War with two massive single-player campaigns, the historically based US campaign and a historically possible Japanese campaign.

Players will experience one war through two epic sagas to be a part of history or change it. Commanding the US Fleet, players relive the grandest and most critical naval battles of the Pacific War and for the first time, as the Japanese, players lead the IJN Fleet to a completely different ending to the war.

No other game delivers the challenge of an RTS with the rush of real-time WWII flight and naval warfare. Players need intelligence and expertise to plan their moves in order to remain one step ahead of the opponent. The players command both strategy and action to anticipate every opponent move and turn the tide of war.

Twice the size of the original, the sequel includes 28 major battles, 100 units including 21 new units, five new innovative multi-player modes: island capture, kamikaze attacks, and an improved easy-to-use interface.

Key Features

Combined Real-Time Strategy, Flight, and Naval Action gameplay: Command the air, sea, and sub forces. Launch full-scale attacks and at anytime switch to and take full-control of any plane, ship or sub. You command, fly the attack, fire the battleship’s 15-inch guns, and submerge the mini-sub anyway you choose throughout the battle.

Two Massive Campaigns: 28 full-scale battles across two unique campaigns. The historic American campaign begins after Midway and goes to Guadalcanal, Leyte, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and more. The “what if” Japanese campaign begins at Pearl Harbor and goes to the Java Sea, Port Moresby, Midway, and beyond.

100 War Machines: Fighters, bombers, carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, subs, mini subs and more. 17 US planes including the new Corsair fighters and Curtis Helldivers, and 20 Japanese planes including the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden (Thunderbolt), and the night-fighting Nakajima J1N1 Gekko.

Innovative Online Multi-player Battles: Huge multi-unit battles for up to eight players (four on each side) on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live. The largest battle involves over 100 units. Multi-player features includes five all-new online gameplay modes: Island capture, Duel, Siege, Escort, and Competitive.

New & Improved Features:

New Kamikaze attacks: The deadly attack is now fully integrated. Also features the manned Ohka, rocket powered kamikaze aircraft.

New Island Capture: Capture and hold islands. Support the landing forces and take over artillery, radar stations, and airstrips.

New Cockpit View: Go inside the WWII cockpits of fighters, dive bombers, torpedo planes and more.

New Skirmish mode: Team up with a friend against the AI and expand your single player and multi-player experience.

New Level of Realism: Greater detail and depth of field. New plane and ship destruction effects. Bullet tracers. New smoke and fire effects.

New Interface: Improved command and control map screen, artillery, and repair controls. New hints and tips feature for new players.

Personally, I had never played the first game, so I was very unfamiliar with the controls. If you have played the first game, you would know how ‘different’ the controls are. Playing the first game in the series is recommended but not required and it doesn’t take long till you learn the game style. I changed the flying controls around because they were so obscure. They placed the throttle and yaw on the left stick while the steering was on the right stick. I flipped the two sticks and inverted the steering to make it feel more like a Flight Sim.

As you can tell from above, there are two ways to play this game. You can either play from the map the whole game and control your units, or you can play as each of the units and bombard the enemy yourself. There are pros and cons to each method including the fact that your planes are much better when you control them. If you love achievements, there is one for staying in the map the whole time during an Xbox Live game and another for not going to the map at all.

If you are a history buff, this game is historically accurate. There are no made-up battles for the US. The only difference between this and WWII is that YOU determine the fate of the war. There are 14 battles for each side and depending on how you fight, Japan could win the war, as well as the United States. Both sides have their own advantages such as Kamikaze planes and special weapons. Every aspect of the war is covered from torpedoes to dive bombers and from AA Flak guns to Depth Charges.

The Campaign was made very tediously by the Eidos team and that created a fun game to play. The Campaign allows you to play real battles with real planes. Some of the battles include Pearl Harbor, Leyte Gulf, Guadalcanal, and more. The depth put into the game is incredible. All of the planes have had hours of detail poured into them. When you use the binoculars you can even see the men on the opposing ships walking around and firing guns. This is complimented by the high definition cut-scenes.

I’m sorry, but if you are an achievement buff, this game won’t be an easy 1000g. According to TrueAchievements.com, there is nobody registered with a full 1000g. The closest gamer has 940g. Even though some of the achievements are fairly easy to get, there are a good majority which will be nearly impossible to get. The normal version of Campaign is often hard to beat which means the Hard difficulty is nearly impossible. If you are willing to try Hard, you have 120g coming your way. Some of the achievements require you to play 100 games online on both the Japanese and American side. This can take days to achieve because of the long-lasting online games. And unless you go against Xbox Live’s ToS, getting the last 150g will take quite a while. You must achieve the online rank of Lieutenant and Fleet Admiral, which is 8 million exp. online in ranked matches.

Currently there are 5 online modes in Battlestations Pacific and DLC has been released as well.

• Island Capture
• Duel
• Competitive
• Siege
• Escort

Island Capture is where the first team to capture all the island wins. By capturing islands, you receive special upgrades and can make better ships and planes. In duel, it is similar to Free for All. In Competitive, everybody is on the same team trying to achieve points by killing the AI. In Seige, one team holds an island while the other attempts to capture it in a specified time. Finally, in Escort, one team must protect a bomber before the other team kills it. Eidos has already released DLC with a new map and content. See the teaser below.

Pros

-A Long, Tedious Campaign

-Well Crafted Online Play

-Graphics and Special Effects

Cons

-Controls are Confusing

-Hard to Pick Up for Beginners

-Almost Too Much Goes on At Once

Conclusion: As it may appear as your typical WWII game, it is clearly not. This game will provide hours of fun with is many planes, ships, and submarines. Each class is upgradeable to your standards and strategy. Once you concoct a brilliant strategy, try it out in one of the 5 online game modes on your way to becoming Fleet Admiral, and getting 8,000,000 exp.

Rating

Single Player Rating: 9/10

Multiplayer Rating: 9/10