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More of a multiplayer game, but fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: February 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm becoming a little more critical of XBox 360 games lately, since most seem to lean towards multiplayer online platforms and I prefer single player games. Battlestations Midway marks the latest in the trend. That being said, this game is fun, (relatively) easy to get the hang of with excellent tutorials, beautiful graphics, and good replayability. However the single player campaign is relatively short-lived. The variety of controlling different ships, planes, and subs (and jumping back and forth between them) seems more confusing than it is. You can assign orders to a particular unit and the AI does a pretty good job on its own, leaving you free to focus elsewhere and not having to micromanage unless you want to. The interfaces are pretty easy, although I found flying to be more difficult than usual to do efficiently.

Much like Gears of War, Star Trek Legacy, and others, this game really shines in XBox Live online play. As a single player game, it's still fun to play the campaign, and the scenarios are a good time killer, but you may want to just rent it for a week and you can play it out.

First Look

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: February 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Well, after the long wait, I did something I've never done. Bought a video game on it's first day of release. I've spent about 3 hours with it so far. And the verdict - It's just what was promised. A great looking WW2 Naval Action Shooter with some strategy. The graphics look great, the training mode, or "Naval Academy" is very thorough, and contols are pretty intuitive. You could pop it in and play, but you'd be missing some subtle tips that help the gameplay.
I like the choice of following a campaign or choosing to man a ship, plane, or sub, specifically. Not sure yet how long it will take to get through it, but it looks to be really immersive and will have high replay value for me.
So, if you are deciding to purchase, I say go for it. If you like WW2 games, this one looks to be one of the best of the bunch.

An UPDATE: After several day of play now, I am seeing some weaknesses. Far too few Single Player Missions...Switching your mindset from the individual controls for ships, planes, and subs is a challenge. Plane controls seem especially hard.. and HELP! I've been on the 2nd level of the Single Player Ship Challenge for days and cannot move on. I fail everytime. I've spent hours and tried every conceivable scenario. The enemy ships just keep coming. No game should be this difficult. Do we need to buy a guide to get through this? Still, I'm trying to love this game. I think I loved the concept more than the final design.

Great Concept but Way Too Short

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: June 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Battlestations Midway lets you relive WWII as both an airplane pilot, submarine commander and naval tactician. There are a variety of ships, planes and vehicles to work with as you fight on the Pacific.

The graphics are quite nice, as you would expect from an XBox 360 generation of game. The water ripples, the clouds float lazily in the sky. The planes' flaps move as you turn, and the smoke and fire pouring from a damaged ship look convincingly real.

There could still have been improvements, though. The radar / compass is stuck at one size, which just doesn't work well for some missions.

The AI is a mixed bag. You can create a multi-stage move order for your allies, so that they take an indirect route to a target. However, they can't attack once they get there. They just sit and get sunk. If you leave a friend alone for .3 seconds, even the largest ship will somehow get destroyed by a tiny PT boat. Your enemies seem to be relatively smart - but your friends are all dunces.

This can become really challenging if you have, for example, 8 different squadrons of planes in the air that you are juggling, and if you take a moment to help one of them out of a jam, the rest all seem to completely lose their brain cells and die sudden, horrible deaths.

I'm not asking for your pals to win the war for you - but they should at least defend themselves semi-ably.

There are hidden objectives, and ribbons you earn - but they never tell you why you got the ribbon. It wouldn't be that hard for them to fill that detail in.

We didn't find the game "complicated" at all. They have an academy, a bit tedious to be sure, to teach you how to play. There's Campaign mode which walks you through a series of missions - it takes maybe 4 hours to play through them all if you're good. There are also challenges focused on ship, plane and submarine tasks, which let you play as both sides.

So the real question is, is 4 hours plus a few challenges going to make you a happy camper? Sure, you can replay those missions over and over again - but in this day and age, having a game with a main line that can be won in a single afternoon seems unreasonable to me.

A great idea - but they should have spent MUCH more time on developing a robust storyline to go with it.

Long Learning Curve

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: March 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm a Dad with a nine month old baby and I need a game that I can sit down and play. The learning curve is to long and I don't have the time for it. That is just me, other wise the game looks like it would be fun once you learned how to do everything. Hope this was helpful and good luck.

good, but short

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: March 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

i love naval simulation games, and ive been waiting for another good one since the original battle stations for PS1. i was counting down the days for this one.
first, ive heard some complaints about the complexity of it and the learning curve. i dont know why. the naval academy feature is a little tedious, but it takes an hour tops and teaches you all you need to know. its not that complicated-actually its a near perfect balance of simple controls with an in-depth experience.
the one problem with the game is there's only a campaign thats like 10 scenarios then 10 more challenge scenarios. once you beat it all thats it. there is no melee/arena type option like the original PS1 game. all you can do is just replay old missions. this gets pretty old pretty quick.
id buy it-graphics are great, gameplay is great. i just wish they had a more open, repeatable portion to the game

Absolutely Worth It!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

While other reviews constantly bring up the complexity, I have to disagree. First, most people who would buy this game are used to handling and switching between different troops. Second, they bring you along slowly, so you have time to get acclimated to the commands. Finally, the most important thing is: you don't HAVE to switch between every unit in action in every battle. The computer will do a decent job. However, your level of fun (and success) will increase the more you are involved in your units' actions.

The fact the game does not pause when you are accessing repair, launch, and command options only adds to how cool this game really is. The battles get to become very large, the graphics are beautiful, and even the AI character banter doesn't make you cringe. Overall, this is a fantastic game, and one to make 360 owners proud they have one. My only complaint is that it seems fairly short. However, there is an awful lot in this game, so it is to be expected. Highly recommended.

Great game with good downloads to come, graphics could have been better.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game. The idea is great, the story is historically right, and the cut movies are really cool looking. With that said I'm a little bit disappointed in the graphics. In the flying missions the graphics shine with very realistic looking clouds, sky, and sun. However in the missions were you command ships the sea looks a little 2 dimensional and the graphics on the ships decks could have been a little better. That being said I love to play this game. There is nothing cooler than coming in low and torpedo bombing a Japanese Aircraft carrier. There are downloads coming with another single player mission, another multi-player map, and 5 new vehicles including the USS Iowa, and the P-38 fighter. If you like WWII get it, if you like strategy games get it, if not rent it and see what you think. I recommend it highly.

Alert Battelstations !

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: February 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For one Battelstations Midway is the first to offer a great package of things to control in one game. The audio for this game seems to match up verry well , and sounds greater on a home audio system! The graphics for the game seem to be nicely done , and have no problems with them at all.
The control system for the game i would say has a learning curve to it depending what one your doing. The best way is to try out each one just basicly learning as you go. So once you have understood the controls of the game things with the fun factor tend to pick up. I started things with being the sub , was verry fun to dive away from your enemys , sneek around underwater then attack some place.
You can have a great time having some fun with all you can do this game following the storyline or just basicly following your own path of fun.
If your into a game such as Battelstations Midway for what it offers , you will indeed have a great time with the game.
Have a great time with the game if you pick it up !

it's just fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: March 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

it's been a long time since i've played a strategy game that was this fun and let you have this much control, the control layout is well planned and easy to use once you get the hang of it, which only takes about a half hour. i've mostly played the one player mode so far but the online has amazing potential

Great strategy game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: March 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is great if you want a little more thinking power involved in your game.

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