Battlestations: Midway (PC)

'Battlestations: Midway' is an arcade attempt at recreating the famous battle in the pacific between the imperial forces of Japan and the U.S. navy. It is a decent attempt at covering 3 different modes of combat (submarines, ships and planes) and overall, it is not a bad effort.

The graphics on the PC version are very good and instantly impress. The interface and controls are intuitive and practical. You'll get the hang of steering and manning your vehicles in very little time. The campaign starts slowly, and you follow the tour of duty of two different American officers. Gradually you get given more responsibility, and from captaining a small patrol boat, you end up in charge of whole flotillas of battleships.

The missions are fairly simple and though enjoyable, they do not inspire the player with any real sense of purpose or accomplishment. I believe the reason is that they are too easily accomplished.

In order to succeed, you'll need some quick thinking and awareness of what is going on in the immediate battle area, however, since you can just switch and jump from ship to ship or from sub to a plane, the battle carries on in real time around you, whichever vehicle you might be manning. Even though this can be good, it leaves the player with a vague feeling that irrespective of how well or appallingly bad you fight, the battle is still going to be won by the AI controlled ships and planes on your side.

Overall, I would suggest that you buy and play this game, only if you are keen on WWII games, and then again, only if you are willing to put up with a distinct lack of realism. It is an arcade, shoot-em-up game, cleverly disguised as a combined-arms simulation. Pleasing, but essentially lacking the addictiveness of a real classic.

My rating: 74%