$6.99Battlestations: Midway Command the fleet, fly the plane
Fight the great Pacific battles of World War II from the map table and from the pilot's seat at the same time.
Is Battlestations: Midway worth it?
Battlestations: Midway is worth it if…
- you want to command a battle and still get your hands on the controls
- you like ships, planes and submarines in the same afternoon
- you enjoy World War II history you can actually take part in
- you prefer tactical thinking with bursts of action over pure twitch play
Screenshots
One battle, every seat
The idea that makes this game different: you command the whole battle and you can be any single unit in it. Order a destroyer squadron around on the tactical map, then take direct control of a Wildcat fighter, a Dauntless dive bomber or a submarine, all from a third-person view. Switching is instant, so the plan and the execution are the same job. Send your torpedo bombers wide while you personally hold the enemy's attention in a battleship. The fighting happens in the air, on the surface and under it at the same time, and success depends on both where the fleet goes and what you do with the one vehicle you are driving.
From Pearl Harbor to Midway
The campaign follows the early Pacific War: the chaos of Pearl Harbor, then the Philippines, Java and the Coral Sea, building to the Battle of Midway. It is staged like a war film, with a storyline and recurring characters carrying you from mission to mission, and it stays focused rather than dragging on. Beyond the eleven campaign missions there are twelve bonus challenge missions to test specific skills. The Pacific itself looks the part: real-world island chains, dynamic weather and detailed ships and planes, from the USS Lexington and USS Yorktown to Japan's Yamato.
What should you know before starting?
Can you play it solo?
Yes. The eleven-mission campaign and the twelve challenge missions are all singleplayer, and the campaign is a focused run through the early Pacific War rather than a marathon. Replaying missions with different strategies works well too, since there is usually more than one way to get a fleet through a battle.
Do you need to learn a lot before it gets fun?
There is a real learning curve, because you are handling both strategy and direct control of very different vehicles. The tutorial missions teach the controls properly, and it is worth sitting through them: skipping them and improvising makes the early hours harder than they need to be. Once the systems click, jumping between a fighter and a fleet map is the whole point.
How fast is the pace?
Slower than the arcade tag suggests. The ocean is big, fleets take time to get into range, and a lot of the game is positioning and planning rather than constant shooting. The action comes in bursts when planes and shells start flying. If you want non-stop reflex play, this is not that; if you like tension building before a strike goes in, it is.
What can you actually control?
Over sixty vehicles, from fighters and dive bombers to B17 and B24 bombers, destroyers, the USS Yorktown and the Yamato, down to submarines. Nearly every unit in a battle can be taken over directly, and each type plays differently: planes reward positioning and quick reflexes, ships reward timing and firepower, submarines reward patience and a well-chosen moment to strike.
