Yes, War – but not like before...

Its World War II time again folks! This time centred on The Battle of Midway - one of the key American victories of the entire conflict. So called because it took place around the Pacific island of Midway, this particular engagement happened over a three day period, seeing the U.S naval fleet surprise and eliminate the Japanese ships which had so famously attacked Pearl Harbour six months beforehand.

Battlestations Midway allows you to re-enact the events of this most renowned of US naval conflicts in all its historically accurate and mind-bogglingly detailed glory - sticking it to the enemy with all manner of mid 20th century technology, and, perhaps most importantly, getting revenge on them for giving us yet another Godawful Ben Affleck movie.

Just another WWII game, then? Actually, no - Battlestations Midway is very different from the likes of Call of Duty or Blazing Angels. It's less arcade shooter and more strategic action, giving you control over an entire naval fleet. The goal here is to skilfully direct a variety of different unit types to take out the enemy's ships and key installations - balancing the movement of your craft in similar fashion to many a real-time strategy title.

But there's some big differences to your standard RTS. Firstly, in Battlestations Midway, each and every unit can be controlled in full 3D. Be it boats, bombers, fighter planes or deep-sea submarines, you're readily able to leap from unit to unit at the touch of a button and dictate their movements directly. In Battlestations Midway, you aren't just controlling the units - you are the units.

The great thing is that, though that may all sound dauntingly complicated, it really doesn't prove to be. Handily, all vehicles boast the same basic controls; with throttle on the right stick, movement on the left, highlighting craft on the A button, and firing on the right trigger. It's a simple one-fits-all system that thankfully avoids a lot of potential confusion.

And then there's the option to give units orders, found through a menu brought up by the X button. This allows you to decide which units to control directly, and which to have working on their own accord, meaning you can choose to tailor the game to your style of play. The D-Pad, for instance, allows you to cycle through you available units - or you can choose to use the overhead map, tracking and bouncing between your craft from an overhead perspective - choosing to move between the two views, as well as direct or indirect control of your craft, in real time.

The second way in which Midway distances itself from standard Strategy titles is in its resource management - or, to be more accurate, the lack of it. Where Strategy games usually focus on base building, harvesting raw materials and training units, Midway strips away the unnecessary complications to make for a more pick-up-and-play experience. Here, your aircraft carrier acts as a mobile barracks, from where you can despatch up to four plane squadrons, and it's largely the aircraft's job to take out enemy installations while your sea-bound craft endeavour to protect the carrier.

At least, that was our experience from our hands-on with Battlestations Midway. Playing the Tulagi mission, we found ourselves with two objectives to eliminate; an airfield and a shipyard, located on an island in the northeast quadrant of the map. We began in open water to the south west with our Carrier and two destroyers, and immediately saw to launching a B-17 bomber, a squadron of fighter planes to take out enemy aircraft, and two squadrons of dive bombers.

Engaging the enemy

Positioning our Destroyers - giant hulking torpedo-packed warships - between oncoming enemy vessels and the carrier, we engaged the enemy; encouraged by a helpful PR type to blindside a Japanese cruiser by steering our boat parallel to it and firing torpedoes at it with R. As we did so, the rest of the battle took place around us - the A.I doing an impressive job of engaging the enemy and making it all look rather spectacular.

As the enemy fleet thinned, we took the opportunity to switch to the map screen, sending our B-17 first north, then east to approach the airfield cautiously from the side, before going back into the 3D view and flying it over ourselves to release its full payload - holding the L Trigger to bring up an aiming reticule and pulling the R Trigger at the opportune moment.

Scoring a direct hit, we blitzed the enemy base and swiftly turned our attentions to our Dive Bomber squadrons, sending both in on the shipyard while our destroyers - taking heavy fire, but still giving as good as they got - held their own against steadily decreasing numbers of hostiles. After conspiring to entirely miss the target on the first bombing run, we eventually scored hits with the second and see the first section of this two-part mission end in a burning blaze of glory.

It wasn't easy though - even on the most forgiving difficulty setting, the amount going on at any one time in Battlestations Midway proves to be a challenge for concentration - though importantly, a rewarding one. Moreover, the mission we undertook was late in the game, and we were promised that earlier levels introduce new units with an accessible learning curve.

All in all, Battlestations Midway appears promising to singleplayer gamers - but where it could really come to life is in multiplayer. With four players able to control individual units on each side, there's a considerable offering here - and one with such strategic overtones that it will undoubtedly be unlike anything else on Xbox Live.

There's other aspects too which we only got to see in brief. The story is an excellent piece of artistic licence, telling the game's plot from the perspective of Navy recruit Henry Walker as he works his way up to admiral of the entire fleet, and there are enough hidden objectives on each of the game's eleven story chapters to unlock a further twelve sub-missions - some of which promise to be the largest levels in the entire game.

What you're getting with Battlestations Midway, then, is a comprehensive WWII package - but also one that feels approachable and instantly fun. Part squad-based game, part strategy, and all action, it may just be the second best thing to ever come from the events of Pearl Harbour. After Kate Beckinsale, of course.

Preview by: Mark Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Preview Published: 11.01.07