Battlestations: Pacific

Series: Battlestations (follow up from Battlestations: Midway)
Developers: Eidos Hungary and Robosoft Technologies
Platforms: Xbox 360, Windows and MAC OS X
Genre: World War II Action Shooter
Game Modes: Single-Player and Multi-Player
Ratings: PEGI 12+ and ESRB T
Players: 1
Release Date: May 12, 2009 and May 15, 2009

Plot

This game is set in the World War II era in which you are fighting for the USA or the Japanese depending on which side you choose (you can choose both campaigns). As the Japanese, the game pans-out as a 'What If' feature. This allows you to play the single player campaign as the Japanese army and it allows you to see the tide of the war if the Japanese had won. You start off in mid-air commencing the famous Pearl Harbor Attack which I believe was on December 7th, 1941. You are ordered to attack the harbor in hopes of delivering the American's a devastating blow to their ships and naval aspects. These missions from mission one to fourteen are based from real-life war plans from the Japanese ranging from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the hopes of invading Hawaii.
As for the American side of the war, you start off just a few hours after the Battle of Midway (Battlestations: Midway) after you crushed the Japanese navy. Again, the single-player campaign takes you across fourteen exciting missions as you follow America's victory in World War II.

Plot Rating: 9/10

Gameplay

In Battlestations Pacific, the gamplay and the controls are a little different from your average shooter. The left analog stick (Xbox 360) controls your speed whether your in a submarine, a warship or an airplane and the right analog stick controls your direction. The controls don't take a whole lot of getting used to as they can be picked up fairly easily. The gameplay itself is an exciting piece of drama from the first to the very last mission. You will find yourself in the heat of the battle with AK-AK going off all around you. You will be prone to attack from about a minute to after the mission starts to the end of it. Players will be able to switch their view (aircraft only) by pressing the right stick down. This allows the player to experience the realism and the drama that a World War II pilot went through in the heat of the battle. I personally thought this was a very neat addition to the game as you could see the cockpit controls which were fairly detailed yet some of them such as the horizon indicator didn't move when you pitched the plane up or down. Nonetheless, this didn't affect the outcome or the gameplay in any way and was almost un-noticeable. In my opinion, the best parts of the game were the main battles at the end. These offered an exciting and wide range of tasks for you to complete with all the help of your team-mates (AI).

Gameplay Rating: 8/10

Graphics and Voice Acting

The graphics on this game were not too bad considering the budget that the company had when they first developed it. The water details are stunning when you are fighting at night or near a sun-set or sun-rise. The lighting of the sun reflects off the water giving you a more realistic view on the game. The configuration and looks of the in-game plane looked almost identical to the one in real-life which gave the player something to look forward to wondering what plane they are going to fly next in the campaign. The scenery was in 3D which added even more realism to it. The mountains topped with a solid green coating of grass looked really nice when stood next to a sun-set or sun-rise.
The other thing I wanted to talk about was the voice-acting. I'm sorry but I believe this was just terrible. The voice-actors speak to the player like they have an IQ sub 80 which was a tough disappointment considering how well-done the other aspects of the game were. The Japanese voice-acting sounded like it was done by an American person who had no idea what a Japanese person sounded like. I thought they would have got a Japanese person to play this part instead of an American! Nonetheless, this could have been a result of Eidos Hungary's low budget to start with.

Graphics and Voice Acting Rating: 6.7/10

Game Reception

Delivered by 'Metacritic' the PC version was handed a 7.4/10 whilst on the other hand, the Xbox 360 version was handed a 7.6/10.
'Videogamer' stated that Battlestations: Pacific was a 'unique marketing brand which should bring a new experience to video gaming'.

Overall

Overall, I believe the game was a really amazing game which offered the player new and exciting features which lacked in Battlestations: Midway. The mission lay-out and design made the player take a strategic approach to their advancement and also made the player think about where they're going to go next, what they are going to do when they get there etc. The gameplay gave the player an experience like no other. It threw them into the heart of the battle whilst being prone to attack and strongly defended. The realism of the game is fairly decent and the fact that every mission is based from real-life 1940's war plans makes it a really unique seller.

My Overall Rating: 8.4/10