Battlestations at the ready

Friday 21 April 2006
Eidos' Battlestations: Midway will be released this autumn for Xbox 360 and PC, which is great news for a game that has been on the radar for some time.

The action-strategy game is set during World War II's fight for the Pacific between Japan and the US. The single-player game follows the fortunes of naval recruit Henry Walker who starts the game as a gunner at Pearl Harbour and then gradually exerts more influence over the campaign with every mission.

What sets Battlestations apart from many other war time shooters is that action is split between piloting planes and directly controlling various warships, as gamers can flit between every unit in the fleet to ensure the battle is won.

There's also a strong strategy element to the game whereby your fleet's movement and initial approach can be planned on a map screen before each mission. These plans can then be altered mid-battle to counteract the enemy's movements.

Online options include both cooperative and competitive play, the latter allowing petty grievances to be settled in a truly epic fashion.

Control of both planes and boats is kept as simple as possible
Major vessels can be attacked from beneath the waves using submarines
The game is completely set at sea
Every unit in the fleet has been recreated in minute detail
You can switch from mid-air dogfight to the calm of a submarine in a second