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Battlestations: Pacific Preview - Midway

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By Andrew Park, GameSpot, Posted Apr 1, 2009 2:09 am GMT

Get the details on the infamous Battle of Midway in this action-strategy hybrid sequel.

Battlestations: Pacific, the sequel to Battlestations: Midway, will offer even more explosive, hybrid action-strategy gameplay that will let you take control of a squadron of air and sea units and lead them into battle--or hop into a pilot's or captain's seat and dive into the fray yourself. This time around, we have the details on the infamous Battle of Midway, which will appear as a mission in the game.

The Battle of Midway occurred in June of 1942 and was one of the most crucial World War II conflicts in the Pacific theater. The battle was entered into with different motivations on each side; the Imperial Japanese Navy intended for the conflict to lead a decisive victory over the Allied Forces, whereas American forces lined up a surprise attack that eventually led them to victory. The ferocious four-day battle claimed seven ships, along with more than 300 planes and the lives of more than 3,000 soldiers.

From the Japanese perspective, the goal of the Imperial Navy was simple: eliminate the remaining Allied carrier forces that were occupying island chains in the area so that the Japanese forces could establish a defensive perimeter. Fleet Admiral Yamamoto, commander in chief of what was known as the Combined Fleet, made the ominous prediction that his forces might experience great success for a time but face trouble should the war in the Pacific stretch past two years in length. As it turns out, the admiral was right; for the first six months of the conflict, the Imperial Navy seized island after island until the fateful day of June 4.

Battlestations: Pacific will let you relive the crucial conflict at Midway.

Battlestations: Pacific will let you relive the crucial conflict at Midway.

As it happened, American forces had cracked the Japanese radio code and were able to determine the Admiral's battle plans going into Midway. Through a series of carefully applied ambushes executed at just the right times and just the right places, American Admiral Chester Nimitz and his seemingly outnumbered forces were able to position themselves around the enemy's flank, first eliminating the Imperial Navy's early reconnaissance troops, then swooping in to begin their attack on Japanese carriers on June 4, days before the Imperial Navy expected any resistance.

As with the game's other missions, Battlestations: Pacific will let you play through this mission with the intent of re-creating history or rewriting it. See the game in action in our exclusive videos above. Battlestations: Pacific will be released in May.

41 Comments

  • downloadthefile

    Posted May 6, 2009 2:14 pm GMT

    the battle of midway certainly wasn't infamous, because it is in fact considered to be the major turning point of the United States war against the Japanese. From a Japanese perspective however, it might be infamous.

  • FlashCharge

    Posted May 3, 2009 8:22 am GMT

    I hope that this game plays well and is as good as the Battlestations Midway game, which I still find myself playing today. The wait is killing me.

  • BiGG_SMiGG

    Posted May 2, 2009 2:09 pm GMT

    haha thats like saying boxfire isnt a nooooooooooob.

  • DarthEthong467

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 3:17 pm GMT

    Most of you idiots complaining about this article being a history lesson or a waste of time are the same noobs who will play this mission in the game and say, "wtf? dat mission wuz dum cuz it made no sense!"

  • Boxfire

    Posted Apr 27, 2009 8:39 pm GMT

    bigg smigg.. you are a noob, thats like saying Japan never fought in WW2. Pick up a book, right click.. or just shut the f up.

  • BiGG_SMiGG

    Posted Apr 18, 2009 6:38 am GMT

    i suppose not cos that would mean having to have no americansfighting in ww2, shock horror

  • BiGG_SMiGG

    Posted Apr 18, 2009 6:36 am GMT

    i also get the feeling that ww2 game developers think that the USA was the only allied country to fight in the war, they were a late entry and probably did the least amount of fighting, i hope they include more about brirish in this game. i wonder if the next gtame will be battlestations atlantic lol

  • BiGG_SMiGG

    Posted Apr 18, 2009 6:25 am GMT

    hmm... gamespot should not really be teaching us about battles in this game, it should really be teaching us about what an awesome game this is going to be, if u want to learnabout the battle of midway u should be watching discovery or history channel or whatever, not goin to a game site about games, this was just basically a written documentary

  • techpunk

    Posted Apr 4, 2009 9:59 am GMT

    That video has me not really caring if I ever play this game. It may be a good game, but video was pretty lame.

  • invadernick

    Posted Apr 4, 2009 12:40 am GMT

    I think the article is just trying to tell you the game will be pretty story driven, and real events and military tactics will be used. But i kinda agree that the way they presented it in this article is a little out of place for a gaming site. Nonetheless a good history lesson.

  • forhekset

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 11:43 pm GMT

    That was the worst article about a game I've ever read.

  • mfa1486

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 12:10 pm GMT

    i think the H.W.A.X is batter

  • starpirat

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 11:28 am GMT

    You are incorrect, as it was the Allies in general that broke the japanese code.. as detailed in the book
    "The Emperor’s Codes"
    Across the world from Bletchley Park to Pearl Harbor; from Singapore to Colombo; and from Mombasa to Melbourne. It tells the stories of John Tiltman, the British soldier turned codebreaker who made many of the early breaks in Japanese diplomatic and military codes; Commander Joe Rochedort, the leading expert on Japanese in U.S. naval intelligence, who took to wearing his silk smoking jacket and slippers to work during three amphetamine-fuelled months spent entirely at the office; Eric Nave, the Australian sailor recruited to work for the British who pioneered breakthroughs in deciphering Japanese naval codes; and Oshima Hiroshi, the hard-drinking Japanese ambassador to Berlin, whose candid, often verbose, reports to Tokyo of his conversations with Hitler and other high-ranking Nazis were a major source of intelligence in the war against Germany. Many of these revelations have been made possible only through recently declassified British files, privileged access to Australian secret official histories, and Smith’s interviews with an unprecedented number of British, American, and Australian codebreakers.

  • submarine444

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 11:07 am GMT

    why dont you just take a snapshot of your history book and post it here instead of typing all this crap?

  • mikees1

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 9:07 am GMT

    yawn.........America wasnt the only country fighting in the pacific theatre and if British forces are not represented (they only had a small contigent in the first one) then il not be buying it,as much as i liked the first one!

  • OnlookerDelay

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 8:58 am GMT

    This was a "preview"? How about a synopsis of the Pacific Theater during WWII? Come back when you can tell us something about the gameplay.

  • sirbalynn

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 5:15 pm GMT

    im really not sure about this game, it seems a little slow

  • NearlyPrescient

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 4:33 pm GMT

    haha. I'm glad I wasn't the only one that found this 'preview' to be a history lesson.

  • Lolthien

    Posted Apr 2, 2009 3:18 pm GMT

    Umm.. so thanks for the history lesson and everything... how was the friggin game????

  • pluto213

    Posted Apr 1, 2009 10:49 pm GMT

    umm thats how you fight wars kill everything

Review Scores

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Game Info

  • Xbox 360 PC Release Info

    • Release Date: May 12, 2009
    • ESRB: T
      Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older.

  • MAC Release Info

    • Release Date: Oct 8, 2010
    • ESRB: T
      Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older.

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