The first one remains, in my mind, a better tacital wargame.
User Rating: 5 | Battlestations: Pacific X360
The sad thing there is that i was really looking forward to Battlestations Pacific, but i cant help feeling disappointed. Battlestations Pacific takes apart some of the main reasons i found Battlestations Midway a good tactial naval wargame. The option to midair reload aircraft makes no sence and rather than add to takes away from realism in a very big way. Also, the lack of "missions" for multi-player like in the first game leaves only gamemodes that enforce just throwing your units at the enemy because you have as much as you want, instead of having to take care of each one like in the first. I feel much more like im playing a naval action game than the much more tactial RTS that the first was, although both being naval action games at heart vs naval simulations. Overall, the wasteful and overflashy multi-player is my main point of disappointment.
As for everything else, there are mainly plus points such as better visuals and more craft of all types, with as always, very historial models. The island capture idea is great, complete with landing craft and troops, but again falls short with unlimited supply. The new control system and "naval supply" are again another large step back, leading to a much more "gamey" system than the first.
While most will think that many of these changes will speed up gameplay and make it more open to most players, i think anyone who liked the action yet still very tactial gameplay of the first games multi-player missions may be disappointed with the change to more action, less realism and substance.
