"Possibly the most underated game of the year."

Battlestations Midway has received an assortment of 5's and 6's as soon as it came out. Everyone from GameSpot to GameInformer criticized it for its short (and relatively uninteresting) single player campaign, laughably bad voice acting, and complexity.

But before, we deal with that, let's first go onto the real review.

GRAPHICS: 7.5
Not winning any awards here. The water doesn't look that great, the explosions aren't particularly convincing, but the good side of this is that it can run on much older computers, a rarity nowadays among newly released games. It's the little things, though, like water splashing onto the binocs from nearby explosions, or people walking around on the ship, or watching your ship desperately trying to stay above the water after being holed by a torp, that redeems this section.

SOUND: 9
The menu music is stirring, and the battle music is so inspirational that I have even taught myself how to play it one the viola (deeper version of the violin).
Explosions sound like explosions, AA Flak pelting around your fighter as you roll and do split S's pops and snaps convincingly. Gameinformer said "It's no Call of Duty." Maybe not, but the sounds here are more than good enough for this game. Also, the muffling of sounds is another nice affect when your sub dives underwater. The way the screen shudders when the battleship fires its main guns makes each shell especially satisfying when it hits.

GAMEPLAY: 9.5
Addictive. And simplistic. Why so many reviewers deem it "overly complex" is beyond me. I just downloaded the MP demo and had to learn everything by myself. In fact, out of all the tutorials, I only played one when I got the full game. You can command either a ship, a sub, or a flight of airplanes, or multiple units of each. That's when the game really gets exciting, especially online. When you're fighting toe to toe with the Yamato at point blank range in the New York, and at the same time dodging torps from a Jap sub and Kate Torpedo bombers, while the battle of air superiority rages above you between F4F Wildcats and AM6 Zeroes with about 60 planes in the sky at once, trust me, this is a feeling you've never had before.

Whether you're dodging flak, dive bombing a shipyard, stalking a ship underwater while trying to remain out of range of the radar, or firing at an enemy battleship that's no less than 0.1 miles away with all guns, these are all things you can do, and ALL IN THE SAME ONE GAME. The days of changing scenarios to fit yoruself are over.

Finally, online, teamwork is actually essential to victory. Calling for airsupport is a must for ships, while planes need the ships to distract the enemy ships so they can get to their said targets. There's nothing like shouting for air support and then getting just that when those dive bombers that were just going to drop on you are shot to scrap heap and crash into the ocean.

Final Verdict
Buy? Download the MP demo. Trust me, you'll want this game for the multiplayer. It's like playing CS 1.6 with bots. They're all so lifeless, and have no spark of creativity. Online, when someone sneaks a battleship right next to your hangar, that's pretty much the equivalent of "gg nub!"

If you liked the demo, then go get the game. If not, well, take comfort that you didn't waste 40 bucks on something you didn't like. No one's forcing you to buy it.

So what are you waiting for? DL the 591 mb mp demo! I'll see you online! :)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/07