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[u_neek]

SCi Games is proud to announce BATTLESTATIONS: MIDWAY, a new tactical multi-player game of extraordinary proportions, which will be released in 2005.

The game focuses on the naval and aerial battles of World War II leading up to one of the greatest naval victories of all time, the Battle of Midway, which saw the highly outnumbered US Naval and Air forces take on the might of the most powerful naval force in modern history: the Imperial Japanese Navy.

BATTLESTATIONS: MIDWAY offers a totally new approach to air, sea and underwater combat, accurately reflecting the atmosphere and situation in the Pacific during 1942. Players take direct control of battleships, aircraft carriers, submarines and planes in a 'free-control' environment, with seamless switching between any of the units under your command: engage in dogfights with enemy fighters through flak-infested skies, utilise the silent attack of your submarine to unleash torpedoes on unsuspecting enemies, or command the awesome firepower of an entire carrier group.

Featuring a number of game modes, including single-player campaigns for both Japanese and American sides, 'career' missions focusing on specific units, and broadband multiplayer modes for up to 16 people, BATTLESTATIONS: MIDWAY is a game on the grandest scale, bringing the air and sea battles of the Pacific to life like never before and will be available in summer 2005.

More here: http://www.gamesector.dk/nyhed.asp?ID=2494&PlatformtypeID=

 

[Funky Papa]

I'm feeling something getting chubby down here.

 

[MrAngryFace]

yum

 

[AirBrian]

yum

Wait, are you referring to Funky Papa's comments or the game?

EDIT: BTW, this game looks fantastic.

 

[teepo]

ohhh sweet baby

 

[Chony]

It had to be posted again, it's that good.

 

[bunkum]

This game sounds and looks superb

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/strategy/midway/preview_6106472.html


Battlestations: Midway Impressions


After countless World War II-themed shooters and real-time strategy games, it's refreshing to see a publisher and developer take a fresh approach to the genre. Battlestations: Midway is such a game, and it looks very promising indeed. Unveiled and announced amidst the festivities of London Games Week, this upcoming action/strategy hybrid from publisher SCi and Hungarian developer Mithis Games could very well be the start of an exciting new franchise.

So what is Battlestations: Midway? SCi representatives describe it as a real-time strategy game, but instead of looking at the world from a top-down perspective and clicking on units, you'll jump into different vehicles and control them yourself. If that sounds a bit like Battlefield 1942, then you're right, because Battlestations: Midway feels a lot like that game, only there's no infantry combat at all, which puts all the emphasis on the vehicles.

The game starts with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and covers the following six months leading up to the pivotal Battle of Midway. The game will feature a single-player storyline that puts you in the shoes of a young Annapolis graduate caught up in all the early battles of the war, but you can also play as the Japanese during the campaign and find out whether you can change history yourself.

Battlestations: Midway is concerned primarily with the naval aspect of the war, and as such, you'll primarily control warships and carrier-born aircraft during each battle. Essentially, Battlestations: Midway plays out like a real-time strategy game in that you can give orders to your units and the AI will carry them out. But you can jump from each ship and aircraft and take direct control yourself. For example, you can order your battleships to get into a battle line, then jump into the lead battleship and have fun firing devastating broadsides at the enemy. The control scheme is fairly elegant, and the developers spent months working on the basic control system. In the PS2 and Xbox versions, you'll use the left analog stick to control speed and steering while the right analog stick will control the camera. When controlling a platform that has different types of weapons, such as a battleship, you can toggle between the main guns, the antiaircraft guns, torpedoes, depth charges, and more. The easy-to-use, color-coded interface lets you know which of your guns are ready to fire, which are reloading, and which have available firing arcs on the enemy.

Another cool feature of the game is that if your warship is hit, you can switch to a damage control scheme and direct the efforts of your crew. If a fire rages out of control, then you should divert all effort to firefighting before the fire hits a critical ammunition magazine. And if you're taking on water, you'll need to have the crew focus on pumping out water and shoring up the hull. Of course, you'll usually have several different kinds of crises going on, so you'll need to balance your damage control efforts.

If you control a carrier, you can launch waves of different types of fighters at the enemy, including regular fighters for air superiority, torpedo planes, and dive-bombers. The AI will control the planes, or you can jump into any plane and fly it. The developers are striving for a balance between realism, historical authenticity, and fun, so flying isn't too difficult, but you'll want to use tactics in order to succeed. For example, in the dive-bomber, you need to climb to a high altitude and then dive straight at the enemy. This requires holding your nerve as antiaircraft fire reaches up at you while you wait for the best possible moment to drop your bombs.

The developer promises big levels to fight on--in fact, you'll actually need to locate and identify your enemy's position. This means you can launch observation planes that can scan large swaths of the ocean at a time, though they're extremely vulnerable to enemy fire and aircraft.

The game looks great. The graphics engine is beautiful, and the gameplay is almost cinematic at times. There are certainly moments worthy of Hollywood, like when your formation of American torpedo planes buzz past a Japanese destroyer, with tracer fire and explosions in your wake. The textures and models are highly detailed, and the water effects are gorgeous.

From what we've seen, Battlestations: Midway presents a very exciting combination of simulation, strategy, and action. The game is being developed for the PC, PS2, and Xbox, and there will be online support for up to 16 players on each platform. The PC version will also have a control scheme designed for keyboard and mouse combination. The game still a bit early in development, but the plan is to ship for all three platforms some time next summer.