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2007 · Eidos Interactive · Action · Historical

Battlestations: Midway

Xbox console exclusive

Battlestations: Midway is an immense action game that drops players into massive air, sea, and undersea battles from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway.

Released: 30 January 2007
Platforms: Windows Xbox 360 macOS
Genres: Action Historical Real-time strategy Real-time tactics Simulation Strategy World War II
Developers: Eidos Interactive
Publishers: Eidos Interactive
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Themes: Action
Age ratings: USK 12 ESRB T ACB M
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat: 7hmain story11hcompletionist
Composers: Richard Jacques

About

Battlestations: Midway is a video game developed by Eidos Hungary and released in 2007 for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The Mac version of this game was developed by Robosoft Technologies, based out of India and published in July 2008 by Feral Interactive.

Set in the Pacific during World War II, it is a hybrid of action and real-time tactics as the player can both command their fleet assets and assume control of any one of them at will. The single-player campaign is a series of missions from Pearl Harbor commanding an Elco PT Boat to the Battle of Midway commanding an entire carrier battle group.

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The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In either the single-player or multiplayer game the player starts with a ship, submarine, aircraft, shipyard, airfield or a combination of any of them. The player can switch between their allocated units in order to complete objectives. Each unit also has its own unique features and controls. For example, using a carrier, shipyard or airfield, players can release carrier aircraft, ships, or land-based aircraft respectively. These units can then be used to engage in naval battles, undersea actions or dogfights and bombing runs.

Players are encouraged to work together online. In multiplayer, each player controls a different group of units. Each player has different units allocated to them, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Each side will have a specific objective to complete, whether it being to destroy or protect a certain unit or reach a certain point on the map. The team wins when they are the first to complete their objective(s).

Development

The game entered development in around March 2002 for Microsoft Windows under the Midway: Naval Battles title for a late 2003 to early 2004 release. After SCi Games acquired the game's publishing rights, the game was rebranded as Battlestations: Midway, and Gizmondo, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions were commissioned. These versions were later cancelled in favour of an Xbox 360 release.

A multiplayer demo was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on January 18, 2007. The PC demo was followed shortly on January 26 and the Mac OS X demo released on July 24, 2008. The demos contained the multiplayer map Battle of Solomon Islands, which supported up to 8 players. The PC demo worked only for LAN play.

Reception

The PC version received "generally favorable reviews", while the Xbox 360 version received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, where the latter was ported and published by Spike on February 7, 2008, Famitsu gave it a score of one six and three sevens, while Famitsu X360 gave it a score of one seven, two eights, and one seven.

411Mania gave the Xbox 360 version nine out of ten, calling it "a must-own for hardcore strategy nuts and World War II hobbyists."