Battlestaions Midway

[Marko Dash]

Rented it for a week, the only negative comments I could put for it are the shortness of the campaign and the way they have sonar work in the game.

[wautd]

I like it. Multiplayer anyway, havn't tried the campaign yet

[Rekkon]

Been having fun with the demo, but the single map is getting old, and thus we have not had access to the campaign. My main gripe is that, aside from a long, drawn out game where you risk running out of aircraft, there is little reason to actually bring your planes home after an attack. Torpedo and dive bombers dogfight fairly well after they drop their ordinance, so they can be used in that role, but generally you just want them to die so a replacement flight can be launched as quickly as possible. I do love seeing a ship listing at 20-30 degrees after I put a bunch of fish into one side though. In one game, my sub was pumping torpedoes into the nose of an oncoming battleship, and for a brief moment, it was fighting with its bow underwater.

[CaptHawkeye]

The Demo was a hell of a lot of fun. I'm very happy the game is as complex as it is. Scares the useless frat jocks that play Halo 2 and GoW away. Leaves only the intelligent and competant to play the game...most of the time...

[Vendetta]

I've had some fun with it, though some games have been laggy as fuck, because there's no ping indicator on the server browser. I've had one game where one of my DDs was torpedoed and listing, I managed to save it, but the game kept reporting it as listing at X rate, which meant it was barrel rolling for the whole damn game.

I also missed a sweet shot on an enemy carrier with my sub because the game suddenly decided I had overshot it weeks ago and was about to leave the map.

(So far, I like subs in multiplayer, they can kick the crap out of bigger boys, and hardly anyone can use DDs effectively. I am sad that you don't get to use them so often in the campaign.)

[CaptHawkeye]

I've had some fun with it, though some games have been laggy as fuck, because there's no ping indicator on the server browser. I've had one game where one of my DDs was torpedoed and listing, I managed to save it, but the game kept reporting it as listing at X rate, which meant it was barrel rolling for the whole damn game.

I also missed a sweet shot on an enemy carrier with my sub because the game suddenly decided I had overshot it weeks ago and was about to leave the map.

(So far, I like subs in multiplayer, they can kick the crap out of bigger boys, and hardly anyone can use DDs effectively. I am sad that you don't get to use them so often in the campaign.)

You must teach me sub tactics master... I find subs to be all but useless unless you can beeline them into the American Carrier group.

My favorites are Cruisers. Of course they suffer from an indentity crisis of "I"m not a destroyer... but i'm not a battleship... " But I generally like the well rounded weaponry. They aren't the fastest ships in the Pacific, but they are excellent for supplementing Battleships. And with skilled usage, I have seen Cruisers single handedly defeat Battleships. All one must do is stay away from their short range guns, and do a lot of zig zagging. The hordes of torpedos Cruisers can fire can also be very dangerous. You can force your opponent to take a specific path. (Although I wish they would increase the torpedo speed in game. You can't actually hit anything with them unless at point blank.)

[Vendetta]

Generally there are two sub tactics:

1. Don't miss. You have limited ammo.

2. Avoid DDs. Depth charges hurt.

Otherwise, sneak up to either the enemy carrier group or their BBs and give them a full spread. If you can aim to pass under a BB (watch your periscope) then hit them with four torps in one side and then use your rear tubes for the kill. They'll take on water way too fast to save the ship.

[CaptHawkeye]

Unfortunantly, I have found that anyone who keeps all three damage control teams active on water can literally shrug off damage from multiple consecutive torpedo impacts. I loosed all 4 of my forward torpedoes into a battleship my friend was using once, and I only downed its health by about 1/4.

[Rekkon]

Eh? Perhaps it is just the PC version, but every server listing I see has a ping.

Subs can be fun, but it seems I have specialized in the air force, so I have not used them much. Even when I am US, I generally do not have a huge problem with them. They have gotten a carrier on occassion, but only when we are already losing and overstretched. A flight of planes with depth charges usually does the trick.

My friend has specialized in the surface assets and no longer uses cruisers. He usually launches two BBs and two DDs. On the demo map, it seems like victory on the right side goes to whomever can win the first round of battleship combat, then end rush and pound the shipyards before your own ships die. I think only the Japanese cruisers carry torpedoes.

Damage control does seem overpowered. The game seems to favor hitting with as much damage at one time as you can, rather than spreading it out. I can sink a carrier with three flights of torpedo bomers if they hit together, but those same three, spread out, particularly if the enemey has three men on water, will take the same ship to maybe half health. Splitting the attack between torpedo and dive bombers might be the way to go, but then you start hampering the hammerfist you need to be most effective. Plus no adequate player is going to let 3-4 flights of bomers through without a fight.

[wautd]

On the demo map, it seems like victory on the right side goes to whomever can win the first round of battleship combat

I'd say the Kongo reigns supreme in the demo map

[Rekkon]

On the demo map, it seems like victory on the right side goes to whomever can win the first round of battleship combat

I'd say the Kongo reigns supreme in the demo map

Oh yes. My friend and I now prefer to play US for the additional difficulty. We got Kongo-owned for a while until he got good enough to pick off turrets with the Renown. One of my US openers is to launch three flights of fighters and three of torpedo bombers. We quickly kill one Kongo, leaving the other facing two Battleships. At least in my experience both sides tend to launch two BBs. The Renowns then finish off the second and at least one of them survives to blitz the ship yards since they can never kill a BB before it destroys at least one of them.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Isn't Renown a British Battleship? Has anyone tried the campaign? I have been piqued by the game, but not enough to justify getting it.

[Stark]

The campaign is basically a demo of the different unit types. It's only about 8-9 missions long, and it's boring as all shit. Not much like the multi at all.

[CaptHawkeye]

I remember a number of people on Gamespot talking about how they didn't think BM's multiplayer would be that good because the gameplay felt more oriented towards single player. Of course, many of these are the same people who thought Operation Flashpoint stole concepts from Battlefield 1942...

It never ceases to amaze me how games like this get bad reviews because people just don't know how to play it. Game Informer actually gave it a 5 out of 10 because they were too fucking stupid to find the unit spawn button on the Xbox controller. As if you really need to do that much searching on a console controller for anything...

[Ypoknons]

The game has British ships - King George V and York classes, for sure. Very pleased, really - usually Allied troops are non-existent.

[wautd]

Isn't Renown a British Battleship? Has anyone tried the campaign? I have been piqued by the game, but not enough to justify getting it.

It's pretty short.

If there's anything the game needs, it would be a skirmisch mode where you can choose which ships/bases/etc... to play with. Pre-set missions are getting old once you finished them

[Marko Dash]

i wish they had included the iowas

[Ypoknons]

Out of timeframe, though. The first Iowa didn't enter service until 1943. I suppose that Yamato-Iowa grudgematch has some appeal. Wasn't the Missouri in the taskforce that sank the Yamashiro?