The Battlestations series began with Midway in 2007, and is now opening up the seas and skies of WWII even further with Battlestations: Pacific. These games stand out because they provide a unique blend of action and real-time strategy, allowing players to command a massive destroyer one moment and take to the air in a small fighter the next. Pacific does an excellent job of balancing these two major gameplay elements, and this turns an otherwise mediocre title into a varied and interesting battle simulation. Though there is very little that truly stands out in this game, the sum of its parts end up being a worthwhile addition to the series.

Battlestations: Pacific is set in two well-staged campaigns that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Pacific Ocean. As the Japanese, one begins by fighting in the decisive raid on Pearl Harbor, and then sees action back across the sea as the empire's fleet attempts to drive Allied forces out of the South Pacific. In time, battles will take you to Midway and an all-out assault on the United States. These fights are often fictionalized to some extent, but every attempt is made to make them feel accurate and genuine. The United States campaign is more historically rooted, and will have you island hopping around the Pacific and eventually taking over the entire region. In both instances, the story is told through cutscenes and briefings that are accompanied by actual video from the era. Overall, the narrative flows well, and provides enough depth to keep you playing.

The water is fittingly stunning, as much of the game is spent in open sea.

The action portion of the war in the Pacific is recreated well by the developers at Eidos. The control scheme will take some getting used to, but you should be able to adjust quickly to its nuances. All movement, aiming, and throttle control is designated to the analog sticks, and weapon usage employs the trigger buttons on the Xbox 360 controller. At first, this arrangement is unsettling, but once you have acclimated yourself to the scheme, its efficiency will begin to show. Mapping most action-related controls to the analog sticks and trigger buttons frees the d-pad and face buttons up for strategic options such as deploying new forces, making commands and switching from unit to unit. This streamlining of the controller interface makes good use of the entire gamepad, and in time, becomes pretty intuitive.

On the gameplay front, dogfights are fun, bombarding ships and land targets with artillery is quite thrilling, and sinking destroyers with a stealthy submarine strikes is fulfilling. Each unit type is represented well and enjoyable to play, though there are moments when the action slows down to an almost plodding pace. Massive battleships are not particularly fast, and many fights take place over very large maps. When enemies are widely spread throughout the area, missions can almost grind to halt. The submarine-only sections especially suffer from this. While navigating the depths of the ocean is a nice stealth-action diversion, there are many moments that seem like they will never end. This makes certain parts of the game feel like a bit of a chore.

Strategy-wise, Battlestations does a solid job. Ordering ships and fighters around through the overhead map is simple and units are generally easy to command. It can be a bit tedious when you have many fighter squadrons in a small area, but otherwise the system works well. To launch units, all you have to do is open up a toolbar, select which base or carrier to work from, and choose a type and payload. This simplicity hides the complex strategy that is often required at different moments in the game, and makes every goal feel attainable, no matter how challenging they may actually be. In the end, the strategy and action end up complimenting each other well. The only real issue is that none of it stands out in any particular way, aside from the AI.

In fact, the AI is so well balanced so that you could simply fly around blowing things up and still win some missions. That said, if you really want to decimate your opponents or win the larger battles towards the end of the campaign, you'll need to step in and do some commanding yourself. The AI competes well enough, which allows you to spend most of your time in the more action-oriented aspects of the gameplay, but getting deeply entrenched in strategic planning is an equally fun necessity. Ultimately, the avenue you choose to focus on more boils down to a matter of taste.

The multiplayer in Battlestations: Pacific gives the game almost endless replayability. A wide variety of modes allows players to experiment, and there are enough ways to play online that everyone should be able to find at least one or two modes to really latch onto. Island Capture is one mode that most players are almost certain to like. Here, four teams are placed in a map full of islands that need to be taken and held from opposing forces. This allows you to enjoy all phases of battle because submarines, ships, and planes all have their place. It is also large enough in scale that the pace becomes fantastically hectic.

Duel mode probably holds the distinction of being the polar opposite of Island Capture, as it pits individual unit types against one another and lets teams or individuals fight it out. Duels can be slow and even tedious at times, but the potential for serious fun is still present, as they allow you to focus more on specific strategies that better suit your strong points. In all of the multiplayer modes, you are also allowed the choice to employ drones in place of friends if your online social pool isn't very deep, and this actually winds up being a fun diversion in its own right. It's this variety and scope of the multiplayer that will keep you coming back for more.

Sinking battleships with a tiny plane is incredibly satisfying.

As far as the graphics go, they are mostly serviceable. Water is appropriately fitting as waves flow realistically below your ships and sea spray showers the screen upon artillery misses. Weather effects are nicely rendered, making night missions during thunderstorms particularly breathtaking. The real issue is that the land textures are displayed at a very low resolution, and any time spent passing by an island or base often yields a drab and ugly display. Explosions and other such effects are equally underwhelming, and the mediocre animations and unit models don't do much to help things either. At best, the visuals are merely on par with other modern real-time strategy games.

The audio manages to stand out more, but not always in the best of ways. Engines, machine guns, and ship artillery sound about right, but rarely are these effects so well accomplished that they engage you in a battle. The problem with the game's sound is the voice acting. The Japanese accents are subpar to say the least, and there is not a moment when a vocal sequence will serve to immerse you into the experience. The lack of any truly excellent element to the audio is a bit disappointing considering the epic nature of the subject matter.

Rarely do genre hybrids offer two styles of gameplay that are equal in quality, but this one comes close. This excellent synergy gives the game the potential to be unique every time you play, and that variety and replay value is only enhanced by the solid and well-designed multiplayer modes. While the core gameplay and presentation do little to set Battlestations: Pacific apart from its predecessor, the blending of two genres and high replayability make this entry in the series a solid choice for anyone interested in WWII.