Battlestations: Pacific/Gameplay

Battlestations Pacific is the sequel to Midway. As with Midway, Pacific is a hybrid game which allows players to command any number of units - ranging from the smallest PT boat to the largest battleships, and from high-flying aircraft to submerged submarines. This section of the guide will go through the basics of gameplay - stuff that is better and easier explained through the tutorial. The advantage of this guide though is that if you don't have the game, you can read this and get an idea for it.

The game's menus are relatively straightforward - the Single Player menu offers access to the game's two campaigns, the game's skirmish mode, and the training grounds. Skirmish mode is a relatively good place to start experimenting against the AI, but provides nowhere near the skill of an experienced players online (for instance, it rarely uses submarines and will never pick an unlock unit). The Training Grounds provide an endless supply of ships to sink, but as the ships don't even move, let alone fire back, it is simply a place to try and earn some achievements or to see the amount of damage done in a single bombing run, for example.

The multiplayer menu contains the options to play any of the game's multiplayer maps either online or over a LAN. It also provides quick access to which of the game's achievements you have, but a glitch prevents you from clicking on them and then selecting either LAN or Online play - the Back button has to be used first.

The game also contains a Tactical Library that displays ship and plane info for both factions, a list of achievements, and the ability to play any of the game's four campaign movies at any time. It also provides a quick reference to all of the game's Naval Supplies, mentioned in more depth and detail in its section of the guide. The game also contains a number of adjustable options, such as key bindings, Xbox 360 controller options, and flight stick configuration.

This guide is divided, as its predecessor, into four sections: The RTS section will demonstrate basic and some advanced map usage, as well as how to create units with the support manager; the air section will demonstrate how to attack air and surface targets as an aircraft; the warship section instructs how to operate the weapons systems on warships and how to use them; finally, the submarine section shows readers how submarines work and how to use them effectively.

Before going into the fierce world of online multiplayer, be sure to read the section about multiplayer first!