The game features two campaigns following both the Japanese and the US side of the fight, letting you ultimately determine the outcome of the war in the Pacific. The campaigns do a good job of mixing things up, starting off with simple ship-only or plane-only missions in which the AI handles everything else, leading into the mixed fleet operations in which you handle everything yourself. Performing well in missions unlocks better units to use in future missions, so it is always a good idea to complete any secondary or hidden objectives as they come up to pad your score. The campaigns lack any real cohesive plot, and though they tie together here and there a strong narrative such as that found in Midway is sadly absent. Without anything tying the missions together they do feel rather standalone, though they do progressively build up in difficulty and scale.

The game’s engine does not disappoint, with damage effects showing battle scars on ships who have taken enemy fire and aircraft breaking apart and spiraling to earth amidst a stream of smoke and flame. Lighting and time of day effects are used to subtle effect, so that while you won’t get blinded by bloom lighting you will however notice the shadows of your cockpit view realistically moving and stretching around. The submarine view in particular is well done, with realistic underwater vision and unlike the original title there is actually a seabed that you may need to navigate around or otherwise risk crashing your sub into a reef.

Though Battlestations: Pacific doesn’t have a slew of new features from its predecessor, it does have the same solid gameplay that put the series on the map. The combat is still as strategic as ever, and the direct control gives the player complete freedom in which units they want the AI to handle and which ones they want to personally wage war in. More importantly, the game strikes the vital balance between the difficulty of managing an entire battle zone and the exhilaration of actually sitting in the cockpit or the captain’s chair.

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