Battlestations: Midway is coming on January 30th, 2007 and the staff here at Game Almighty just can't wait. Featuring over 100 usable craft, from battleships to B-17 bombers, tons of multiplayer maps and a single-player campaign that features 8-player co-op, Battlestations is looking to be a dream come true for history buffs, strategy fans and flight-sim aficionados.

We recently got our hands on a multiplayer demo and what follows are the impressions from several members of our staff.

Chris Jensen

My fingers were crossed. A mantra kept running through my brain, "Please be good, please be good, please be good." I’ve watched every trailer, absorbed every screenshot, eagerly anticipating the multiplayer demo of Battlestations: Midway. It has finally arrived and, thankfully, my expectations have been met.

I admit it, I’m 'shootered'-out. If I have to cleanse one more building of insects, zombies, terrorists or Locust, I think I’m gonna lose my mind. So when I saw the initial specs on Battlestations, I was immediately excited at the prospects. Part strategy, part action, part simulator, a game of this scope had never been attempted before. And no, I don’t count the Battlefield series as part of this genre. Could a little design group in Hungary pull it off? Yes.

Battlestations strikes that delicate middle ground of offering deep-strategy without bogging you down, and a realistic simulator without boring you to death. Sure, it’s 'arcadey' at its heart, but just challenging enough to sport some meat on its bones. The only aspect found wanting are the graphics, which, in the spirit of kindness, I will label as “passable.” There’s definitely nothing 'next-gen' about the presentation, but the gameplay more than makes up for it.

While I’m confident the single-player campaign will be fun, it’s the multiplayer that most will flock to. Unlike your average shooter, Battlestations will only be as good as the team you find yourself on, as the demo clearly illustrates. Get stuck on a team with a bunch of dudes who don’t have a tactical bone in their body and you’re in store for an uphill battle. However, when your teammates are interested in winning and planning, Battlestations comes together like no other game before it.

I predict this game will be a solid and important success for the Xbox 360, ushering in a new wave of strategy/action games. I welcome the onslaught. That is, until I get sick of strategy/action games and need a new building crammed with terrorists to cleanse.

Sam Sollars

I’ve hosted a few public and private matches on the Xbox Live demo for Battlestations: Midway by now, and I’ve got to say I’m pleasantly surprised by how much fun I’ve had.

When the demo walkthrough video hit the marketplace, it immediately grabbed the attention of just about everybody here at the Alliance. This is a game that’s got a little bit of something for everybody. For the more straightforward attack-or-die crowd, there’s some awesome aerial battles here. If you figure out how to properly use your hangers (press the right bumper to select units), you’re nothing short of a force to be reckoned with. Although the planes look decent and control well, you get little sense of the real peril you’re up against when you’re flying in the tin can that is a Japanese Zero. The effects like water splashing the windscreen are super cool, but things in the air have a tendency to feel a little disconnected from the rest of the battlefield.

Fear not, though, strategy buffs; because your saving grace is to be found here in the shipyards. Launching warships takes a great deal more tact and planning than an all out aerobatic assault, so plan ahead. You’ll have a few different types of vessels to choose from, and each has their distinct characteristics. The pace feels a little slow when you’re on the water, but the armaments on these beastly boats are nothing short of vicious.

Before you dive in to this game, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the controls and map screen. The best way to do this is to have a friendly orientation session with your buddies, but there’s a walkthrough video on the marketplace as well. Either way, you’d better be prepared because these are a few journalists who practice what we preach. We’ll see you online with this one. Just so there’s no confusion, you’ll be the one with all your boats sinking, and we’ll be the guys you just can’t hit.

Matt Butrovich

I love action-RTS games. Ever since Battlezone stole countless hours of my life back in 1998, I’ve been fascinated with the genre. It’s unfortunate that the title selection is so sparse, and as such any new action-RTS always gets my attention. Battlestations: Midway has been in development for quite some time now, and will be coming out for the Xbox 360 and PC platforms very shortly. As you can expect, I am very much looking forward to its final release, and here’s my initial impressions of the demo that was released on Xbox Live last week:

My biggest concern was how well the controls would map to the Xbox 360’s controller. Action-RTS titles don’t have the same complexity as a straight RTS title, but there’s still a lot of information to interpret and units to manage. Thankfully, Battlestations: Midway’s controls are very intuitive in all gameplay aspects. Air and naval forces control equally well, and the map screen does a great job of letting you quickly assign orders.

Visually the game is hardly competitive with any other new titles coming out for the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. The graphics are decidedly last-gen, but are certainly acceptable when paired with the excellent gameplay. One subtle touch is the inclusion of sailors walking around on the decks of your ships while sailing. While I would like to see more of this (especially guys running around frantically during the fighting) it’s an interesting inclusion that helps establish the sense of scale in the game. The audio is fairly generic as well, featuring your standard WWII music and sound effects.

Battlestations: Midway’s gameplay is where the title truly shines. It’s obvious the developers spent the majority of their time trying to get the experience as tight as possible. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds to get right in to the action, but it never feels hectic. You’re always in control of your forces, though that may not always be true for your teammates. The Xbox Live integration is superb, allowing you to gather up your friends on one side of the war and bring the fight to complete strangers. With proper teamwork, the gameplay experience is second to none on Xbox Live.

Christiaan Allebest

Refreshing. Usually a term used to describe gum, soap, or a deep breath of mountain air, I think it works equally well in summing up Battlestations - and that's not just because it is from an under-represented genre.

While its true that RTS titles made for consoles are about as scarce as sober teen popstars, Battlestations also impresses with the variety of gameplay it offers and its ability to string all of the game's disparate elements together.Each experience and role on the battlefield (battle-ocean?) is compelling enough to encourage playing as a team. In addition to that, the units all play differently enough to keep you interested even if you aren't controlling your side's fighter plane at the moment. With the number of vehicles said to reach over a hundred, getting bored with a particular unit may never even be an issue.

But unit variety aside, there are some issues that cause concern in other areas. As my friends above have mentioned, graphics are not up to par with other 360 titles. Also, I hope that the game comes with alot more explanation and documentation than the clumst demo provided. Finally, I hope this little development house out of Hungary can provide enough story to make the single player mission feel like it wasn't an afterthought. If they can keep all of that together, they may manage to create one of the 360's best titles this year, if not one of the best RTSs to ever come out on a console.

Until the full game is released in a few days, we can't say for sure. But what we can say, is that we will be playing the demo over and over again until then, and then be first in line to pick up the full version.