Have you ever enjoyed learning about World War II in school or watching the movie Pearl Harbor? I know I did and doing so inspired me to try the sequel World War II video game to Battle Stations Midway. The sequel game to Battle Stations Pacific. Naval video games became one of my favorites to play after trying out Battle Stations Midway and Battle Stations Pacific. Battle Stations Pacific is the sequel to Battle Stations Midway.

You experience World War II through two epic sagas where you will be a part of history or change it. Feel the power of the historically authentic and decisive battles of the Pacific War. You relive some of the grandest and most critical naval battles of recent history, and for the first time, you get to choose which side you want to fight against and lead your fleet to a different end of the war. You will need good intelligence skills and expertise to plan your moves and attacks against your enemy and constantly remain one step ahead of your enemy. With both strategy and action at your command, you will truly be able to anticipate your opponent’s every move and turn the tide of the war.

Since this game was created from the Pacific War of World War II it has both an American campaign and a Japanese campaign. Both campaigns have a total of 14 missions that you can play on one of three different difficulties, Rookie, Regular and Veteran. Playing on Rookie make each mission a breeze, playing on regular make the duration of each mission easy but gets a little harder as you continue through the missions. Veteran difficult will put your ship combat, aerial combat, submarine, bomber and torpedo skills to test and push you to the maximum level.

After beating both campaigns, I’m still suited for the regular difficulty. The day I try one of the campaigns on the veteran difficulty is the day I’m able to sink the trio of Japanese battleships on veteran in the Battle of Santa Cruz mission of the American campaign. Overall, both campaigns are fun to play.

Going into the missions of each campaign, I do have some favorites, and I will describe them all. In the Japanese Campaign my favorite missions are one, two, four, seven, and fourteen. Of course the objectives of these missions are the reason why they’re my favorite missions. In mission one, the Attack on Pearl Harbor you start off with bombing and torpedoing some of the anchored battleships, then destroy all the fighters on the ground and finally repel a squadron of five P-40 WarHawks. Mission two Destruction of Force Z is a bombing run on a British task force and your goal is to sink the two battle ships, then you have escort a group Japanese Nell bombers for a torpedo run on a third British battleship while defending the bombers against more than a few squadrons of U.S Buffalo fighters. Mission seven the Invasion of Midway, your task is to lead a Japanese attack fleet in an attack against a U.S naval base on the Island of Midway. Your fleet will consist of two aircraft carriers being protected by a destroyer, a cruiser, and a battleship.

Before your fleet can begin its bombardment and launch your bomber squadrons, you must first get eight fighter squadrons in air as soon as the mission begins because as your fleet approaches the island flying fortress, bombers along with fighter escorts are launched from the island to destroy your fleet and divide up your eight fighter squadrons. To slow down the bombers and the fighters, once your fleet is safe, you can then land your fighters back on the carriers and then begin your bombardments on the island.

Once you’ve destroy the base, you then face off against two American carriers and their escorts. Finally, mission 14 Invasion of Hawaii is the last mission of the Japanese campaign. You see land fall, but your task is to destroy the American blockade that surrounds the entrance to Hawaii, the Island where it all started. You lead the largest Japanese attack fleet in this mission with two carriers protected by destroyers and cruisers and you get to take command of the strongest battleship in the Japanese Navy, The Yamato. In this missions you’ll be up against everything the U.S navy has at their disposal to stop you from taking Hawaii, and by everything I mean remaining battleships, cruisers, destroyers, fortress bombers, dive bombers, torpedo bombers and fighters. If you can push through the blockade guarding Hawaii, then Japan will be victorious.

As for the American Campaign, my favorite missions are three, four, nine, 13 and 14. Mission three is the Battle of Santa Cru. You begin with minimum control over the USS Enterprise, while being escorted by three Clemson class destroyers. Your objective is two sink two Japanese carriers and of course you’ll fight against Japanese fighters, aerial bombers and torpedo bombers.

After sinking the first carrier the battleship South Dakota, its task force arrives to reinforce you and then a trio of enemy battleships arrive and you have the option of facing off against them or searching for the second carrier, but your carrier will turn around to put some distance between it and the battleships. The best way I see fit for destroying the battleship trio is using the battleship South Dakota, a couple of your destroyers and a cruiser or two to slow them down and finish them with your dive and torpedo bombers.

There’s a chance you’ll either loss all the ships you send against those three ships and your fighters supply will drop dramatically or if you play your cards rights, some of your ships will survive and will continue to protect the enterprise and you’ll still have enough planes to destroy the second carrier. Mission four the Defense of Henderson Field. Your task is to keep Japanese force from retaking Henderson field at all costs, meaning you’re going to be facing off against fights, Gyoraiteis (Japanese PT boats), and bombers. You also have to protect a convoy transport ships carrying supplies for your base on Henderson Field. Your forces in this mission will mostly be fighters and PT boats.

Mission nine Divine Winds of Leyte is an attack on a Japanese airbase and several AA gun emplacements in the Leyte Gulf. Before your attack on the airbase, you encounter a new threat. The threat is kamikaze planes. In other words, any navy planes like fighters, dive bombers and torpedo bombers filled with explosive that crash into you setting off the explosives and severely damaging your ships. Your first task is to hold off the kamikaze planes, until you reach naval base and then bomb it, then launch a squadron of fighter to destroy the AA guns on the island, and finally face off against the battleship Musashi with your Avenger torpedo bombers.

Mission 13, Invading Iwo Jima, your mission is a massive bombing run on a naval base in Iwo Jima, you begin in the gunner seat of a bomber. The bombers used in this mission are the Flying Fortresses B-17’s and B-29’s. As you near the base you become under attack by many Japanese fighter squadrons, and you have to defends as many bombers as you can before your fighters arrive to assist, which is easy, but there’s an objective for defending the bombers that is harder to achieve. You can switch between the bombers and fighters to hold back the enemy planes. Once that’s completed, BOMBS AWAY, severely damaging the base. Then comes the next part of the mission which is the landing, your next task in the mission is to defend the fleet of landing ships by launching waves of landing boats from any enemy fighters.

Finally, Mission 14 the Battle of Okinawa is the final mission of this campaign. The mission is to capture three bases on the island of Okinawa. For this mission, you have a massive force at your disposal. Two fleets to be exact. The chance of beating this mission if you were to play it on the Veteran difficulty would be to combine both your fleets into a single massive fleet, that way, you’ll have a better chance of surviving air attacks and ship attacks. A major part of this mission is a certain battleship that appears about half way through the mission. In hopes of forcing the U.S. forces into a retreat, the Japanese send in their strong vessel, the battleship Yamato. The crew of the Yamato tries to run the ship into the beach so it will become an unsinkable ship, but it won’t make it indestructible. You can sink it before it reaches land or destroy it when reaches land. In order to take the bases, the island’s guns must be destroyed in order for you to move your landing ships into position for landing assault. Once you’ve taken the bases the mission is over and the U.S is victorious.

This game has a lot of to offer in the ships and fighters you can use in the missions. Honestly the ships I like to control the most are definitely the battleships, cruisers, and carriers. As for the fighters, I like them all because it’s good to have a variety to choose from especially since each mission that involves air attacks has list of recommended planes to choose from.

What makes this game unique are the two campaigns because not many games have more than one campaign to play and this is one of them. If you still have an Xbox 360 stored in your home somewhere, then pull it out, set it up, buy this game, choose the side you wish to fight for first.

Take control of the skies and sea, and lead your forces to victory in the Pacific. The end of the Pacific War in World War II rests in your hands.