And yet, there are still a few problems with the formula. Sure, many of the issues with Midway have been addressed - there is now a checkpointing system in place meaning no infuriating mission restarts and the difficulty spikes are much less noticeable - but there are still areas in which the game feels underdeveloped. The presentation for one is pretty underwhelming. Somehow Eidos Hungary has managed to make one of the most interesting theatres of World War Two seem quite dull, if the pre-mission briefings, videos and cutscenes are anything to go by. The latter especially, look awfully shoddy in places and, when combined with some of the worst voice acting we've heard in ages; mean that you'll tend to skip straight into the action. There needs to be more of a central narrative holding the game together, something to draw you personally into the atmosphere of battle. It's not enough to throw the occasional morsel of hammy dialogue into a battle followed by a grainy clip of a boat moving slowly - "Sir, are you sure this is the right idea," asks whiny subordinate. "Dammit man, it's the only chance we've got! Send that ship moving slowly towards the enemy" is a piece of dialogue that I've just made up but is probably in the game. As it stands, Pacific is just a series of skirmishes held together by post-mission voice-overs and short, pre-mission cutscenes.

There are also some issues with the mission structure. The game is clearly at its best when you're in a large-scale air and sea battle, with a lot to balance in order to succeed. And yet all too often, the game throws up a mission in which you're limited to a single squadron and given a task to complete. They're nowhere near as fun as the sprawling battles and don't really sit well with the rest of the game.

On a technical level, there's also the notion that Battlestations: Pacific doesn't feel as robust as it ought to. While the visuals have certainly improved since Midway, with much nicer water effects and plane cockpits adding some style to the game, it seems as if this may have come at the expense of performance. Find yourself in a busy, frenetic battle and you'll notice the framerate plunge on occasion. You'll also have to put up with some pretty hefty load times should you have to restart from a checkpoint or, even worse the beginning of a mission.

However, the majority of the game's problems centre around the single player game and when you take it online, these become much less significant. The multiplayer side of the game is pretty versatile and makes for some compelling online conflicts. While Escort, Siege and Duel modes offer up conventional defend, attack and deathmatch gameplay respectively, two new modes are the most impressive. Competitive sees players on the same team although working against each other to see who can amass the highest score through destroying enemy units. But, it's Island Capture which is the star of the show in Pacific. Players are divided into two teams of up to four players each and are tasked with capturing islands on the map. Each team has a point allocation which they must use to deploy the right kinds of units at the right time. The battles in Island Capture are fast, frenetic and, most of all, fun and it's great to come to the aid of your teammates when they're taking punishment. The game will even make up the numbers with bots if you can't find a full server.

Fans of Battlestations: Midway are undoubtedly going to enjoy Pacific. It has a better single player campaign, complete with checkpoints, it looks prettier, the multiplayer game is fantastically involving and yet the core gameplay remains intact. Battlestations is about offering the player the choice to combine strategy and action and it does that very well. However, there are still areas for improvement. For one, while the action controls are entirely functional, they're not particularly immersive and don't really match up well against dedicated action games. Coupled with the technical issues mentioned earlier, they occasionally make the game feel a little unresponsive although never to the point of tedium. If Eidos Hungary can get the game running a little smoother post-release, Battlestations Pacific will undoubtedly become a better game. As it stands, it is a compelling mixture of strategy and action, with a large (if not cohesive) single player game and an excellent multiplayer component.

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