Battlestations: Midway Impressions/War Room

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:32 pm

Anybody pick this up today?

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:29 pm

JRod wrote:Anybody pick this up today?

Just walked in the door with it. My EB only got 2 copies.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:36 am

I am definitely interested in hearing impressions about this one.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:58 pm

I love it. The voice acting in the cutscenes is positively horrible, but that's not what this game is about anyway. The first three missions aren't extremely hard, and I was thinking I was going to blow right through them...then I hit mission four, and have been on it for two days, trying to figure out how to stay alive!

My internet has been down for the last few days, so I can't comment on online play yet, but if it's as good as the demo, I won't have any complaints. I think the graphics are even a little better in the full version than in the demo.

I'm itching to get some Live time in soon...anyone up for this evening?

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:39 pm

Yes, more impressions when you can, especially regarding the MP gameplay, which is where it's at for me as you all know. Gamefly could be sending this to me soon, if MP impressions are positive and there seems to be enough here to get some gamenights going with it.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:50 pm

Zeppo wrote:Yes, more impressions when you can, especially regarding the MP gameplay, which is where it's at for me as you all know. Gamefly could be sending this to me soon, if MP impressions are positive and there seems to be enough here to get some gamenights going with it.

I haven't played online yet. Just played some multiplayer missions to get a handle on the controls and to get a feel for the game.

So far, I am quite impressed with this game.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:51 pm

Now I'm just trying to guess the over/under on when BK fixes the signature that has been messed up since the quote was actually transcribed. LOL.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:55 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:Now I'm just trying to guess the over/under on when BK fixes the signature that has been messed up since the quote was actually transcribed. LOL.

It's become a tradmark for me. It's staying as is. Sort of like "teh suck"

Boltman · Post by **Boltman** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:03 pm

bkrich83 wrote:
dbdynsty25 wrote:Now I'm just trying to guess the over/under on when BK fixes the signature that has been messed up since the quote was actually transcribed. LOL.
It's become a tradmark for me. It's staying as is. Sort of like "teh suck"

LMAO!!

It is a full blown "Teh Suke" fest!

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:53 pm

Roll Call!

Who has the game? We need to get a sense of who so we can set up some online battles...Scoop and I played for an hour and a half last night online-it took and hour and a half for ONE game...but that's because neither of us knew what the hell we were doing. We kept going after each others' ships instead of blowing up each others shipyards, so we just kept sending more ships out. I finally started sending out waves of dive bombers to blast his airfield, and managed to get one of my battleships in range of them (scoop can blast the hell out of a ship-I lost 3 to his 1 at one time!), and almost had the game won, when he got kicked for some strange reason.

This game is going to be some fun when we start to get our 'sea legs' under us, and learn how to play it more...

So, if you have the game, come forth!

Sully · Post by **Sully** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:55 pm

I'm holding off until I hear some detailed impressions. This game intrigues me, but I can't shake the feeling that people won't be playing it in 3 weeks.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:23 pm

tealboy03 wrote:Roll Call!

Who has the game? We need to get a sense of who so we can set up some online battles...Scoop and I played for an hour and a half last night online-it took and hour and a half for ONE game...but that's because neither of us knew what the hell we were doing. We kept going after each others' ships instead of blowing up each others shipyards, so we just kept sending more ships out. I finally started sending out waves of dive bombers to blast his airfield, and managed to get one of my battleships in range of them (scoop can blast the hell out of a ship-I lost 3 to his 1 at one time!), and almost had the game won, when he got kicked for some strange reason.

This game is going to be some fun when we start to get our 'sea legs' under us, and learn how to play it more...

So, if you have the game, come forth!

I have it. I almost have a clue as to what I am doing.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:25 pm

I snagged it pre-owned (!) the other day, and color me impressed. I think the game has just the right balance of strategy, action, FPS and RTS. The single player game is fun, some of the missions are tough, and the tutorials are a must as there are a lot of little things you can do to make your job easier.

Last night I took it online for the first time, using the demo as my 2 friends don't have it yet. What a total blast. You get assigned a command, and thats what you'll have for the duration of the game. Seeing the strikes from my CV's heading off to bomb the Japanese airfields was awesome, as was watching them all circle around to land again for rearming. Make sure to get the strikes a fighter escort or they won't be coming home. I was doing well as the US with a friend, but his son was able to get a battleship out of his shipyard before I destroyed it, which ran down my 2 lone carriers (it was my teammates first time playing so I had no other surface support, as he was still trying to get the hang of formations and orders). I finally started pounding the BB with torpedo bombers, but too little too late as his big guns made quick work of my carriers. One of the splash screens said something about "giving" a unit to another player, but we couldn't figure out how to do it, and it's not mentioned in the manual or tutorials of the main game.

It's a very well done game, and with a full group of people it must be a total blast. You guys need to try the demo! We should set up a demo poker night sometime to help out guys who may be on the fence about grabbing it. As far as it going away in 3 weeks, well who can say. But the single player is strong enough to keep me going for a while, much more so than Chromehounds single player.

Oh, and who uses the graphics that make it look like old color film footage? I think it's awesome looking, flickering, scratch lines and all!

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:11 pm

Gurantsu wrote: You guys need to try the demo! We should set up a demo poker night sometime to help out guys who may be on the fence about grabbing it. As far as it going away in 3 weeks, well who can say. But the single player is strong enough to keep me going for a while, much more so than Chromehounds single player.

Oh, and who uses the graphics that make it look like old color film footage? I think it's awesome looking, flickering, scratch lines and all!

Good impression Gurantsu. I think you've got a good idea there. Download the demo, and we'll have a 'demo poker night'. Those of us who have the game can explain some of the things that the demo doesn't, and we can try 'er out that way. I'm up for that.

Sully, I don't think 3 weeks is even enough time to get into this game properly. This is one of the deepest games I've seen in a long time, and darn near the first of it's kind. The cool thing about this one is that you can have fun with a full room, or with just one on one, because in one on one, you've got the whole kit and kaboodle at your command, instead of just a carrier or a shipyard or an airfield.

G, I LOVE the Old Film filter. It looks like the old History Channel war footage...

nyisles16 · Post by **nyisles16** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:13 pm

teal.. i have the game as well... i really want to go online with the game.. i just loved the single player "sub" game, except i surfaced too early & sent down to Davey Jones' locker... I love how they made the ships handle - really tough to steer a Battleship..

Skerik · Post by **Skerik** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 11:13 am

Count me among the few who have this game. I went through the Naval Academy this weekend, but have yet to play the game in any other setting. I'm really digging the game so far though, so feel free to send me an invite as I'd like to give it a go online.

AcemanPR · Post by **AcemanPR** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 11:58 am

Skerik wrote:Count me among the few who have this game. I went through the Naval Academy this weekend, but have yet to play the game in any other setting. I'm really digging the game so far though, so feel free to send me an invite as I'd like to give it a go online.

Same here. Only have gone through the naval tutorial, but plan on spending most of my free gaming time with this gam this week.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:12 pm

I've got the game as well. Teal and I ended up playing a multiplayer match 1-on-1 that lasted for over an hour on Friday night.

I think this game would be pretty interesting with a full room. Each person would take control of either a shipyard or airport and be in charge of the squads for it. Teamwork, strategy, and communication would be essential IMO.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:35 pm

So, would most online matches take 90 minutes, or was that just a case of two idiots stumbling in the dark?

The game does pique my interest, though I know nothing of the actual mechanics of gamepley outside of the videos I've seen. I'd be very willing to have a DSP Demo night soon (tonight?) where each side can have one or two guys who have played the full version and thus gone through the tutorials who can help get us all going in the right direction.

It might be a great game, but if online matches routinely take over an hour, I don't see how this could become regular at all around here. I could be wrong, though.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:07 pm

After SC that night we ended up playing a match from 2:00 to 3:30 am. I'm pretty sure it was a case of not knowing what the hell we were doing. At least I know I didn't know what I was doing.

I was having fun taking one of my ships and taking down 3 of teal's at a time. The problem is I was supposed to be focusing more effort on attacking his airports and docks instead of blowing up ships. I don't think 90 minutes would be the norm.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:10 pm

One of the things I've read about the game that bothers me the most is that supposedly crashing your planes after delivering their payload is a very effective and often employed tactic. I guess you can only have a certain number of air units deployed at one time or something?

Anyway, folks have noticed that it seems to be much better to get a newly armed unit out there faster, rather than wait for the units to return and refuel/rearm.

Now, this would seem to me that it could be countered in a 'war of attrition' type strategy, but supposedly the missions set up in a way where such a strategy is mostly not effective. (force speed and power are more of a bonus than endurance)

Any thoughts on this?

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:11 pm

webdanzer wrote:One of the things I've read about the game that bothers me the most is that supposedly crashing your planes after delivering their payload is a very effective and often employed tactic. I guess you can only have a certain number of air units deployed at one time or something?

Anyway, folks have noticed that it seems to be much better to get a newly armed unit out there faster, rather than wait for the units to return and refuel/rearm.

Now, this would seem to me that it could be countered in a 'war of attrition' type strategy, but supposedly the missions set up in a way where such a strategy is mostly not effective. (force speed and power are more of a bonus than endurance)

Any thoughts on this?

I've never done that (on purpose, anyway), and it would cheese the hell out of me to have someone do that, but the bottom line is: in every online game, some jerkwad is going to exploit something to gain an advantage, even in the ones that say you can't do it.

I play my games like they're supposed to be played, even if I can see a way to 'cheese'. I just don't get the idea of being a little shithead cheater just for the sake of bragging rights you don't even have a right to have.

But I can see that it can probably be done. However, if we in DSP can agree to gentlemen's rules, I don't think it'll be a problem.

Oh, and Zepp...don't worry. I've had online matches only go 15 minutes before. The 'two idiot' scenario is mostly at fault for a 90 minute match. But even at that, we were both surprised that it had gone on that long...because it didn't seem like it...

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:02 pm

The average time for my online missions is 30-45 minutes. Some, like the one where it's planes only, last much shorter than that.

Regarding the plane crashing, there is a limit on the number of planes you have, so eventually you will run out, in one of my missions I ran out of torpedo bombers. The best tactic is for the defender to get a couple of squadrons of fighters up in CAP, they are VERY effective at wiping out bombers. Most of the time they negate the need for the attacker to have to crash the planes himself! In a battle that goes on for a long time (as it would if his bomers can't get through), the attrition will eventually bite them in the rear.

Tonight might be good for me, but it would have to be after 24 goes off, as my wife will be watching that.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:44 pm

I have it, haven't even cracked it open yet.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:50 pm

nyisles and I just did a one on one, and it took 1 hour and 9 minutes. I think that the mano a mano approach just takes longer. The 4 on 4 stuff is over more quickly, because you can strategize and specialize with one thing, rather than keeping tabs on everything.

I like one on one, though. I like having to watch what's going on on the entire battlefied. But I'm currently redownloading the demo, if anyone's interested in doing some MP later tonight...say, 9:30 or 10, CST? We'll divvy up the 'veterans' on each team, so that we can teach you landlubbers the ropes...