Battlestations: Pacific, the sequel to Battlestations: Midway, is no mere World War II simulator/strategy game. Though most WWII strategy games let you experience the second Great War from one perspective, be it a foot soldier, fighter pilot, or battleship commander, Pacific lets you lets you play from the perspective of everything from a ship captain to a flight commander to a gunner on land. But like many sim-everything games, Pacific suffers from unfocused and unrefined gameplay.

While Battlestations Midway puts you in the shoes of one US Naval Officer as he rises through the ranks, Battlestations: Pacific dispenses with any coherent storyline. Instead of an individual character, you play as the omnipresent commander. Your omnipresence allows you to take command of almost any game vessel, vehicle, craft or gun at almost any point in time in the game without excuse. Unlike its predecessor, Pacific doesn't confine you to commanding American forces only. For the first time, you will be able to command Japanese forces in a completely separate campaign from the American levels.

In the game's American 14 campaign levels, you lead U.S. forces from the Battle of Midway to the end of the Battle of Okinawa. In the Japanese 14 campaign levels, you can change history and lead Japanese forces to victory in fictionalized versions of battles like Midway and Okinawa. In each of the campaigns' levels, you can maneuver your troops from a command menu, or personally take control of fighter planes, bombers, aircraft carriers, submarines, battleships, or land-based gun rigs to get right in a mission's action. Even if you take control of a single craft, you still have to command all your side's forces in the mission--a major responsibility.

You can play each of the game's levels in Rookie, Regular, or Veteran mode. Before you enter a mission, you are treated to video and audio presentations of its objectives. Though levels are recreations of historical battles, they follow a familiar formula: most involve destroying enemy airbases, sinking enemy ships, or protecting craft from enemy attacks. While playing levels, you will often receive new level objectives through radio transmissions.

At the beginning of most missions, you will find yourself in direct command of either a naval vessel or aircraft in a squadron. Having direct command means that you have full control of a vessel/craft's steering and weapons. You can also control the actions of the squadron your vehicle is apart of, which means you can order other squadron members to line up, attack, and disband.