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Let's start off with this statement: Pacific Storm is not your average real-time strategy game. It combines a grand-strategy element with RTS gameplay, and even brings in arcade flying and gunning. The game takes place in the Pacific during WWII, and pits Japan against the United States. Pacific Storm is a game where you can produce a unit, send it to the frontlines, and then actually command it. Even though plagued by some problems, Pacific Storm still delivers fun and entertainment.
So what do I mean by the above paragraph? In the campaign, the player starts off with a giant map of the Pacific Ocean. Players control base management, production, transport, and of course, combat. You are able to produce historical units, and even mod them to your standards by changing armaments, electronics, and other components. You can also research a large amount of technologies which allow production of new components, aircraft, and experimental missiles and bombs. Many bases are stretched across the Pacific, and each can be fortified with different buildings. When entering combat, Pacific Storm plays much like any other RTS. You control a number of ships and aircraft, and by a number, I mean up to several dozen ships and over a hundred aircraft, which leaves battles pretty crowded. Players can jump in to any of their aircraft at any time, which fly in an arcade style. There is also the ability to man anti-aircraft guns on ships, although it has very little effectiveness. Manual control of ship steering and main guns is unavailable, so you just have to watch ships fight it out. Visuals in combat are nice, but underwhelming.
There are a number of gametypes to select from. There is a battle planner (like instant action, where you select the units played and are), several single missions, a historical campaign and a free campaign. The single missions portray single actions in the Pacific War, like Pearl Harbor, Leyte Gulf, and the interception of Admiral Yamamoto. The historical campaigns start off with each side having a "historical" amount of aircraft and ships. However, it is far from accurate in terms of ships, with the U.S. having over a dozen aircraft carriers. The free campaign has each side start about equal, and players must take bases all over the Pacific and build them up themselves. There is a multiplayer option, but I have never seen anyone on it. Still, there are enough different ways to play to keep oneself from becoming bored.
Pacific Storm is almost an ideal game, incorporating different levels of gameplay into one package. However, many bugs and problems allow it to fall short. It was developed by the Russian Lesta Studio, and the language barrier shows in grammatical errors through its many text boxes. It is very complex, but lacks thorough tutorials. The AI is sorely lacking, and will leave players wondering at its bizarre actions. Players have to be excellent micromanagers to make the most of its grand strategy element. For example, to use a guided missile, one must research the appropriate technologies, build the missile, load it onto a transport, send it to a forward base, unload it, load it onto an aircraft, and finally send the airgroup to the enemy base. It is also nearly impossible to find and engage enemy fleets outside of their bases. Finally, the game crashed randomly and often, but patches have fixed this for the most part.
Even though it has its problems, Pacific Storm is far from unplayable. If you can put up with micromanagement, average graphics, and unrealistic flying, it is a great game. There are many different ways to play, and the ability to control hundreds of ships and planes is awesome. Pacific Storm's gameplay is very customizable to fit your style of play. An expansion, Pacific Storm: Allies, is also available which brings a third nation, Great Britain, into play, along with diplomacy and more units. If you have the patience required, Pacific Storm is a unique and fun game.
Scott is a student and avid strategy gamer. Please support him by visiting his blog http://greatstrategygames.blogspot.com/ for more reviews, info, and screenshots.
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