As kids, we're told by our parents that too much of a good thing can ultimately be a bad thing. So if we follow that train of thought, too many beers can be bad – yer right! More importantly, can too many WWII games played during one's lifetime also be considered bad? Now, I don't know the exact number of WWII title's released in the past 10 years, but think of a sufficiently large number between 1 and 200 and you'd come fairly close. Right across the range of genres, we've played countless campaigns spanning most if not all of the major theatres of war, so the million dollar question is why should we even bother with a new one?

With that Destroyer incoming, this Sub's going down, way down.

What's makes this latest effort from Eidos' shiny new studio in Hungary worthy of players' attention is its combination of action and RTS playing styles, the very easy learning curve and the massive, yes, MASSIVE amounts of fun to be found online via the Xbox Live network.

Battlestations: Midway dumps players in the familiar surrounds of the Coral Sea. Those with even the faintest knowledge of this particular WWII theatre will immediately recognise the potential for huge carrier fleets and carrier battles, submarine hunts with Destroyers and long-range arty fights with Battleships. Yum. Starting off with the keynote attack on Pearl Harbour, you assume the role of the navy's latest recruit, Henry Walker, as he faces impossible odds against a merciless enemy. It all sounds very dramatic, with the cut-scenes adding cinematic undertones to the gameplay, but thankfully most of the drama is reserved for the high seas using a variety of decent looking vessels, submarines and aircraft in some very large scale fights.

Getting into the action seems easy enough, but players should be aware that rather than settling down into a comfortable flow of decent campaigns, you'll be yawning from the dull nature of the first few missions (effectively training missions themselves). Fortunately before the permanent facial cramps set in, the sun quickly rises over the virtual blue sea and you're faced with 10 torpedoes coming in at all angles surrounded by dive bombers, impossibly huge battleships bouncing car-sized shells off your shiny hull from a distance and of course, the odd submarine or two.

That's the point where some previously ignored tutorials seem like an attractive proposition. I usually recoil at the mere thought of those blasted tutorials, but in this case after seeing my scarred beauty of a battleship slowly settling underneath the waves time and time again, my choices were slim. Choking back tears and almost a lifetime later, I emerge from the Navel Academy ready to take on the Japs with a more cautious approach.

A scenic fly-by. Just mind the bullets.

There are two ways to play this game – trusting the AI to adequately perform commands issued via an easy to use command menu or manually taking control over the units at every critical moment. From experience, taking the first option is incredibly less painful, as the better than expected AI carried out multiple orders to the letter, with far more accuracy than you could ever achieve. No mater how good you think you are, you won't ever be as accurate as the AI, particularly when it comes to firing. Yes, swallow that pride and trust in the AI. That's not to say the player become irrelevant. Success of any sort requires players to drop their guard, handing over movement, torpedo avoidance and firing responsibilities over to the AI for other major concerns such as damage control, flight deck management of carriers, replacing of destroyed units and of course, actually trying to fulfil the mission criteria. Still, itchy fingers prevailed over reason more than a few times. Having to sit and watch the AI very carefully line up a squadron for a torpedo run can be infuriating and the brilliant aspect of this game is that you can take over control of every AI unit with instant effect. Of course, the result wasn't always as good as I'd hoped, but at least I could say I trashed half my battlegroup way better than the damn AI ever could.

With each new campaign, the complexity levels increase to the point where trying to manage every unit becomes futile, usually resulting in many sinkings of ships and downings of planes. In fact, certain campaigns end up being played entirely via the map screen, where movement of units, attack orders and the mustering of defence can be achieved very easily and with a high degree of accuracy. Map information is all real-time which prevents the need to keep swapping between screens. With the capability to quickly zoom in and focus on particular battles, or zoom out to take stock of the entire situation, using the map frequently becomes the only way to win. You almost have to force yourself to exit the map and enter the game proper to check on what the AI is doing

If bombs don't sink this baby, the rust will.

One problem: the game's pathetically short single player campaign. The lack of single player content, with only 11 missions (not taking into account the depressingly long tutorials) and much more surprisingly, no Japanese campaign whatsoever, takes the shine away from the games' polished performance. Value for money? As it stands right now, I don't think so. But however contrived this may sound, Battlestations: Midway rises from its watery grave and gets redeemed by its spectacularly fun online action. Effectively it's the saving grace of the game.

With nine maps, a maximum of 8 players per map, the option of ranked or player matched games and a choice of either the Americans or Japanese (which slightly takes away the sting of the non-existent single player campaign), players choose from a list of unit types before settling in for some quick carnage. There's only the one online mode, but that's balanced by superb team action sequences that oftentimes had me laughing in victory and grumbling with defeat. As it is with Xbox Live, it's pot luck getting a solid enough group, but when achieved is especially enjoyable. If seeing a broad sweep of torpedoes bearing down on the starboard side (right side for you dirty landlubbers), then an agonising wait until you turn to flank in time to see all of them rush past with inches to spare gets you excited, this is for you. If trying to run the gauntlet of numerous small Patrol boats and their torpedoes, sacrificing two of your smaller destroyers to those pesky dive bombers while trying to shoot them down AND keeping on top on the water slowly filling your battleship *breathe* while valiantly trying to make it to the objective point, then this is defiantly the game for you.

Brush away the negatives such as the short campaign and you'll find an online gem worthy of addition to your burgeoning collection of WWII titles. It's not the existing content which underperforms, it's what's missing that taints the game. It's incredibly fun off and online and with the promise of future downloadable content with hopefully more single player missions and online maps, it can only get better.