Battlestations: Midway has a steep learning curve and a tutorial nearly as long as a stint at Annapolis. That's because players of this combat simulator are armed with a fleet of World War II-era boats and aircraft, each with its own unique control schemes to master and systems to monitor. Every fighter, submarine, and battleship can be manually controlled, but the campaign in the Pacific theater can't be won behind the wheel of a single vessel. The game's strategic bent punishes hot-dogging and favors those who take the wide view, commanding squadrons rather than single fighters.
That doesn't mean there are no thrills to be found in this genre hybrid. A good tactician can jump from cockpit to cockpit just in time to dive-bomb an aircraft carrier, pull some Gs in a dogfight, or torpedo a destroyer. It takes patience and frequent referral to the game's manual to digest the myriad commands that armchair admirals can issue to their troops. The service's requirements are unforgiving, but ultimately rewarding—especially if you harbor a fetish for naval war machines.