The History Channel Battle for the Pacific

The History Channel Battle for the Pacific is a first-person shooter that takes players and transports them to the grueling fields of World War II battles. Whereas other World War II shooters often feature the European conflicts, Battle for the Pacific is true to its namesake and focuses on the Pacific theater of war. Entrenched in grimy infantry combat, you'll fight your way through monumental battles such as the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Battle of Leyte, and more. While it does its best to emulate the high-octane shooter competitors at the time, there's just too much disappointment with this potentially interesting look at one of humanity's most dire conflicts.

Main Game Features

• Relive historic World War II battles
• 10 single-player levels to gun through
• Wield period-accurate weaponry in online multiplayer

Story

The story of The Battle of the Pacific begins in December of 1942, as the United States port of Pearl Harbor is attacked by Japanese fighter planes, marking the entry of the USA into World War II. Playing as a lowly soldier fighting the good fight, you begin your tour of duty at Wake Island, frantically searching for radios to signal for help. Armed with a Thompson M1 machine gun, you must battle through the trenches before hopping on a mounted turret and unleashing hellfire. From this epic introduction, the game's story hops through several landmark battles, as your soldier must infiltrate enemy encampments, deliver messages, and more. Unfortunately, there's not much else beyond that, with very little character development or plot to speak of. The main focus of the game is to kill loads and loads of enemies, using the historic battlefields as narrative set-pieces rather than bothering to write a compelling story.

Gameplay

The core gameplay of Battle of the Pacific is very similar to war-based first-person shooters of the time, including the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises. The single-player campaign is spread across ten missions, covering approximately five focal conflicts. When you're not mowing down waves of woefully unintelligent AI foes, you'll need to complete simple objectives, such as rigging explosives and protecting important allies. Some explosive moments of action break up the repetition, including turret sections, beach ambushes, and more. However, there's just not enough originality in any of these sequences to make up for the generally boring stage design. While it's not a terrible game, it's just not very fun to play. For those who enjoy the campaign enough to return, there are three difficulty levels to raise the challenge.

With the brief campaign and less than satisfying story, there's a lot riding on the quality of the competitive multiplayer. While fun in short bursts, the traditional online gameplay battles grow equally repetitive as the campaign after a few short hours. There are five different multiplayer modes, ranging from free-for-all deathmatch and team elimination to the all-time classic, Capture the Flag. Both Japanese and American weapons can be used during combat, offering a small variety of guns to experiment with. Ranked and casual modes are also available, but unfortunately, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone playing online. Unless you have a group of at least six friends playing at the same time, you'll likely be unable to try out the multiplayer due to the low online population.

Conclusion

For fans of first-person games looking for a brief and simple war-based shooter, The History Channel Battle for the Pacific might be enough to satisfy. While it lacks the frills and stylish action of its competitors, it's still a completely playable game, offering a bit of stress relief to boot.

Pros

• Mindless action is fun at times
• Explosive mission objectives
• Multiplayer is passable with friends

Cons

• Main campaign is very short
• Levels are repetitive
• Very little storytelling