Pacific Storm is a RTS game that combines a bit of action arcade that will sure to please fans of both genres.  Taking place in the pacific theater of WWII, the action found here are mostly sea and air battles.  Hence the tag line, “Sink them All!”  Players will encounter historically inspired units including bombers, battleships, aircraft carriers, fighters and other powerful units in the Pacific fleets.

Pacific Storm’s RTS side of the game is nicely done.  Just about every element found in this type of game is there.  Manage your resources and construct buildings and units then research technology to get that deciding edge on who will dominate the Pacific Seas.  If the RTS game is not enough, the developers added some action by allowing you to directly control many of the units.  Whether it is flying a kamikaze run, or sending lead into the air from an AA gun, you actually get to take part in the actual battle.  This provides a nice twist to the typical humdrum strategy game that will likely please most players. 

Units have many abilities like passive, defensive and aggressive tactics that can be assigned to individual or groups of units. With carriers you can also choose to auto land planes, so they do not run out of fuel and crash into the sea.  On the flip side you can also command the Japanese pilots on a one-way kamikaze trip so refueling is simply not an option.  You will build warehouses and other buildings to start production on your fleet. 

You can play from both the US and Japanese sides and even play some historical battles that may have a different outcome now that you are in command.  With so much to learn and so much to do, it really is hard to commit to directly controlling units in some games because the action is just too intense.  This is not a bad thing; I just did not want to paint the picture that this is also an action arcade game.  Just that it has a few elements that add a nice change of pace to a RTS game. 

Visually the game looks pretty clean.  The opening sequence is very impressive and one can tell a lot of talent went into those 3 minutes of animation.  The game itself is not quite as pretty, but holds its own.  The effects were decent at best, but as I stress in most RTS reviews, it’s about the finished product.  Yes, the graphics do it justice, but it’s no first person shooter despite the ability to control some units.

The game sounded great.  The musical score was ok, but I would have to say some of the sound effects were top notch.  Subtle differences in certain battles really added realism that you sometimes miss in strategy games.

I was disappointed that multiplayer over the Internet is not supported.  You can play on a LAN provided you can set up such a thing, but honestly most players like playing against someone on the other side of the world, not the office.  Don’t get me wrong - nothing against playing with a few friends, it is just more convenient playing from home at any given time rather than having to set up a LAN party. 

For a MSRP of about 30 bucks it is well worth it.  There is a lot to this game and with the ability to play both strategy and arcade styles of play, it will sure have an added shelf life despite not being able to play online.

Gameplay: 8
There are a ton of key commands to learn on the interface, but with some hours logged players will find that it really is quite simple to navigate.  The game is fast paced and can be toggled to slow down or speed up to ensure a speed that will fit all players.   I found that the game is pretty much bug free and played quite smooth on my PC.

Graphics: 8
For a RTS game I thought visually Pacific Storm is quite good considering that most titles in this genre fall a bit short.  Action players will find that the arcade style of play will be to their liking as well.

Sound: 8
Good sound effects and a great musical score.

Difficulty: Medium
Ability to toggle the difficulty settings to make this game as easy or as hard as you like.  I believe it has a bit of a learning curve, but nothing that should deter any hard core gamer from giving this RTS a try.

Concept: 7.5
There are a ton of WWII RTS games out there, but I did like the ability to toggle into an arcade style mode and actually directly control units in combat.

Multiplayer: 5

Only available on LAN.
 

Overall: 7.5
For a MSRP of 30 bucks I think it is a steal.  I would like to mention that there is no multiplayer capability online.  This will most likely be the most controversial down side of the game.