Pacific WW2 games

[Robert Sharp]

OK, I know there are umpteen thousand WW2 FPS games. But I want one specifically for the Pacific Theatre. I remember that MoH did one, but it wasn't well received, IIRC. I want to reenact Guadalcanal and the island hopping and such. Anything out there for that?

Also, I have IL-2, but my Sidewinder (Precision Pro) won't plug into my PC anymore. Should I get an adapter or a new Joystick?

[unbongwah]

Apart from MoH Pacific Assault (PC) and MoH Rising Sun (console) - PA is decent, RS is not - there was the recent Battlestations Midway and Heroes of the Pacific. Drifting back there was the Deadly Dozen: Pacific Theater game.

[scharmers]

MoH:PA was terrible. Suffered from a terrible spawning system.

[tromik]

Vietcong isn't 2ndWW or pacific theatre, but it's close, and it's awesome.

[Robert Sharp]

I have Heroes of the Pacific, but I really want it to be ground combat. I remember Battlefield did some Pacific stuff...but that's not quite what I want. I'm looking for single player. Console is fine, however.

I'll look into Vietcong.

[BobJustBob]

I have Heroes of the Pacific, but I really want it to be ground combat. I remember Battlefield did some Pacific stuff...but that's not quite what I want. I'm looking for single player. Console is fine, however.

I'll look into Vietcong.

There's a Big Lots in Huntsville, right? I saw Vietcong at the Big Lots here in Florence about a month ago for $4.

[jpinard]

What about air or sea combat? Silent Hunter 4 is fantastic, and so is Pacific Fighters (which you can get bundled with the whole IL-2 franchise for cheap nowadays).

[Shadari]

What about air or sea combat?
How about both (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-Sea_Battle)?

[Robert Sharp]

There's a Big Lots in Huntsville, right? I saw Vietcong at the Big Lots here in Florence about a month ago for $4.

Thanks, but I have Gametap.

I didn't realize Vietcong was that old...anyway, I'm downloading it now.

[Robert Sharp]

How about both (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-Sea_Battle)?

I already beat that game, Shadari...thanks. Or at least I beat my brother at it....in 1980-something.

[Brendan]

Get an adapter for the Sidewinder. It's hard to find a joystick as good as those old MS ones.

[mutt]

Vietcong isn't 2ndWW or pacific theatre, but it's close, and it's awesome.
It is awesome, but it isn't close at all. About the only things you might point at to equate the two--jungles and slanty-eyed foes--aren't in reality comparable. The tightly-knotted jungles of Southeast Asia are a far cry from the jungle found on the small islands of the Pacific. Most of the "jungle" on those islands consists entirely of tall palm trees, and some barely have that (Iwo Jima, for instance). Moreover, the guerilla fighting of the Vietcong bears no resemblance whatsoever to the coordinated, disciplined warfare of the Japanese Army. Even the JA's less coordinated desperation maneuvers--Banzai charges and kamikaze attacks--have no analog in the VC or the NVA.

If you really have a jones for Pacific Theater warfare, Robert, Vietcong ain't gonna come close to scratching it. It is, however, far and away the best Vietnam War game ever made, so enjoy it for that.

[Robert Sharp]

Oh, I realize it won't work for what I want, but it's still a nice recommendation, so I apprecite it.

BTW, many of those islands, especially in Guadalcanal DID have very dense jungle. In fact, both sides suffered because of it, not just because of the difficulty of traveling through it, but also the diseases associated with it. It significantly slowed the Japanese land-based advances on Henderson Field, for example.

I only know that because I was reading about it yesterday, which is what inspired me to want to play a game in that setting.

[mutt]

Guadalcanal featured dense jungle, that's true. I didn't mean that there was no jungle whatsoever in the vast expanse of islands that populate the Pacific. But Guadalcanal was only one of many that made up the "Island Hopping Campaign," and a good share if not most of those don't have that stereotypical dense jungle topology. The Gilbert islands, the Marshalls, and the Marianas, for instance, are all coral atolls--little sandy mounds rising just a few feet out of the water, like sugar cookies partly submerged in milk, with lots of low vegetation, high, limbless trees, and nothing in between.

The jungles of Southeast Asia, by contrast, are vegetation from head to toe. You often can't see the sky when you're standing in them, nor more than a few feet in any direction. They're like the jungles of New Guinea, which Guadalcanal is also like, being relatively close to it. So yeah, if by "Island Hopping Campaign," you mean "the Solomon Islands campaign," then Vietcong's jungles could be considered an acceptable substitute. But not if you really meant the whole enchilada.

[ElGuapo]

Wait, Wait. Is Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault the one where there are some POWs about to be executed by an officer with a sword and you have to swoop down and kill him and all the guards? That one was pretty fun co-op.

[tromik]

It is awesome, but it isn't close at all. About the only things you might point at to equate the two--jungles and slanty-eyed foes--aren't in reality comparable. The tightly-knotted jungles of Southeast Asia are a far cry from the jungle found on the small islands of the Pacific. Most of the "jungle" on those islands consists entirely of tall palm trees, and some barely have that (Iwo Jima, for instance). Moreover, the guerilla fighting of the Vietcong bears no resemblance whatsoever to the coordinated, disciplined warfare of the Japanese Army. Even the JA's less coordinated desperation maneuvers--Banzai charges and kamikaze attacks--have no analog in the VC or the NVA.

If you really have a jones for Pacific Theater warfare, Robert, Vietcong ain't gonna come close to scratching it. It is, however, far and away the best Vietnam War game ever made, so enjoy it for that.
Okay, so maybe it's botvery close to a 2ndWW pacfic theatre shooter, but it's still the best 2ndWW pacfic theatre shooter.

[Alan Au]

Hidden and Dangerous 2 has a couple of missions set in the Burmese jungle, but you have to work your way through Norway and Africa first.

- Alan

[Robert Sharp]

I don't understand why this game hasn't been done properly yet. There are millions of European Theatre games.

Also, where are the great WW1 games? Where you hang out in a trench for hours and get trench foot and such?

Or Korea games?

[mutt]

I don't understand why this game hasn't been done properly yet. There are millions of European Theatre games.
Because few people know or understand the Pacific Theater, while everyone knows the Nazi story. People just haven't been brought up to despise the Japanese in the way they have Germans, even though the Germans never attacked us (unprovoked) nor treated us anywhere near as savagely as the Japanese did.

Moreover, the Pacific Theater consisted almost entirely of amphibious assaults against fortified positions. It was D-Day times ten in terms of the slaughter early on, which makes for about one great set piece in a game, but would probably sink one that relied on them entirely. Gaudalcanal was an exception in terms of the WWI-style protracted fighting that occurred there.

Also, where are the great WW1 games? Where you hang out in a trench for hours and get trench foot and such?
Iron Storm was a pretty decent Alternate History WWI game at the time it came out. I don't know how patient people would be with its quirks these days. No trench foot, though.

Or Korea games?
Like WWI, Korea probably wouldn't make for a very good game. It's not the dashing, Good Guys Win kind of story that WWII is.

[tromik]

Iron Storm was a pretty decent Alternate History WWI game at the time it came out. I don't know how patient people would be with its quirks these days. No trench foot, though.
Wasn't Iron Storm a WWII game where WWI hadn't really ended? It looked cool at the time.

Like WWI, Korea probably wouldn't make for a very good game. It's not the dashing, Good Guys Win kind of story that WWII is.
A Korean War game could be awesome if it starred Kevin's dad Dan Lauria in character.

[Rod Humble]

I am surprised there hasn't been a Burma WW2 action game given the massive scope of the theater and the huge amount of UK game development output.

I wonder if there is a China based WW2 shooter out there covering that countries WW2 experience given how huge it was and its growing games business?

[mutt]

Wasn't Iron Storm a WWII game where WWI hadn't really ended? It looked cool at the time.
Well, sorta. It takes place in 1964, but the idea is that WWI never ended, so the technology and style of warfare are kind of hit and miss. There's a fair amount of trench fighting, even if it's not completely accurate from a purist's point of view.

[Robert Sharp]

Burma would be interesting, Rod. Surely there's a Flying Tigers game out there, at least?

[eliandi]

I just bought a bundle-pack with BF1942 with Road2Rome expansion, BF:Vietnam including a WWII full-game mod, and MOH Allied Assault and Pacific Assault all for $20 at Best Buy. I was also having a bit of WWII hankering, and I had skipped all these games upon release. Good cheap fun