Beach Invasion 1945 - Pacific is a First-Person Shooter slash Tower Defense developed and published by AIx2 Games. It serves as a follow-up to their previous title Beach Invasion 1944. The game was released on December 19, 2023 for Microsoft Windows via Steam.
As the name implies, the game is set during World War II's War in Asia and the Pacific. Unlike it's predecessor, which had only a single map and was set exclusively in France where the only playable faction was Nazi Germany, this game features two maps. The first is Iwo Jima in February 1945, with the Imperial Japanese Army serving as the playable faction defending against the invading US Marines. The second, meanwhile, is set in the Philippines in early 1942, with the United States Army Forces in the Far East defending against invading Imperial Japanese Army units. Major updates have added two additional maps as well as new weapon emplacements, with the Japanese getting Peleliu, and the Americans getting Attu, Alaska.
Much like the previous game, players are given different stationary weapon emplacements, various types of landmines, and the option to call in mortar fire against the invading faction's forces. Once again, to clear a wave, players must destroy a certain number of enemy units, with the required number becoming higher upon the subsequent wave. Being an Endless Game, the game will only end when all of the player's defenses are destroyed, resulting in a Defeat.
Beach Invasion 1945 - Pacific contains examples of:
- Anti-Air:
- The Japanese get the Type 96 25mm gun, which is designed to take down low-flying aircraft from short to medium range, as well as the Type 10 120mm Dual-Purpose Gun, which can take down aircraft flying from higher altitudes with a single, well-placed hit.
- The Americans get the M1 90mm gun, which functions identically to the Japanese Type 10 and the German Flak 88 in that it can take down aircraft as well as boats and land vehicles. A content update adds the US M45 Quadmount to the US arsenal, serving as the American counterpart to the Japanese Type 96 anti-aircraft gun.
- Anti-Armor:
- Both Japanese soldiers and US Marines will carry rocket launchers capable of damaging even heavily fortified emplacements.
- Armor-piercing rounds can go through even the most heavily armored enemy targets, destroying them in a few bursts.
- Anti-Infantry: Both the Americans and Japanese have access to machine guns and anti-personnel mines capable of denying entire sections of beach to enemy infantry units. Of particular note are the Type 99 Light Machine Gun and the Browning M1919, which can shred through enemy squads very quickly and have little to no recoil.
- Anti-Vehicle:
- The US M1 90mm gun, in addition to it's role as an Anti-Air gun, is capable of destroying Japanese light vehicles and tanks in a single hit.
- The Japanese Type 10 120mm gun functions identically to its American counterpart, capable of blasting even American tanks into smithereens with a single hit.
- Arrow Cam: Carrying over from the previous game, the camera will occasionally show the effects of a gun or cannon shot on any unfortunate enemy caught on the receiving end.
- Bottomless Magazines: The M1917, Type 92 heavy machine gun, and Type 96 anti-aircraft gun play this straight, having virtually limitless ammo when fired, only overheating when staying on the trigger for too long. Every other weapon, while needing to be reloaded, has virtually limitless ammo reserves instead.
- Death from Above:
- Artillery strikes return to this game as the Mortar Strike. While less powerful and in turn less capable of destroying armored vehicles, more shells are dropped onto the battlefield, making it deadlier against incoming enemy infantry and light vehicles.
- In terms of aircraft, the Americans have the B-24 Liberator and B-29 Superfortress, which drop High Explosive and Incendiary bombs, respectively. The Japanese, meanwhile, have the G4M Betty, which drops high explosives and can destroy American fortifications within a few sustained bombing runs.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Any vehicle, boat, aircraft, or flamethrower operator hit in the fuel tank, will explode upon getting destroyed or killed. Justified Trope, given that all of the aforementioned vehicles and infantry carry highly volatile ammunition and fuel, which can and will explode when ignited.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: Flamethrower troops and Flamethrower tanks make a return here, spewing flames from the hoses of their flamethrowers at any nearby emplacement.
- Flamethrower Backfire: Hitting the fuel tank of a flamethrower operator's weapon will cause the flamethrower they're carrying to explode, killing the operator and anyone unfortunate enough to be near the flames and explosion.
- Endless Game: Same as its predecessor, as the game will continue provided that even a single defensive emplacement is still up at the end of a wave. The game will only end when all emplacements are destroyed, resulting in a Defeat.
- Hold the Line: As the Japanese or Americans, your objective is to repel the other faction's invasion forces for as long as possible, with each subsequent wave becoming more and more difficult.
- Iwo Jima Pose: Losing to the US invasion on Iwo Jima will show a cutscene depicting the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi.
- Jungle Warfare: The Peleliu map, in stark contrast to the mostly barren island of Iwo Jima, is full of vegetation, making it somewhat harder to spot incoming invasion forces from inland.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Two new units in the game, the T34 Calliope and the rocket-armed LCVP, each carry mounted rocket launchers capable of heavily damaging fortified emplacements with a few hits.
- More Dakka: The Type 92, Type 99, M1917, and M1919, being the Japanese and American equivalents of the MG08 and MG42 from the previous game, are capable of delivering hundreds if not thousands of rounds on enemy infantry and light vehicles, and can potentially wipe out entire squads in a few bursts.
- No Campaign for the Wicked: Averted. The Japanese are fully playable alongside the Americans, with the former faction even being featured on both promotional material and the main menu.
- Red Alert: Air raid sirens will blare out when enemy bombers are flying overhead.
- Shout-Out: The Iwo Jima map is essentially one long reference to both Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, particularly the latter film. Most notably, the machine gun emplacements replicate those seen during the beach invasion scenes of both films, with the player able to perfectly reenact the US Marines getting fired on by Japanese pillboxes and artillery guns.
- Storming the Beaches: Much like the previous game, this one involves the player's respective faction defending against an enemy invasion force landing on the beaches. Unlike the previous game, you can play as both the Japanese as well as the Americans, fighting the other faction in the process.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Tanks, boats, light vehicles, armored vehicles, and aircraft will all explode upon getting destroyed.
- Tank Goodness: Both the US M4 Sherman and Japanese Type 97 Chi-Ha and their variants are part of their respective nation's invasion forces, and are very much capable of absolutely wrecking defensive emplacements with just a few shell, rocket, or machine gun hits.
- Winter Warfare: The Attu, Alaska map takes place in Aleutian Islands, where heavy snowstorms break out on occasion.
