Carrier Command: Gaea Mission review

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Verdict:

An ambitious but sadly flawed update of a classic

Review Date: 31 Oct 2012

Price when reviewed: £32

Supplier: http://www.steampowered.com

Reviewed By: Chris Finnamore

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Carrier Command was one of the most ambitious games of the 1980’s so it’s only fitting a 2012 remake should aim equally high. Carrier Command: Gaea Mission puts you in command of the same huge aircraft carrier equipped with assault craft, defensive lasers and cruise missiles, and developers Bohemia Interactive have really kicked things up a notch from the original, but not always for the better.

Things don’t start well, dumping you onto an island resembling a sub-par Halo clone after an astonishingly cheesy intro sequence and some embarrassing voice acting. The clunky first-person shooter mechanics and a main character who appears to be voiced by Jason Statham's exponentially less-talented cousin feel worlds apart from the beloved original, but stick with it and after the bizzare first 20 minutes you steal a Walrus amphibious tank and drive out to your very own aircraft carrier, recently looted from the enemy.

Your very own aircraft carrier, to do with as you wish

The carrier is in a terrible state of repair and half the systems are offline, but this serves as a useful introduction to what is actually a highly complicated game. As you move forward and take the first few islands in the campaign, systems come back on line and you're taken through how to use them against the enemy. By the time you reach your true target, you have a fully-functional carrier and a tough and entrenched enemy to deal with.

The graphics have been updated slightly from the original

As with the original, Carrier Command is a blend of flight and tank simulators, strategy, and resource management. Your basic aim is to kick the enemy off a succession of islands, either by hacking the command centre so the island comes under your control, or by destroying it and remaking the island in your image. There are three types of island; resource, production and defence, and you need to have enough of all three to keep your carrier supplied and fuelled, and to defend against the enemy making incursions into your territory.

The carrier's devastating prow-mounted plasma cannon