The original Carrier Command was fantastic. Among other things, it taught me the meaning of the word ‘archipelago’. Now that Bohemia’s revival of the island-hopping action-strategy sim is approaching, a small part of me is terrified that they might somehow mess things up by adding a wisecracking anthropomorphic dog or a bit where you conquer a neutral island using a Pipemania-style hacking mini-game. To the contrary: everything they’ve shown us so far is a pitch-perfect recreation of my admittedly hazy memory of what Carrier Command is, and this eleven minute long chunk of game footage is proof that Bohemia have even fonder (and likely sharper) memories of the 80s classic than I do.
Bohemia have even got the correct island names, as well as the time accelerated voyages between them, and that beautiful strategic map of the entire archipelago. Can’t say I’m convinced by the first-person on-foot sections though, with its enemies loitering uselessly in giant corridors, but have a look and see what you make of it. Carrier Command: Gaea Mission, as it is named, features two modes: one a plot-driven set-piece riddled campaign, the other a full-blown strategy sandbox, customisable to the point where a single game can last for months. I’ll be playing the latter, as it’s far less likely to star a wisecracking anything.