Fleet Command: Seize the seas

By Peter Eley

Jane's Fleet Command
****

Electronic Arts

PC

$99.95 (G+)

"Withdraw from the Persian Gulf. Be alert to hostile acts by elements of the Iranian military.

"Complete the mission by engaging and destroying all hostile Iranian platforms or safely exiting the Gulf with the carrier afloat."

That's a typical mission from Fleet Command, an op-centre strategy game that puts you in command of the world's major maritime powers.

This is a gritty, realistic combat sim, devoid of flashy explosions, physics-modelled vehicles and other eye candy.

Real-life large-scale naval combat is all about plotting coordinates on a computer screen and that's what you do in Fleet Command.

You deploy resources, issue commands and then wait to see if you've made the right decisions.

The screen interface is nicely set up. Most of the screen is taken up by a 2D map of the combat zone.

Below this is a map of the immediate combat area, a 3D screen for action sequences and a data display.

The 2D map and 3D screen can be toggled to get a better view during combat.

Fleet Command features 40 daunting single missions. All are possible scenarios from trouble spots around the world and seen from an American perspective.

Thankfully, none involves seeking out hostile anti-nuclear elements in New Zealand, although some seemingly harmless countries do come in for a fair bit of stick.

The game also has four global campaigns, which are particularly difficult and should be attempted by only skilled players.

Although Fleet Command has a lot going for it, the control system could have been friendlier.

It is important to understand that the game tries to recreate the operations centre of large naval campaigns - which is not a simple business.

But some of the controls do seem limited and this stops the game from getting its fifth star.

Required: Pentium 200, 32Mb Ram. A Pentium 11 300 with 64Mb Ram is recommended.

Eastern Front 11

****

Talonsoft

PC

$99.95 (G 8+)


Talonsoft's war simulations have a hard-core following of war-game fans who favour realism over frippery such as extravagant 3D effects, cut scenes and so on.

The recently-released Western Front had the sharpest graphics yet seen in the series and a much improved artificial intelligence.

Eastern Front builds on that, and adds new features such as new terrain, enhanced graphics and more scenarios. It follows Hitler's ill-fated attempts to invade Russia during the Second World War and includes many historical incidents.

Like Western Front, the game is played at platoon level, rather than on a grander scale, which makes it easier to track and control units.

Required: Pentium 133, 32Mb Ram.

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* All games are given a star rating of one to five