During the course of the game you will find some technological items that will help you build up your tech level. The carrier you find had been damaged and doesn’t contain everything that it could. So you have some systems that you can upgrade over time which will further your capabilities. 

You’ll need to keep an eye on things like fuel and supplies which could become a weak point in your strategy if you’re not careful. Fuel an limit your ability to move and you could get stranded out in open water and have to wait for the slow-moving supply barge to bring you fuel. The same goes with other supplies. A well-rounded and well-prepared strategy will be required to win the day.

Carrier Command’s Diverse Gameplay

The battles themselves are similar to standard real-time strategies and you can stay in the command chair and give orders to your units and just watch them attack, or you can jump into one and have some fun strafing enemies, etc. The command chair interface is similar to a pop up hologram screen that one might expect from standard sci-fi. This interface gives you a sense of being in command of the carrier and all of your units in a single place. You can even see the rest of the bridge behind it.

That, along with the ability to one-click and take control of single units will give a varied gameplay experience. For those that want a more strategic feel to the game’s battles, it’s easy enough to stay in the chair and watch the battle. For those that want a more hands on approach to it, you can quickly jump into units and get the FPS feel.

Carrier Command Multiplayer?

I was told that there will most likely be some sort of multiplayer in the game but that it will probably be more action-focused. Can you imagine having two ships cruising around a world of 32 islands? It would be likely that you don’t see the enemy for some time. From the sounds of it, I think they might limit it to single island combat and include multiple modes. They haven’t defined any modes or released any info on the multiplayer, it’s just my feelings from my meeting with them. I can definitely see capture-the-flag and domination (capture control points) working, as well as standard deathmatch. There might also be some sort of resource collecting mode if a single island were to be broken into zones with resources coming from each one. For example, if you capture a production facility you then get new units or supplies. The carrier has a limited number of units on it so that could definitely be implemented into a multiplayer mode to make things more interesting.

My overall feeling when I walked away from the studio was that Carrier Command: Gaea Mission is certain to be a winner with gamers. The diverse gameplay along with the reinvented world and strategy will certainly make the game worth checking into further. It certainly pays homage to the game that it is based on and will be, I believe, an excellent game. The amount of work that they have put into the detail on the units and the world is impressive and this game seems like it will do well on all points including replayability and multiplayer. Additionally, I could also envision a map editor being made available at some time to allow for the community to begin building new islands for the multiplayer matches. Again, this has not been confirmed by Bohemia Interactive and is just my thoughts on it.

The game is expected to be released later this year and is set to be released on the PC and consoles (most likely Xbox 360 and PS3). Check out the screens in the gallery to see just how cool the game is looking already.