Carrier Command Reviews

[b][u]TL;DR:[/u][/b] Dated, sure, but a true classic. Recommended. [b][u]Full review[/u][/b] The premise is simple. You control a robotic carrier with four aircraft (aerial drones) and four assault vehicles (amphibious drones) and move from island to island to capture them and build up your resources. The AI opponent carrier is doing the same from the opposite corner. Straightforward, solid gameplay. The graphics are late 80s VGA. The sound is late 80s SoundBlaster. Are there more glamorous titles? Sure. But here's why I am recommending it... [b][u]Game design[/u][/b] [i]Carrier Command[/i] has amazing game design. It distils the essence of the game, and removes all the distractions. The number of units is enough to be a handful, but without being totally overwhelming. The complexity of the units is sufficient to give you options, but without wasting your time with excess baggage. The UI is simple and low-resolution, but it is eminently practical. Like chess, tetris and other classics, you don't need photo-realistic graphics to convey stunning gameplay. [b][u]Relevance[/u][/b] Commanding a robotic carrier with four aerial drones was 36 years ahead of its time. In December 2024, a Ukrainian naval drone carrier, carrying four aerial drones, attacked the illegally-occupied oil rig "islands" in the Black Sea (Refs: mil.in.ua 08-Dec-2024; navalnews.com 18-Dec-2024). If you want a remote drone carrier simulator, in an appropriate resolution, of a real war that is currently in-progress, the [i]Carrier Command[/i] is a good rendition. [b][u]Nostalgia[/u][/b] The third reason I'd recommend this is for the nostalgia. [i]Carrier Command[/i] harks back from an era where there we so few computer games and new titles we often ground-breaking in that the genre was completely unexplored. [i]Carrier Command[/i] was a pioneer, which has stood the test of time. If you are old enough to have played it back then, it is a great experience to go back and revisit it, to appreciate how ahead-of-its-time it was, but to also marvel at how far computer games have come since then. [b][u]Summary[/u][/b] [i]Carrier Command[/i] is a great game, that retains its playability over a third-of-a-century after it first came out. It is great that it is available again on a modern machine. Sure, it's a bit clunky and it shows its age. And, definitely, it is from an era where you need to read the manual (now supplied as a convenient PDF). However, it remains great, and it is certainly worth getting.

Wonderful game. Played it [i]'back in the day'[/i] on my Atari ST 512 /|\ Don't need any other gamed now I realise. All entertainment. No hard work. None. Maybe just this and Westwood Dune Battle for Arakis

Classic Carrier Command from the 80's. The newer Carrier Command games are better by today's standards but the original game is still good and worth checking out if you can get it on sale for under a fiver. The text is easier to read if you play at 4:3 ratio but there is a launcher with various display and scaling settings. I see some other reviews mentioning lack of option to lower mouse sensitivity but there is an in-game option to lower mouse sensitivity aside from the sensitivity setting on the launcher. I lowered it to .75 or .5 sensitivity.

Classic version and still as fun as it was back then. You need it in your collection if you played this back in the day. I made a simple guide to help you get the mouse cursor under control. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3345432391

A great version of the 1988 classic. For a 30+ year old strategy game to still play so well and be so intuitive is nothing short of incredible. It stands the test of time.

Finally the original game is there and it is running without problems on Windows 10. Only the mouse speed is a little bit fast, but it can be handled. I have fun like a child on the Amiga while playing this re-published game.

This is not just the classic they did it up and made it better! Way better! Carrier Command. Love the original and both sequels in spite of whatever short comings they have especially Gaea mission. Its come a long long long way! Microprose has outdone and outshone again. They've had some shortcomings in the past like with Gunship 2000 which thankfully they repaired and corrected so its now playable (BUY IT AND PLAY IT! IT WORKS NOW!!!) Hopefully they will do it with others like Mech engineer. I am looking forward to their newer games too. As well as remakes. They need to remake all their classics especially F-15 Strike Eagle, The first and second one, remake F19, Red storm, ETC. Another Pirates! Remake would be good. Anyway... RATING 10/10 Great job gang!

I to buy this when I saw it as I had fond memories of this game. Game plays exactly as you remember it, which is good although the controls are clunky by today's standards. Most of the command/icons are fairly intuitive and it doesn't take long to pick up how to play the game. There is also some varied strategy with how you can take over the islands. All in all it's still a great game. My only complaint would be the controls when using the map. It would have been nice for these to have been updated so you could left-click and drag the map and also use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.

Brings back good memories from my ZX Spextrum 48K days (yea, I'm old:)) They made it easier to control with the mouse. Even today, 90% of the games on the market with flashy graphics cannot come near this true classic. And it's great to see Microprose back alive. @matt: In the DosBox config file, there is a parameter: sensitivity. Set it to .3 and your mouse will be less jumpy.

1988 calling! This is the original game with some nice tweaks. Being able to set different graphics modes makes this old dos game come alive. The game itself is the same as it was back in 88. You control the carrier from a computer screen. You have aircraft and amphibious tanks as well as some offensive weapons. You need to take all the islands on the map, and try and take out the enemy carrier. There are enough weapons options for your vehicles to come up with different strategies. Yes, this doesn't have the 4k graphics from modern games, that is not the point. It is here to allow everyone to experience a game from 35 years ago on modern systems. Great blast from the past.