Game Review
This month Game review has a new temporary contributor Marine from GFX. News wants to express our thanks to him for helping.
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NEWS
Carrier Deck
-Marine [GFX DO]
Carrier Deck is a very addicting and fun game.
Built around the premise of controlling the flight deck of an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, this title is an engaging and extremely hectic simulator that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
With no plot to speak of, Carrier Deck puts the player in the boots of a flight officer stationed on the CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan, tasked with overseeing the launch, landing, and preparation of all aircrafts in the ship. Quickly and efficiently coordinating the various vehicles on the carrier is the sole way to victory, as you must plan and execute military sorties while dealing with constant cargo deliveries and incoming traffic. It is a fast-paced title, requiring split-second decision-making and constant strategical planning to succeed.
As a military warship in hostile waters, the Ronald Reagan is under constant threat of military interception. The carrier’s sensors have a limited range that allows little time for maneuvering, requiring patrol flights in order to gather intel on enemy movements. Recon missions act as an early warning system, detecting enemy contacts much farther away and giving you more time to scramble an intercept. It’s an interesting system that constantly juggles reaction time with logistical planning; making sure orders are planned in advance and executed properly in order to ensure the constant survival of the ship.
Due to the large amount of traffic in the area -- both hostile and friendly -- the key to success is to always think two steps ahead. Planes and helicopters need to be refueled, repaired, and sent on missions, and once their patrol is over, they need to land. Failing to clear the flight deck or the runway can cause collisions and accidents, destroying aircrafts and damaging the carrier in the process. Enemies that get past the net also damage the carrier, creating an atmosphere of constant awareness -- the damage caused to the carrier is fairly balanced and it takes a few hits for it to sink, but a 5-star rating requires the ship’s health to be intact.
Carrier Deck has outstanding graphics. All vehicles and personnel have proper 3D models that move around, and missions take place in different times of day, creating nice variations of gameplay scenarios. There are several camera action buttons to see take-offs, landings and a free look view as well where you can zoom in and rotate to various angles to view the action.
Now some minor issues that to me do not overly affect gameplay. Technically, the title could use a another QA pass. The music is maddening, featuring literally one single “hard rock” track for the entirety of the game. I think the soundtrack from Top Gun would have been a great choice.
The game is in dire need of a slowdown button, or at the very least, a difficulty setting; while I completed Carrier Deck's campaign and dabbled in its skirmish and survival modes, the difficulty spikes are untenable -- in order to reach a wider player base, the game needs to be a bit less demanding and provide more time-management options. A happy medium so to speak.
Aircraft bump into each other and furiously revert back to their previous positions instead of finding a way around or smartly giving priority, meaning you often order two aircraft somewhere at the same time and come back 10 seconds later to find them both in their original positions. The hangar deck is especially vexing, and I often needed to babysit the crafts into the elevators, or risk finding half of them back in their berths.
Aircraft selection is also slightly iffy at times, especially when they overlap in the helipad section of the aircraft carrier. It was a bit hard to use one of the helipads and the launching strip at the same time, effectively denying use of one of them at all times. While that may have been the intention, I often could use both by a stroke of luck if an airplane was already stationed in the strip; while they clearly clipped into each other, there were no adverse effects. That bottom area needs a slight revisiting to make the design useful. The issues though in no way interfere with the fun, but will be addressed in a patch down the line.
In the end, Carrier Deck is a very fun and solid effort. Its few flaws are fixable and don’t overwhelm the good aspects of the title. Offering a unique premise and execution and featuring a surprisingly deep yet simple gameplay, Carrier Deck is a definite recommendation. Available on Steam, Martix Games and EverySingleSoldier.com
Built around the premise of controlling the flight deck of an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, this title is an engaging and extremely hectic simulator that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
With no plot to speak of, Carrier Deck puts the player in the boots of a flight officer stationed on the CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan, tasked with overseeing the launch, landing, and preparation of all aircrafts in the ship. Quickly and efficiently coordinating the various vehicles on the carrier is the sole way to victory, as you must plan and execute military sorties while dealing with constant cargo deliveries and incoming traffic. It is a fast-paced title, requiring split-second decision-making and constant strategical planning to succeed.
As a military warship in hostile waters, the Ronald Reagan is under constant threat of military interception. The carrier’s sensors have a limited range that allows little time for maneuvering, requiring patrol flights in order to gather intel on enemy movements. Recon missions act as an early warning system, detecting enemy contacts much farther away and giving you more time to scramble an intercept. It’s an interesting system that constantly juggles reaction time with logistical planning; making sure orders are planned in advance and executed properly in order to ensure the constant survival of the ship.
Due to the large amount of traffic in the area -- both hostile and friendly -- the key to success is to always think two steps ahead. Planes and helicopters need to be refueled, repaired, and sent on missions, and once their patrol is over, they need to land. Failing to clear the flight deck or the runway can cause collisions and accidents, destroying aircrafts and damaging the carrier in the process. Enemies that get past the net also damage the carrier, creating an atmosphere of constant awareness -- the damage caused to the carrier is fairly balanced and it takes a few hits for it to sink, but a 5-star rating requires the ship’s health to be intact.
Carrier Deck has outstanding graphics. All vehicles and personnel have proper 3D models that move around, and missions take place in different times of day, creating nice variations of gameplay scenarios. There are several camera action buttons to see take-offs, landings and a free look view as well where you can zoom in and rotate to various angles to view the action.
Now some minor issues that to me do not overly affect gameplay. Technically, the title could use a another QA pass. The music is maddening, featuring literally one single “hard rock” track for the entirety of the game. I think the soundtrack from Top Gun would have been a great choice.
The game is in dire need of a slowdown button, or at the very least, a difficulty setting; while I completed Carrier Deck's campaign and dabbled in its skirmish and survival modes, the difficulty spikes are untenable -- in order to reach a wider player base, the game needs to be a bit less demanding and provide more time-management options. A happy medium so to speak.
Aircraft bump into each other and furiously revert back to their previous positions instead of finding a way around or smartly giving priority, meaning you often order two aircraft somewhere at the same time and come back 10 seconds later to find them both in their original positions. The hangar deck is especially vexing, and I often needed to babysit the crafts into the elevators, or risk finding half of them back in their berths.
Aircraft selection is also slightly iffy at times, especially when they overlap in the helipad section of the aircraft carrier. It was a bit hard to use one of the helipads and the launching strip at the same time, effectively denying use of one of them at all times. While that may have been the intention, I often could use both by a stroke of luck if an airplane was already stationed in the strip; while they clearly clipped into each other, there were no adverse effects. That bottom area needs a slight revisiting to make the design useful. The issues though in no way interfere with the fun, but will be addressed in a patch down the line.
In the end, Carrier Deck is a very fun and solid effort. Its few flaws are fixable and don’t overwhelm the good aspects of the title. Offering a unique premise and execution and featuring a surprisingly deep yet simple gameplay, Carrier Deck is a definite recommendation. Available on Steam, Martix Games and EverySingleSoldier.com