Carrier Command
1988 · Strategy / Action · Amiga / Atari ST
Overview
Carrier Command (1988) is Realtime Games' filled-polygon strategy game, in which a robotic aircraft carrier and its aircraft and amphibious tanks race an enemy carrier to claim 64 islands.
Deep Dive
Two robotic carriers are sent to colonise an archipelago of sixty-four islands, and terrorists seize the more advanced one. From the ACC Epsilon the player commands up to four Manta aircraft and four Walrus amphibious vehicles at a time, claiming neutral islands by dropping command units and capturing enemy ones with virus pods. Vehicles that stray too far from the carrier lose contact and are destroyed, and the game is lost if the carrier's superstructure is wrecked.
Developer Story
Ian Oliver and Graeme Baird developed the game at Realtime Games in Leeds, and Rainbird released it for the Atari ST and Amiga in 1988, with other versions through 1989. Battle Command followed, and Hostile Waters (2001) was inspired by it.
Did You Know?
- The Games Machine ranked it the number one game of 1988 and gave the Atari ST version 98%.
- The team wrote it in 68000 assembly because C was too slow for 3D on 8 MHz machines; Ian Oliver recalled they "slept under our desks".
- Bohemia Interactive remade it in 2012 as Carrier Command: Gaea Mission.
Sources & further reading
- Carrier Command — Wikipedia
