Playing Carrier Command 2 is fairly easy. Between a reasonably-pitched tutorial and help menu and experience with similar games, I was quickly comfortable. Aircraft, however, are a game unto themselves, and probably the biggest roadblock to anyone wanting to dive in. Ground vehicles are simple enough (and amphibious, the one case where Hostile Waters was actually a lot fiddlier) to handle, although you'll still need to pay attention to the rangefinding readout once it's tank time if you want those shots to count. Most of your work will be co-ordinating and planning and tweaking orders, and when you do take the wheel, you'll be greeted with a sim befitting the original. This is not the action-first interpretation of Carrier Command's other descendant Hostile Waters, though. Playing it with any degree of competence, however, is another matter entirely.' 'Playing Carrier Command 2 is fairly easy. No, any time your drone vehicles are off the ship, you can connect to them remotely, either to passively supervise and spot from a circling recon ship, or to actively take over control, and crash into as many missiles as you damn well please. Because, you see, you're not just pushing icons around the map or watching helplessly from the bridge as another helicopter jinks directly into an oncoming missile. It is, like last week's HighFleet, big on diagetic interfaces, although as with that game, sensible concessions are made when it comes to the action sections. Practically speaking, what you will be doing is flicking switches, peering through binoculars, and switching off the monitors you're not using because you're energy conscious and then forgetting which one does what when you need them again, because you're also an idiot. You, of course, control one carrier, with the freedom to attack wherever and however you like. Two automated carriers set out to sink one another by directing land and air vehicles, and in between them are dozens of islands, each defended by AI vehicles and turrets hostile to both carriers, and each home to a base that, if captured, can manufacture replacement vehicles, weapons, and supplies. The idea is compelling enough that it's frustrating it's been so rarely revisited since the 1988 original.

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