Publisher: 3000AD
Developer: 3000AD
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Pentium IV 3.0 GHz or equivalent; 1 GB RAM; 256 MB video card with pixel and vertex shader 2.0; Windows XP or Vista
Genre: Simulator
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pitruzzello

2007 was big year for first-person shooters, along with the attendant increase in graphics and system requirements; however, it wasn’t a year with any space combat simulators worth mentioning. This was a bit disappointing, as this category of games, much like FPS titles, benefits from high-end machines and the latest DirectX. Indeed, the genre seemed to have been on hiatus until the release of Galactic Command: Echo Squad in March of this year. Coming to us from Derek Smart and the experienced designers at 3000AD, who brought us such classics as Battlecruiser 3000AD, Galactic Command: Echo Squad aims to be the solution to revitalizing this underserved genre.

To that end, Galactic Command places you in the role of a fighter pilot in command of the elite Echo Squad, a group of veteran space pilots tasked with defending the human race from aliens bent on conquest and insurgents who refuse to accept the unified government which rules the planet and her colonies. You and your squad mates fly the new Starlance class fighter, a unit equipped with a variety of weapons and which has the capability to conduct transatmospheric flight, operating both in orbit and in a planet’s atmosphere. Operating from the spacecraft equivalent of an aircraft carrier, you conduct missions ranging from escort duty to attacking capital ships.

Galactic Command is very oriented toward the various missions it contains and their military character. Most of them are not just “Go shoot the enemy” in their execution, but instead they rely on you, as the commander, balancing both the tactical aspects of flying your own craft with the strategic elements of giving orders to your subordinates. And your subordinates aren’t just mindless drones; rather, each one has certain strengths and weaknesses, encouraging you to keep in mind who you send to complete various tasks.

Of course, since you’re a part of a military organization, you’re also subject to taking orders, and Galactic Command has a system in place to ensure you follow those orders. Violating minor parameters of your orders or failing to do certain things results in violations logged in your official military record. After more than a certain number, you’re dismissed from active duty. Committing truly egregious violations of your orders, or outright treasonous behavior (i.e. deliberately locking and firing your missiles at friendly capital ships) results in the mission ending prematurely and your character automatically being dismissed from active duty. Such constraints ensure that randomly flitting about the cosmos and firing at random targets will never get you anywhere.