This is one of the best fighter games I have played. You begin the game in a command center, where you can look up all fighters in a hologram encyclopedia and choose your account. You can choose to be either an alien or a human pilot. Once that is done, you are launched into a campaign, where there are several missions to complete, then on to the next campaign, etc. I think there are about three to five campaigns, I have done only one.
In each campaign you are the leader of a fighter squad (3-5 fighters), and are able to customize your fighter's payload. I love this part. You can choose between 2 different types of primary lasers, one of them can take down shields better; the other can damage a hull more easily. Your secondary weapons are missiles; you can unlock more in each campaign. As such, I have experience with only three, a long-range seeker missile, a rapid fire unguided warhead, or a short-range POWERFUL guided-missile. Personally, I prefer the unguided warhead, you can load around 200 of them, so you don't have to worry about running out.
With your now-customized fighter, you can jump into a mission. Immediately before a mission, you are briefed by
the commanding general/captain or whatever of the starship you are on. The missions can be anything from a "routine" patrol, to a raid on a supply site or a bombing run. My personal favorite was the bombing run. All I had to worry about was launching the Cyclops missile correctly; any enemy fighters were taken care of by my back gunner (Yippee!)
Also, I forgot to mention that in each campaign you acquire two or three new ships. (In the first campaign I started with a heavy fighter, and got an all-around fighter, a fast raider, and a bomber.) I am looking forward to my next fighter; I have already looked up its stats in the hologram encyclopedia!
The AI is actually rather decent, not wimpy, and it doesn't have pro pilots either. That is a great bonus; I have seen too many games like this with invincible AI or fighters that are good for nothing but cannon fodder. Oops, I didn't say what the AI is yet. Since this is a futuristic game, they are of course aliens, who look like muscular dogs with the whole head being one big mouth. Overall, it’s an excellent fighter game.
