Description
A GTA operative has discovered the location of a Vesudan relay station. You are to accompany a special Task Group to the station where they will hack into the relay and monitor Vesudan military communications. This will hopefully yield valuable insight into the Vesudan's strategic plans.

Storyline:
The storyline and briefing are satisfactory, although there is one major plot error. Seeing as dozens of Vasudan ships come to the rescue of the relay station, wouldn't the Vasuans have to know that we were hacking into the station, and therefore reroute all military data? Or better yet, feed the Terran forces bad info through it?

Balance:
Since Relay takes place during the 14 year war, the only weapons available are ML-16s and MX-50s for your Apollos, but the mission seems to take this into account. In the actual mission, things get messy; some of the initial enemy waves are too diminuitive to be a threat and are swarmed over by the player's 9 fighters. The only damage these initial waves do is the result of being brought into the mission no more than 500 m from the player, ensuring MX-50 hits. Also, the last wave is extremely hard to destroy, as it consists of 3 Osiris class bombers to threaten the convoy and about 12 Anubis fighters.

Design:
The design for Relay is generally good, with some excellent event-timing in the beginning. However, two major bugs stand out: First, the asteroid containing the relay station actually <i>warps in</i> at the beginning stages. This is explained in the briefing as not being able to <i>detect</i> the asteroid at ranges over 8 k, but the author needs to learn how to use the "no warp effect" toggle for arrivals. Also, while the player is asked to scan a box containing a scanner-blocking device (as a bonus objective), that is largely impossible, since objects can only be scanned if targeted, and the box is locking out all targeting! However, the messages and most of the events are all very well done, and include a "Return to formation, Alpha 1!" message for pilots who try to go ahead of the convoy. Also, while the asteroid isn't acutally solid - that is, fire and ships can fly thru it - that prevents a mischevious pilot from blowing it up.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is varied and fun. There are plenty of enemy ships to blow up, and the waves are well-timed. In short, it's fun, despite the minor design issues. The well-written events and messages add a lot to the combat, although periods of no combat are a bit too common.

Other Thoughts:
The "sounds" here are only a couple of beeps to let the player know that a message is coming in, but they are much appreciated.