Description
A last ditch effort to destroy a large HOL convoy goes terribly wrong...

Storyline:
The story for Shattering is that we're gonna knock out a heavily defended HOL convoy. At first, this distressed me - what, another mission with the Hammer of Light? However, this is no ordinary convoy smashing excersize... suffice it to say that only one HOL craft is even in the mission. There are some very well-done messages near the beginning of the mission, but they are not so common towards the end, but more on that in Design.

Balance:
There is a goodly number of enemy craft at all times, just enough to be challanging, although it is a bit annoying to have a homing missle or two <i>always</i> on your tail until some of the Basilisks are cleared out. There is a great selection of weapons and ships, enough to custom-outfit all 10 of the customizable fighters.

Design:
The design is a mix of the amazing and the utterly insane (not the good, "Hey, let's watch a day of nothing but Rocky and Bulwinkle!" insane, I'm talking the bad, "Hey! Let's play Outpost 1 all day!" insane). For the most part, the timing of the fighter waves and just about everything else is perfect. The messaging, for example, is wonderful at the beginning, but when the player is ordered to scan a derelict freighter for survivors, and does so, there's no message about it at all. Just the completion of a Secondary objective. Couldn't one of your wingmen at least say, "Oh, too bad. No survivors." Also, the objective to destroy all fighters is completed when there are still several waves of fighters to be knocked out. When the GTC viper arrives, it simply goes along its waypoints for almost five minutes without the player being given another directive. Only when the Viper arrives at its first waypoint, a few klicks out, is the player told to guard it. A message and primary objective to defend it would go a long way towards improvement, as would a few waves of light fighters or bombers during this time. That early-achivement of the Destroy All Fighters objective becomes even more of a problem because when that objective is complete, there are no other objectives of any type to finish up. A few messages, alteration of the Kill Everything objective, and the addition of a Primary Objective directing the player to keep the Viper alive would go a long way towards fixing this up. However, in all other things, this is one helluva mission.

Gameplay:
If the dull, combat-less passage of the Viper to its first waypoint is discounted, Shattering the Hammer can be an Ursaload of fun. There's a massive firefight involving dozens of fighters at the beginning, followed by the methodical annihilation of a trio of Lilith cruisers. Then there's the utterly boring "journey of the Viper", followed by some truly awe-inspiring effects. As a wave of Nephilim bombers approached the Viper, I went to external view and zoomed out as far as I could. As the Nephilims came close enough to each defender to become a threat to the Viper, that defending craft would peel off punch its afterburners, and race to the engagement. The lasers and missles fly... and the Nephilims aren't there no more. It's just a very neat looking effect. Of course, a Leviathon doesn't really require the massive escor the Viper is provided with, as its armor factor is high. Oh well...

Other Thoughts:
No comment, Your Honor.