Description
Set before the T-V war you are a pilot in the infancy of the GTA. Today you are flying a new fighter, the Apollo. Send me some reviews on this, its my first submission.

Storyline:
Command briefing was top notch and professional. Likewise with the pilot briefing, although a little more time to read each section could have been allowed. There were no grammar or spelling mistakes. Since this is a <b> time-line </b> mission, the author did an excellent research job to make the command and pilot briefing understandable and consistent. Excellent job!

Balance:
A Banshee class weapon shows in loadout but is not selectable, it should not have been shown at all in keeping with consistency. The author also could have included the other weapons available at this time, namely the MX-50 missile. Otherwise loadout was consistent with time period. On medium difficulty under which most missions are judged it was extremely easy to defeat all opponents. This makes the mission have poor balance.

Design:
Directives should have been used when the drones warped in. Some messages appeared before they were supposed to. Confusing messages after that due to non-chained events. A Vasudan freighter and three Anubis class fighters warp in, again directives should have been displayed for the new threat. The freighter never changed IFF so it could attack but could not be targeted, although the Anubis's could be targeted as they properly changed IFF. A message to scan this vessel is useless since you cannot scan vessels that cannot be targeted. If this mission is to turn into a defense mission, as it did when the Vasudan's arrived, a damage monitor should have been shown for the GTC Utah. The secondary objective is useless.

Gameplay:
Game play for the first time on this mission is excellent, but it has no re-playability due to being very short and has a set outcome. Major design errors also effect the playability of the mission.

Other Thoughts:
I would have loved to give this mission a higher rating due to its excellent briefing, but this is a very small part of a FS Mission. The main part of a mission is if it is interesting, fun and catches the players attention. Due to glaring errors in design, this mission is not what it should have been. I have 2 suggestions. <b>Beta test till you drop!</b> Get someone else to test the mission before you submit it for review and use. Get the FRED FAQ from DC and read it and then read it again! Download a 5 star mission and see how the pro's do it. The point to this long-winded section is, I see the makings of another Razor Blade or Dynamo in this author and many others. If you just sit down and study what it takes to make a #1 FS mission.