Description
The Player must rescue POW's from a Vasudan prison ship, Attica. It starts off easy and gets steadily harder.

Storyline:
The POW theme has great potential, but I'm not entirely convinced that the Vasudans (who are described in the technical database as adhering to a complicated social structure) would use human captives as "guinea pigs in biological research." But, then again, who knows?

Balance:
Poor weapon loadout, especially for the missiles. That isn't as much of an issue, since all of the the Vasudans have been stripped of their weapons. Only at the end do you face a decently armed foe. However, even the PVFR Attica lacks its full complement of weapons and its AI has been reduced.

Design:
This mission includes a few maddening bugs: the GTT Norris sits at the waypoint inside the Jump Node for 30 seconds rather than jumping into subspace, the Prisoner Rescue objective immediately reads completed, and the final Vasudan waves fly right past the Norris. All of the units are poorly placed on only one plane. The mission does, however, include a few well-timed messages to accompany the events. The events demonstrate that some thought was put into this mission.

Gameplay:
The AI seemed strange and, after checking the mission in FRED, it turns out that each Vasudan wing was given only one AI command. The GTT Norris doesn't need much of a defense, as no bombers threaten it -- only fighters. It seems that the AI is outgunned and outpiloted. It seems a little unfair be the only one zipping around with shields.

Other Thoughts:
Could it be that the designer was trying to make a training mission and didn't tell us? This seems like a basic obstacle course that any Space Marine worth their salt can complete.