Description
Deep space patrol ends up with head crushing action.

Storyline:
If anything about this mission lets it down, it's the storyline. The mission is full of spelling and grammatical problems and the briefing is rather short, though it does give you all of the information you need to know. The author has included some chatter in the mission, which comes across fairly well, though it seems a little stilted at times, and is impeded by the spelling errors.

Balance:
Bomber missions can be a challenge to balance, as the player needs to get close to dangerous capital ships frequently and there has to be some kind of defence for the target. Thankfully this has been done nicely in this mission. You, the player has to do things to influence the outcome of the mission and you have a suitably sized team backing you up. Add to this the fact that the author hasn't gone all-out on capital ships yet has provided several targets and a few other diversions (cargo to scan/shoot, bombers to intercept) but which arenÂ’t necessary and you can see that this mission's balance is good.

Design:
Design is well above average here, the author using a number of advanced s-exps and design techniques within the mission. The most impressive of these is the minefield used to execute a pair of Vasudan corvettes, multiple explosions rippling around in a chain and blowing them to bits, all in just on s-exp, which is amazing. It has to be said that it doesn't always work perfectly though. The background is also good, and there are Alt-names and send-message-lists used to good effect. The use of the three axes is excellent, as well. The massive number of ships and asteroids does cause major slowdown, though.

Gameplay:
Your biggest enemy in this mission isn't the NTF – well, it is, but the main problem is slowdown. It is your persistent enemy, turning some sections of the mission into a slideshow on my PII 450. So, this is one for those of you with powerful machines or a forgiving nature. I've had to dock the mission a little for that, as it's so acute. Other than that, the bombing is good, and the other bits remain quite fun because an Artemis is okay for dogfighting. The challenge in this mission is reasonable and it's always fun.

Other Thoughts:
Jeng's second mission is a definite step up from his first, especially in technical terms. Hopefully his next mission will be even better.