Description
Set during Main FS2 Campaign. With the destruction of the Ravana, GTVA Command decides to launch an offensive in the nebula beyond Gamma Draconis. As part of the offensive, your squadron and a corvette is tasked with destroying a Shivan convoy escorted by Moloch-class corvettes. But GTVA Command has underestimated the Molochs and is about to get an unpleasant surprise.

Storyline:
Basically this is one of those missions that you could stick straight into the main FS2 campaign with no problems. I happen to like these missions – they flesh out the story and explore different avenues nicely. But anyway A Nasty Surprise maps out a nice little storyline niche and describes the mission in the context of the main campaign, which is good. The briefing is written well and spelled correctly, with all the icons matching up. There is also some good conversation in the mission – but unfortunately, it doesn’t come off right (see design, below).

Balance:
Balance in this mission is good, the dogfighting action being suitably intense for a nebular environment without being overwhelming. Other than intercepting fighters, you can also get involved in a bit of freighter destruction and try to disarm the Molochs. The loadout is well chosen to allow you to do all of this if you wish, but youÂ’re not forced to. ItÂ’s nice to see that the playerÂ’s actions can be all that keeps the Ferentina alive, too – though, just like FS2 you are expendable. Keep that in mindÂ

Design:
Design is clean but not particularly imaginative – all of the ships being aligned on the same axis with little Y-axis usage, for example. Similarly there’s no custom sun and stars are set as standard. This isn’t too serious, but the lack of orders for the Molochs, and personas for your wingmen (meaning that some of the messages aren’t sent) are. On the plus side though, all the directives work well and are timed right, and the author took some time to re-arm the corvettes and make them more dangerous to fighters (ouch!).

Gameplay:
After a few seconds’ peace at the start of the mission you’re thrown in at the deep end, the action becoming fast and frantic. Right up until the end there’ll always be something to do. The design flaws aren’t too apparent in the mission itself – due to the nebula you can’t see the ‘flatness’ of the mission or the corvettes’ stillness, and despite those errors the mission is still fun. One complaint I have is not that the mission is short – but there’s no ending to speak of. The Ferentina simply jumps out as the last ships are exploding. A short victory conversation would have been nice.

Other Thoughts:
Consider this mission to be a taster to the larger (and better) projects that Ice Heart has released and in storeÂ