Description
FS2 revision of 'The Gathering' First mission of a scrapped campaign. <p> A Hecate class destroyer has been attacked by a Vasudan destroyer belonging to the remnents of the Hammer of Light. The Sudeten will make its stand once it emerges into the Epsilon Pegasi system. Destroy all Hammer of Light forces. <p> Note: It will be obvious as soon as you play it that this mission is extremly rough around the edges. I have been forced to abandon the campaign because of RL problems. This is the only reasonably intact mission created. Anyone is free to perfect this mission.

Storyline:
In a lengthy Command Briefing and supported through dozens of messages throughout the mission, the story is no doubt the highlight of <i>Forgotten</i>. I felt like I was in the middle of Babylon 5 with all of the messages going back and forth. A lot of thought was obviously put into the storyline, making it feel like an authentic mission from the main campaign of Freespace 2.<p> Unfortunately, the briefing has one little quirk. A Vasudan Typhon is represented as a Mentu cruiser (<b>big</b> difference). But it's a nice briefing overall.

Balance:
Pretty good in this department. The enemy comes in good sized waves and you'll see how useful Beam Cannons really are. Both sides are fairly evenly matched.

Design:
I give it a four because of all the clever things it does, but like the description says - it has its rough spots.<p> First, the good. I liked how everything that happened tied into the plot somehow. If this was a campaign, I'd be psyched for the next mission. The enemy does things you don't expect them to, and hence you don't really know what will happen next (albeit in the grand tradition of Freespace, it will usually have to do with blasting ships).<p> The bad? Well, there are a lot of lulls in the mission, especially early on. There are spurts of bad guys here and there from the Node, but you are warned to stay away from the Node in order to not get plowed over by the Typhon. So, do you run in there and risk it or not? The mission also ends in Red Alert status, which means no debriefing for you. Obviously a carry-over from the original campaign it was meant to be a part of.<p> My biggest gripe, though, is the lack of any background whatsoever. It's stark blackness with only one sun - making it even less pretty than FS1. The author could've spent some time with the Background Editor.<p> Last, the... not ugly, but weird. This mission does a clever thing with Trainer Messages early on giving the mission a cinematic feel from the get-go (sort of like <i>Metal Gear Solid</i>). While we can argue whether or not it is sort of cheesy, I think one has to admit that it is something rather original.

Gameplay:
It's a fun mission... albeit I don't have any real inclination to go through it again...

Other Thoughts:
While the story is great - a ten-stage Command Briefing is a bit excessive, even for a campaign, don't you think?