Normally a game like this would play out from a standard overhead map, but Fleet Command immerses players in the battle by depicting everything in a 3-D environment. Hear that distress call from a lonely reconnaissance plane? Zoom in to watch the enemy chase it down and (hopefully) see your own aircraft scream to the rescue. It's possible to follow the movements of any object in the game, rotating the camera until you find the perfect angle. It's almost like being the director of your own war movie.

The game itself is a great deal of fun, and it requires a lot of practice to get the most out of the rock/paper/scissors relationship between your aerial units, surface units, and submarines. At first our units were spread helter-skelter across the entire combat environment, and we were losing more units to full landing patterns and fuel starvation than enemy action. After a few hours, with improved timing and unit coordination, our fleet was running with the precision of a Rolex. If modern naval combat interests you in the least, Fleet Command should be on your short list. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• All objects and vehicles are modeled in full 3-D
• Command an entire fleet instead of single ships or aircraft

• Graphics aren't very detailed
• Juggling so many assets at once can be a real challenge